Bureau of Ocean Energy Management November 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is notifying the public that we have submitted an information collection request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The information collection request (ICR) concerns the paperwork requirements for 30 CFR 553, Oil Spill Financial Responsibility for Offshore Facilities, as well as the revised forms. This notice provides the public a second opportunity to comment on the paperwork burden of this collection.

BOEM requests comments on the Annual Progress Report (Report) on the OCS Oil and Gas Leasing Program 2012-2017 (Five Year Program). The Annual Progress Report is available for review at: www.boem.gov/ Five-Year-Program-Annual-Progress-Report/. Information on the Five Year Program is available online at https://www.boem.gov/Oil-and-Gas-Energy- Program/Leasing/Five-Year-Program/2012-2017/Five-Year-Program .aspx. The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) published the Five Year Program in June 2012, and the program became final on August 27, 2012, after the required 60-day congressional review period. Section 18(e) of the OCS Lands Act (Act) states that ``the Secretary shall review the leasing program approved under this section at least once each year. He [or she] may revise and reapprove such program, at any time, and such revision and reapproval, except in the case of a revision which is not significant, shall be in the same manner as originally developed.'' Historically, the annual review has been an internal process in which BOEM reports to the Secretary any information or events that might result in consideration of a revision to the Program. However, in the decision document for the Five Year Program (available by clicking on ``Proposed Final Program Decision Document'' at the above web address), the Department of the Interior stated its commitment to ``publish an annual progress report on the Five Year Program that includes an opportunity for stakeholders and the public to comment on the program's implementation.'' Pursuant to this commitment, the Annual Progress Report (Report) provides the public an overview of the activities that have occurred during the previous year. The Report includes the following information: Statistics of sales that have occurred in the previous year, including the number and location of lease blocks and the dollars collected on high bids; a tracking table of all relevant deferrals and mitigations; a summary of completed and ongoing safety and environmental studies; regulatory updates; a discussion of significant new drilling activities and seismic data collection; a summary of any significant incidents; and other relevant information. After the comment period, BOEM will submit the Report, with a summary of comments received in response to this notice, to the Secretary. There is no specified format for comments. However, BOEM requests that respondents focus on new information that has come to light since final approval of the Five Year Program in August 2012, and information that was not provided during previous comment periods related to the development of the Five Year Program.