Department of the Interior June 30, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Colorado State Office is publishing this notice to inform the public of the intent to file the land survey plats listed below, and to afford all affected parties a proper period of time to protest this action, prior to the plat filing.

To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), BOEMRE is inviting comments on a collection of information that we will submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The information collection request (ICR) concerns the paperwork requirements in the regulations under Pollution Prevention and Control.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is segregating public lands located in six States from appropriation under the public land and mining laws, but not the mineral leasing or material sales acts, for a period of 2 years for the purpose of protecting potential sites for future solar energy development.

Notice is hereby given of a meeting of the ACWI. This meeting is to discuss broad policy-related topics relating to national water initiatives, and the development and dissemination of water information, through reports from ACWI subgroups. The agenda will include an update on the Department of the Interior WaterSMART initiative; an update by the Subcommittee on Ground Water regarding their National Framework for Ground Water Monitoring; a discussion of the SECURE Water Act and its implications for ACWI and its subcommittees; a discussion of a new reference network for surface- water sites; a briefing on the Reservoir Sedimentation Database; an update on preparations for the 8th National Monitoring Conference, which will be held in 2012 in Portland, Oregon; an update on the National Monitoring Network for U.S. Coastal Waters and their Tributaries, and other activities of the National Water Quality Monitoring Council; and a briefing on WaterFALL\TM\, a Watershed Flow and Allocation Model developed by the Triangle Research Institute. The ACWI was established under the authority of the Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-92-01 and the Federal Advisory Committee Act. The purpose of the ACWI is to provide a forum for water information users and professionals to advise the Federal Government on activities and plans that may improve the effectiveness of meeting the Nation's water information needs. Member organizations help to foster communications between the Federal and non-Federal sectors on sharing water information. Membership, limited to 35 organizations, represents a wide range of water resources interests and functions. Representation on the ACWI includes all levels of government, academia, private industry, and professional and technical societies. For more information on the ACWI, its membership, subgroups, meetings and activities, please see the Web site at: https://ACWI.gov.

The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) requires the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) to review the maximum daily civil penalty assessment for violations of regulations implementing the OCSLA at least once every 3 years (43 U.S.C. 1350). Similarly, a review and adjustment process is required at least once every 4 years for the maximum daily civil penalty assessment allowable under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990 for violations of regulations governing financial responsibility (28 U.S.C. 2461). These reviews ensure that the maximum penalty assessments reflect any increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, and therefore keep up with inflation. BOEMRE conducted these reviews in October 2010 for the OCSLA regulations and in January 2011 for the OPA regulations. BOEMRE determined that the maximum daily civil penalty assessment for violations of its OCSLA regulations should be increased to $40,000, and the maximum daily civil penalty assessment for violations of its financial responsibility regulations should be increased to $30,000.