77362 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 216 / Thursday, November 9, 2023 / Notices 

Session 7—3 p.m. to 4 p.m. MT 

Public Comment Period (Second) 

Session 8—4 p.m. to 5 p.m. MT 

Advisory Board Discussion and Finalize 

Recommendations (Board vote) 

Adjourn 

Agenda may be subject to change. 

Public Participation: Due to limited 

space, those wishing to attend the 

educational tour to the Lake Pleasant 

Herd Management Area on December 12 

must register via email to dboothe@

blm.gov no later than 5 p.m. MT on 

November 29, 2023. Attendees must 

provide their own high clearance 

transportation and any necessary food, 

health and safety items needed for a full 

day in the field. 

The Board, the BLM, and the USFS 

welcome comments from all interested 

parties. The public will have an 

opportunity to make a verbal statement 

to the Advisory Board in person and 

virtually via Zoom (audio only) on 

Wednesday, December 13, from 10:15 

a.m. to 11:15 a.m. MT and on Thursday, 

December 14, from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. MT. 

To provide comments via Zoom, 

interested parties must register by 

December 8, 2023 at the following 

website: https://www.blm.gov/ 

programs/wild-horse-and-burro/ 

advisory-board. To provide comments 

in-person, interested parties may 

register on-site up to one hour before the 

comment period commences. 

Individuals who have not registered in 

advance may be permitted to offer 

comment if time allows. Participants 

using desktops, laptops, smartphones, 

and other personal digital devices will 

be able to participate with audio only 

via a link provided by the BLM. Those 

with phone-only access will be able to 

participate via a phone number and 

meeting ID provided by the BLM at the 

time of registration. The Board may 

limit the length of comments, 

depending on the number of 

participants who register in advance. 

The public may also submit written 

comments to the Board in addition to, 

or in lieu of, providing verbal comment. 

Written comments should be submitted 

to the Advisory Board at BLM_WO_

Advisory_Board_Comments@blm.gov. 

Comments emailed three days prior to 

the meeting no later than 5 p.m. MT will 

be provided to the Advisory Board for 

consideration during the meeting. The 

BLM will record the entire meeting, 

including the allotted public comment 

sessions. Comments should be specific 

and explain the reason for the 

recommendation(s). Comments 

supported by quantitative information, 

studies, or those that include citations 

and analysis of applicable laws and 

regulations are most useful, and more 

likely to assist the decision-making 

process for the management and 

protection of wild horses and burros. 

Beyond live captioning, any person(s) 

with special needs, such as for an 

auxiliary aid, interpreting service, 

assistive listening device, or materials in 

an alternate format, must notify Ms. 

Boothe 2 weeks before the scheduled 

meeting date. It is important to adhere 

to the 2-week notice to allow enough 

time to arrange for the auxiliary aid or 

special service. Live captioning will be 

available throughout the event on the 

BLM livestream page at www.blm.gov/ 

live. 

Before including your address, phone 

number, email address, or other 

personal identifying information in your 

comment, you should be aware that 

your entire comment—including your 

personal identifying information—may 

be made publicly available at any time. 

While you can ask us in your comment 

to withhold your personal identifying 

information from public review, the 

BLM cannot guarantee that it will be 

able to do so. 

(Authority: 43 CFR 1784.4–2) 

Sharif D. Branham, 

Assistant Director, Resources and Planning. 

[FR Doc. 2023–24769 Filed 11–8–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4331–27–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

National Indian Gaming Commission 

Fee Rate and Fingerprint Fees 

AGENCY: National Indian Gaming 

Commission, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

the National Indian Gaming 

Commission has adopted its annual fee 

rates of 0.00% for tier 1 and 0.08% 

(.0008) for tier 2, which maintain the 

current fee rates. These rates shall apply 

to all assessable gross revenues from 

each gaming operation under the 

jurisdiction of the Commission. If a tribe 

has a certificate of self-regulation, the 

fee rate on Class II revenues shall be 

0.04% (.0004) which is one-half of the 

annual fee rate. The annual fee rates are 

effective November 1, 2023, and will 

remain in effect until new rates are 

adopted. The National Indian Gaming 

Commission has also adopted its 

fingerprint processing fee of $53 per 

card which represents an increase of $8 

per card. The fingerprint processing fee 

is effective November 1, 2023, and will 

remain in effect until the Commission 

adopts a new rate. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Yvonne Lee, National Indian Gaming 

Commission, 1849 C Street NW, Mail 

Stop #1621, Washington, DC 20240; 

telephone (202) 632–7003; fax (202) 

632–7066. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) 

established the National Indian Gaming 

Commission, which is charged with 

regulating gaming on Indian lands. 

