52294 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 162 / Monday, August 22, 2011 / Proposed Rules 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Office of Natural Resources Revenue 

[Docket No. ONRR–2011–0007] 

30 CFR Part 1206 

Second Notice of Intent To Establish 

an Indian Oil Valuation Negotiated 

Rulemaking Committee 

AGENCY: Office of Natural Resources 

Revenue, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: On January 31, 2011, the 

Department published a notice of intent 

to establish an Indian Oil Valuation 

Negotiated Rulemaking Committee. In 

that notice, we asked interested parties 

to nominate representatives for 

membership on the Committee and 

addressed many of the requirements of 

Section 564 of the Negotiated 

Rulemaking Act. This notice identifies 

the persons proposed to serve on the 

Committee and addresses the rest of the 

requirements of Section 564 of the 

Negotiated Rulemaking Act. 

DATES: Submit written comments on or 

before September 21, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

and applications by the following 

methods: 

• Electronically go to http://www.

regulations.gov. In the entity titled 

‘‘Enter Keyword or ID,’’ enter ONRR– 

2011–0007, and then click search. 

Follow the instructions to submit public 

comments. The ONRR will post all 

comments to the docket. 

• Mail or hand-carry (also, courier 

service) comments to Mr. Karl 

Wunderlich, Office of Natural Resources 

Revenue (ONRR), P.O. Box 25165, MS 

300B2, Denver, CO 80225–0165. Please 

reference the Docket No. ONRR–2011– 

0007 in your comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Karl Wunderlich, ONRR, Telephone: 

(303) 231–3663; Fax: (303) 231–3194, or 

E-mail: karl.wunderlich@onrr.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

January 31, 2011, the Department 

published a notice of intent to establish 

an Indian Oil Valuation Negotiated 

Rulemaking Committee (76 FR 5317). 

You may refer to that notice for 

background information. The 

Committee will develop specific 

recommendations regarding proposed 

revisions to the existing regulations for 

valuation of oil production from Indian 

leases. One of the key issues to be 

addressed is the major portion valuation 

requirement. Section 564 of the 

Negotiated Rulemaking Act requires an 

agency to consider eight elements when 

it is considering the establishment of a 

Negotiated Rulemaking Committee. In 

the January 2011 notice, we announced 

our intent to establish a negotiated 

rulemaking committee to negotiate and 

develop a proposed rule and asked 

interested parties to nominate 

representatives for membership on the 

Committee. We received 12 responses 

nominating individuals to serve on the 

Committee. This notice addresses the 

rest of the elements of Section 564. We 

believe that using a negotiated 

rulemaking committee to make specific 

recommendations regarding valuation of 

oil from Indian leases would help the 

Office of Natural Resources Revenue 

(ONRR) in developing a rulemaking. 

The interests significantly affected are 

oil and gas companies who produce oil 

and pay royalties on Indian leases, and 

Indian Tribes and individual Indian 

mineral owners who receive royalties 

from oil produced from Indian leases 

located on their lands. 

The ONRR is making a commitment 

to ensure that the Committee has 

sufficient administrative and technical 

resources to complete its work in a 

timely fashion. ONRR, with the help of 

a facilitator, will prepare all agendas, 

provide meeting notes, and provide a 

final report of any issues on which that 

the committee reached consensus. 

ONRR will also obtain meeting space for 

all meetings. 

The use of negotiated rulemaking will 

not unreasonably delay the 

development of a proposed rule because 

time limits will be placed on the 

negotiation. We anticipate that 

negotiation will expedite a proposed 

rule and ultimately the acceptance of a 

final rule. 

There is a reasonable likelihood that 

the Committee will reach consensus on 

a proposed rule within a fixed period of 

time. It is anticipated that a proposed 

rule will be published for notice and 

comment within 30 months of 

convening the committee. Quarterly 

meetings will be held with the first 

meeting planned for early fall. 

