Office of the Secretary of the Interior 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of the Interior (DOI) proposes to promulgate regulations under the Paleontological Resources Preservation Act. Implementation of the proposed rule would preserve, manage, and protect paleontological resources on lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and ensure that these federally owned resources are available for current and future generations to enjoy as part of America's national heritage. The proposed rule would address the management, collection, and curation of paleontological resources from federal lands using scientific principles and expertise, including collection in accordance with permits; curation in an approved repository; and maintenance of confidentiality of specific locality data. The Paleontological Resources Preservation Act authorizes civil and criminal penalties for illegal collecting, damaging, otherwise altering or defacing, or for selling paleontological resources, and the proposed rule further details the processes related to the civil penalties, including hearing requests and appeals of the violation or the amount of the civil penalties.

The Office of the Secretary of the Interior is correcting an interim final rule that appeared in the Federal Register on Tuesday June 28, 2016 (81 FR 41858). This rule adjusts the level of civil monetary penalties contained in U.S. Department of the Interior regulations implementing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act with an initial ``catch-up'' adjustment under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 and Office of Management and Budget guidance. The corrections are administrative and procedural related to submitting comments.