Commission regulations (25 CFR 514) 

provide for a system of fee assessment 

and payment that is self-administered 

by gaming operations. 

Pursuant to those regulations, the 

Commission is required to adopt and 

communicate assessment rates and the 

gaming operations are required to apply 

those rates to their revenues, compute 

the fees to be paid, report the revenues, 

and remit the fees to the Commission. 

All gaming operations within the 

jurisdiction of the Commission are 

required to self-administer the 

provisions of these regulations, and 

report and pay any fees that are due to 

the Commission. It is necessary for the 

Commission to maintain the fee rate to 

ensure that the agency has sufficient 

funding to fully meet its statutory and 

regulatory responsibilities as the gaming 

industry continues to emerge from the 

pandemic. In addition, it is critical for 

the Commission to maintain constantly 

an adequate transition carryover balance 

to cover any cash flow variations. 

Pursuant to 25 CFR 514, the 

Commission must also review annually 

the costs involved in processing 

fingerprint cards and set a fee based on 

fees charged by the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation and costs incurred by the 

Commission. Commission costs include 

Commission personnel, supplies, 

equipment & infrastructure costs, and 

postage to submit the results to the 

requesting tribe. The number of 

fingerprint cards submitted to the NIGC 

for processing has significantly 

decreased since the pandemic. The 

fingerprint processing fee increase is a 

result of spreading the fixed costs 

allocated to fingerprint processing over 

a smaller number of cards processed. In 

addition, the FY24 fingerprint 

processing fee includes the cost 

allocation from the one-time capital 

investments associated with the 

Washington, DC headquarters office 

relocation and the Agency’s hardware 

refresh of core networking and server 

computing devices required to support 

the Agency’s infrastructure operations. 

Maintaining valid support agreements 

and replacing aging hardware when 

needed is vital to ensure maximum 

uptime for IT operations while 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 216 / Thursday, November 9, 2023 / Notices 77363 

minimizing disruptions to business 

processes, including the Tribal 

fingerprint services. In FY24 the 

Commission will also continue its 

commitment to take necessary measures 

to comply with the Federal Bureau of 

Investigation Criminal Justice 

Information Services (FBI CJIS) 

requirements which ensure the NIGC 

and participating tribes can continue to 

use FBI criminal history report 

information (CHRI) to assist in 

determining a key employee or primary 

management official’s eligibility for a 

gaming license. 

Dated: November 1, 2023. 

Edward Simermeyer, 

Chairman. 

Dated: November 1, 2023. 

Jean Hovland, 

Vice Chair. 

[FR Doc. 2023–24780 Filed 11–8–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7565–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management 

[Docket No. BOEM–2023–0013] 

Gulf of Mexico Outer Continental Shelf 

Oil and Gas Lease Sale 261 

AGENCY: Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management, Interior. 

ACTION: Notice regarding Lease Sale 261. 

SUMMARY: With this notice, the Bureau 

of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is 

announcing that it is postponing Gulf of 

Mexico Lease Sale 261 pending further 

action by the United States Court of 

Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. To comply 

with an injunction sought and obtained 

by the State of Louisiana and other 

plaintiffs from the district court, as well 

as a subsequent order from the Fifth 

Circuit, BOEM had previously provided 

notice of its intent to hold Lease Sale 

261 on November 8, 2023. On October 

26, 2023, however, the Fifth Circuit 

stayed the relevant injunction and order 

pending the merits panel’s decision on 

appeal. To avoid preempting the Fifth 

Circuit’s decision, and avoid 

duplication of effort, BOEM is now 

deferring Lease Sale 261 pending 

disposition of the appeal that is before 

the Fifth Circuit. 

Therefore, BOEM will not open and 

announce bids for the sale on November 

8, 2023. BOEM will make future 

announcements regarding when and 

under what terms Lease Sale 261 will be 

held after the Court issues its ruling or 

provides additional direction to BOEM. 