Proposed Members of the Committee 

The Department believes that the 

interests significantly affected by this 

rule will be represented by the 

representatives listed below: 

Claire Ware, A representative of the 

Shoshone and Arapaho Tribes of the 

Wind River Reservation; 

Manuel Myore, A representative of 

the Ute Indian Tribe; 

Roger Bird Bear, A representative of 

the allottees of Fort Berthold, North 

Dakota; 

Marcella Giles, A representative of the 

allottees of Oklahoma Indian Land/ 

Mineral Owners of Associated Nations; 

Perry Shirley, A representative of The 

Navajo Nation; 

James Barnes, A representative of the 

Council of Petroleum Accountants 

Societies; 

Rob Thompson, A representative of 

the Western Energy Alliance; 

Dan Riemer, A representative of the 

American Petroleum Institute; 

Jack Vaughn, A representative of Peak 

Energy Resources; 

Dee Ross, A representative of 

Chesapeake Energy Corporation; 

Donald Sant, Paul Tyler, and John 

Barder, Three representatives of the 

Office of Natural Resources Revenue; 

and 

Weldon Loudermilk, A representative 

of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

Persons who will be significantly 

affected by a proposed rule, and who 

believe their interests will not be 

adequately represented by any person 

listed above, may apply for or nominate 

another person for membership on the 

negotiated rulemaking committee to 

represent such interests to the proposed 

rule. Each application or nomination 

should include: (1) The name of the 

applicant or nominee and a description 

of the interests such person shall 

represent; (2) evidence that the 

applicant or nominee is authorized to 

represent parties related to the interests 

the person proposes to represent; (3) a 

written commitment that the applicant 

or nominee shall actively participate in 

good faith in the development of the 

rule under consideration; and (4) the 

reasons that the persons do not 

adequately represent the interests of the 

person submitting the application or 

nomination. 

All submission of comments and 

applications should be submitted no 

later than 30 calendar days following 

publication of this notice. Please submit 

comments and applications by 

instructions shown in ADDRESSES. 

The ONRR will publish the first 

meeting date in a Federal Register 

notice. The Committee will determine 

the dates of future meetings, and we 

will then publish notice of the dates in 

the Federal Register. The first meeting 

will develop the ground rules on what 

consensus means and if there is any 

issues other than the major portion 

analysis that needs to be discussed. 

Following receipt of comments on 

this notice, ONRR will establish the 

Negotiated Rulemaking Committee. The 

ONRR will participate in the Committee 

to represent the Federal Government’s 

statutory mission. After the Committee 


jlentini on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 162 / Monday, August 22, 2011 / Proposed Rules 52295 

reaches consensus on the provisions of 

a proposed rule ONRR will develop a 

proposed rule to be published in the 

Federal Register. 

Certification 

I hereby certify that the Indian Oil 

Valuation Negotiated Rulemaking 

Committee is in the public interest. 

Dated: August 15, 2011. 

Ken Salazar, 

Secretary of the Interior. 

[FR Doc. 2011–21305 Filed 8–19–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

43 CFR Part 2 

RIN 1090–AA94 

Amendment of Privacy Act 

Regulations, Request for Comments 

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Interior. 

ACTION: Proposed Rule. 

SUMMARY: The Department of the 

Interior is amending its regulations to 

exempt certain records from particular 

provisions of the Privacy Act. 

Specifically, the Department proposes to 

exempt certain records of the newlycreated Debarment and Suspension 

Program system of records from one or 

more provisions of the Privacy Act. 

DATES: Submit written comments on 

October 3, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Send written comments, 

identified by RIN 1090–AA94, by one of 

the following methods: 

• Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Karen Burke, OS/NBC Privacy 

Act Officer, Office of the Secretary, 

Department of the Interior, 1951 

Constitution Ave, NW., Mail Stop 116 

SIB, Washington, DC 20240. 

• E-mail: Karen Burke, OS/NBC 

Privacy Act Officer, Office of the 

Secretary, privacy@nbc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Karen Burke, OS/NBC Privacy Act 

Officer, Office of the Secretary, U.S. 

Department of the Interior, 1951 

Constitution Avenue, NW., Mail Stop 

116 SIB, Washington, DC 20240. E-mail 

at privacy@nbc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Department of the Interior (DOI) 

Office of Acquisition and Property 

Management maintains the Debarment 

and Suspension Program system of 

records. The primary purpose of this 

system of records is to assist DOI in 

conducting and documenting debarment 

and suspension proceedings to ensure 

that Federal procurements and Federal 

discretionary assistance, loans, and 

benefits are awarded to presently 

responsible business entities, 

organizations, and individuals. 