Additional information and 

announcements will be made available 

on BOEM’s website prior to the sale 

date. See http://www.boem.gov/sale261. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The 

New Orleans Office Lease Sale 

Coordinator, Greg Purvis, at 

BOEMGOMRLeaseSales@boem.gov or 

504–736–1729. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 

25, 2023, BOEM published in the 

Federal Register the Final Notice of Sale 

(NOS) for Lease Sale 261. See 88 FR 

58300. In that Final NOS, BOEM 

announced that the sale would be held 

on September 27, 2023. The State of 

Louisiana and other plaintiffs then 

challenged the Final NOS in the U.S. 

District Court for the Western District of 

Louisiana, seeking preliminary 

injunctions to force BOEM to (1) include 

lease blocks previously excluded to 

protect the Rice’s whale and (2) remove 

provisions in Stipulation No. 4 

(‘‘Protected Species’’) that BOEM had 

added to protect the Rice’s whale from 

certain oil and gas activities while 

BOEM engaged in a reinitiated 

consultation under the Endangered 

Species Act. 

On September 21, 2023, six days 

before the planned sale, the district 

court issued a preliminary injunction 

order requiring BOEM to include the 

previously excluded blocks and modify 

the stipulation by removing the new 

Rice’s whale protections. The court also 

ordered BOEM to hold the sale on or 

before September 30, 2023. On 

September 22, 2023, the government 

appealed and filed an emergency 

motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for 

the Fifth Circuit, requesting that the 

court stay or modify the injunction to 

avoid an inequitable sale and to allow 

for the administrative and legal 

processes necessary to hold the 

modified sale and provide the 

statutorily required notice to the public 

of the revised lease sale terms. (Case No. 

23–30666). Intervenor-Defendants also 

appealed and filed an emergency 

motion in the Fifth Circuit, requesting 

that the Court stay the injunction in its 

entirety. On September 25, 2023, the 

Fifth Circuit issued an order directing 

BOEM to hold Lease Sale 261 as 

required by the district court, but 

permitting BOEM until November 8, 

2023, to hold the sale. On October 6, 

2023, BOEM published a revised Final 

NOS in accordance with the September 

25, 2023, order, announcing the 

modified terms of the sale and notifying 

bidders that it would open bids on 

November 8, 2023. See 88 FR 69660. On 

October 26, 2023, the Fifth Circuit 

stayed the injunction in its entirety 

pending further action by that court and 

scheduled oral argument for November 

13, 2023. 

Under the Outer Continental Shelf 

Lands Act, BOEM has inherent 

discretion to postpone lease sales on 

reasonable grounds, including, as 

described in the October 6, 2023, notice, 

to comply with court orders. Because 

BOEM anticipates that the Fifth Circuit 

will further clarify the scope of BOEM’s 

discretion and obligations concerning 

Lease Sale 261, BOEM has concluded 

that holding Lease Sale 261 before the 

Fifth Circuit resolves the appeal could 

result in duplication of effort and bidder 

confusion in the event that the 

November 8, 2023, sale is inconsistent 

with the Fifth Circuit’s subsequent 

guidance. BOEM will therefore not hold 

Lease Sale 261 on November 8, 2023. 

Bidders wishing to participate in Lease 

Sale 261 should not submit bids until 

receiving further instructions from 

BOEM. Bids that were already received 

will be held by BOEM, and BOEM will 

notify bidders of how those bids will be 

handled once it receives further 

direction from the Fifth Circuit. In 

reaching this conclusion, BOEM is 

cognizant that the Inflation Reduction 

Act of 2022 directs BOEM to hold Lease 

Sale 261 by September 30, 2023, a 

deadline that BOEM was prepared to 

meet prior to plaintiffs’ lawsuits. 

As set forth above, BOEM is 

postponing the sale beyond its 

originally scheduled date in response to 

plaintiffs’ lawsuits and the resulting 

judicial orders. 

Authority: 43 U.S.C. 1337; 30 CFR 

part 556. 

Elizabeth Klein, 

Director, Bureau of Ocean Energy 

Management. 

[FR Doc. 2023–24834 Filed 11–8–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4340–98–P 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Bureau of Labor Statistics 

Information Collection Activities; 

Comment Request 

AGENCY: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

Department of Labor. 

ACTION: Notice of information collection; 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as 

part of its continuing effort to reduce 

paperwork and respondent burden, 

conducts a pre-clearance consultation 

program to provide the general public 

and Federal agencies with an 

opportunity to comment on proposed 

and/or continuing collections of 

information in accordance with the 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1