Additional purposes of the system are 

to: Promote understanding of the case 

decision path and concerns addressed 

by the debarring and suspending official 

in reaching a decision; to promote the 

submission of relevant arguments in 

contested cases; to educate the public 

and private bar as to the kinds of 

mitigating factors and remedial 

measures that demonstrate present 

responsibility; and to enhance the 

transparency of decision making. 

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a (k)(2) and 

(k)(5), the head of a Federal agency may 

promulgate rules to exempt a system of 

records from certain provisions of 5 

U.S.C. 552a if the system of records is 

‘‘investigatory material complied for law 

enforcement purposes, other than 

material within the scope of subsection 

(j)(2)’’ or ‘‘investigatory material 

compiled solely for the purpose of 

determining suitability, eligibility, or 

qualifications for Federal civilian 

employment, military service, Federal 

contracts, or access to classified 

information. * * *’’ 

To the extent that this system of 

records contains investigatory material 

within the provision of 5 U.S.C. 

552a(k)(2) and (k)(5), the Department of 

the Interior proposes to exempt the 

Debarment and Suspension Program 

System of Records from provisions 5 

U.S.C. 552a(c)(3); (d); (e)(1), (e)(4)(G), 

(H), (I); and (f). Exemptions from these 

particular subsections are justified for 

the following reasons: 

1. From subsection (c)(3) because 

granting access to the accounting for 

each disclosure as normally required by 

the Privacy Act, including the date, 

nature, and purpose of each disclosure 

and the identity of the recipient, could 

alert the subject to the existence of the 

investigation or action interest by DOI 

or other agencies. This could seriously 

compromise case preparation by 

prematurely revealing its existence and 

nature; compromise or interfere with 

witnesses or make witnesses reluctant to 

cooperate; and/or lead to suppression, 

alteration, or destruction of evidence. 

2. From subsections (d) and (f) 

because providing access to records of a 

debarment or suspension action 

investigation and the right to contest the 

contents of those records and force 

changes to be made to the information 

contained therein to individuals whose 

names may appear in the records due to 

having provided information about a 

respondent but who are not the subject 

of the debarment or suspension action 

would seriously interfere with and 

thwart the orderly and unbiased 

conduct of the investigation, impede 

debarment or suspension case 

preparation, and/or conflict with the 

evidentiary fact finding process under 

the debarment and suspension rules. 

Providing rights normally afforded 

under the Privacy Act and agency rules 

could provide the subject with valuable 

information that would allow 

interference with or compromise of 

witnesses or render witnesses reluctant 

to cooperate; lead to suppression, 

alteration, or result in destruction of 

evidence interfering with the 

development of the suspension or 

debarment action; and/or jeopardize 

pending or ongoing judicial proceedings 

or impede the ability to act to protect 

Federal procurement and nonprocurement program interests. 

Additionally, the debarment and 

suspension rules provide a process 

which accords recipients of action 

notices, as part of the contest process, 

the opportunity, where facts material to 

the action are determined to be 

genuinely in dispute, for an evidentiary 

fact finding hearing at which to confront 

and cross examine the government’s 

witnesses. 

3. From subsection (e)(1) because it is 

not always possible to detect the 

relevance or necessity of each piece of 

information in the early stages of an 

investigation. In some cases, it is only 

after the information is evaluated in 

light of other evidence that its relevance 

and necessity to accomplish a purpose 

of the agency will be clear. 

4. From subsections (e)(4)(G) and (H) 

because there is no necessity for such 

publication since the system of records 

will be exempt from the underlying 

duties to provide notification about and 

access to information in the system and 

to make amendments to and corrections 

of the information in the system. 

5. From subsection (e)(4)(I) because to 

the extent that this provision is 

construed to require more detailed 

disclosure than the broad, generic 

information currently published in the 

system notice, an exemption from this 

provision is necessary to protect the 

confidentiality of sources of information 

and to protect privacy and physical 

safety of witnesses and informants. DOI 

will, nevertheless, continue to publish 

such a notice in broad generic terms as 

is its current practice. 


jlentini on DSK4TPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS