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
77364 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 216 / Thursday, November 9, 2023 / Notices 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This 

program helps to ensure that requested 

data can be provided in the desired 

format, reporting burden (time and 

financial resources) is minimized, 

collection instruments are clearly 

understood, and the impact of collection 

requirements on respondents can be 

properly assessed. The Bureau of Labor 

Statistics (BLS) is soliciting comments 

concerning the proposed extension of 

the ‘‘National Compensation Survey.’’ A 

copy of the proposed information 

collection request can be obtained by 

contacting the individual listed below 

in the ADDRESSES section of this notice. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

submitted to the office listed in the 

ADDRESSES section of this notice on or 

before January 8, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Nora 

Kincaid, BLS Clearance Officer, 

Division of Management Systems, 

Bureau of Labor Statistics, Room G225, 

2 Massachusetts Avenue NE, 

Washington, DC 20212. Written 

comments also may be transmitted by 

email to BLS_PRA_Public@bls.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Nora Kincaid, BLS Clearance Officer, at 

202–691–7628 (this is not a toll-free 

number.) (See ADDRESSES section.) 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The National Compensation Survey 

(NCS) is an ongoing survey of earnings 

and benefits among private firms, States, 

and local government. The NCS is used 

to produce the Employment Cost 

Trends, including the Employment Cost 

Index (ECI) and Employer Costs for 

Employee Compensation (ECEC), 

employee benefits data (plan access, 

coverages, and provisions), Modeled 

Wage Estimates (MWE), and data used 

by the President’s Pay Agent. This data 

is used by compensation administrators 

and researchers in the public and 

private sectors. Data from the NCS are 

used to help in determining monetary 

policy (as a Principal Federal Economic 

Indicator). The integrated program’s 

single sample produces both time-series 

indexes and cost levels for industry and 

occupational groups, thereby increasing 

the analytical potential of the data. 

The NCS employs probability 

methods for selection of occupations, 

which ensures that sampled 

occupations represent all occupations in 

the workforce, while minimizing the 

reporting burden on respondents. The 

survey collects data from a sample of 

employers. These data will consist of 

information about the duties, 

responsibilities, and compensation 

(earnings and benefits) for a sample of 

occupations for each sampled employer. 

Data will be updated on a quarterly 

basis. The updates will allow for 

production of data on change in 

earnings and total compensation. 

II. Current Action 

Office of Management and Budget 

clearance is being sought for an 

extension of the NCS. 

The NCS collects earnings and work 

level data on occupations for the nation. 

The NCS also collects information on 

the cost, provisions, and incidence of 

major employee benefits through its 

benefit cost and benefit provision 

publications. 

The BLS has been using a revised 

approach to the Locality Pay Survey 

(LPS) component of the NCS; this uses 

data from two current BLS programs— 

the Occupational Employment and 

Wage Statistics (OEWS) survey and the 

NCS program. This approach uses 

OEWS data to provide wage data by 

occupation and by area, while NCS data 

are used to specify grade level effects. 

This approach is also being used to 

extend the estimation of pay gaps to 

areas that were not included in the prior 

Locality Pay Survey sample, and these 

data have been delivered to the Pay 

Agent (in 2023, data for 115 areas were 

delivered). 

The NCS has a national survey design. 

The NCS private industry sample is on 

a three-year rotational cycle, with one 

frozen sample year every ten years for 

the NCS private industry sample when 

a new NCS State and local government 

sample starts (approximately in 2025). 

The NCS continues to provide 

employee benefit provision and 

participation data. These data include 

estimates of how many workers receive 

the various employer-sponsored 

benefits. The data also include 

information about the common 

provisions of benefit plans. 

NCS collection will use a number of 

collection forms having unique private 

industry and government initiation and 

update collection forms and versions. 

For NCS update collection, the forms or 

screens give respondents their 

previously reported information, the 

dates they expected change to occur to 

these data, and space for reporting these 

changes. 

For electronic collection, the NCS 

uses a Web-based system (Web-Lite) that 

allows NCS respondents, using Secure 

Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption and the 

establishment’s schedule number, to 

upload data files to a secure BLS server 

that forwards those files to the assigned 

BLS field economist. 

Some benefits, called ‘‘Other 

benefits,’’ data are collected to track the 

emergence of new or changing benefits 

over time. The BLS only asks whether 

sampled occupations receive these 

benefits and periodically modifies this 

list. 

III. Desired Focus of Comments 

The Bureau of Labor Statistics is 

particularly interested in comments 

that: 

• Evaluate whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the proper performance of the 

functions of the agency, including 

whether the information will have 

practical utility. 

• Evaluate the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden of the 

proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used. 

• Enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected. 

• Minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on those who 

are to respond, including through the 

use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology, 

e.g., permitting electronic submissions 

of responses. 

Title of Collection: National 

Compensation Survey. 

OMB Number: 1220–0164. 

Type of Review: Extension of a 

currently approved collection. 

Affected Public: Businesses or other 

for-profit; not-for-profit institutions; and 

State, local, and tribal governments. 

Affected Public: Businesses or other 

for-profit; not-for-profit institutions; and 

State, local, and tribal governments. 

Total Respondents: 19,567 (three-year 

average). 

All figures are based on a three-year 

average. The total responses are higher 

as some respondents are contacted 

multiple times. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 216 / Thursday, November 9, 2023 / Notices 77365 

Respondents 

Average 

responses 

per year 

Total number 

of responses 

Average 

minutes 

Total 

hours 

Three-year average ............................................................. 19,567 2.7545 53,897 46.1603 41,465 

COLLECTION FORMS

National Compensation Survey (Private Industry sample).NCS 24–1P, NCS 24–2P, NCS 24–5P, NCS– 

9P, SO–1003P, E-update, SO100BF–1GP, 

IDCF.

Establishment Form, Earnings Form, Benefits 

Form, Earning Update Form, Benefits Update Form, E-update Screen, Benefits Update Fillable Form, NCS IDCF Screen. 

National Compensation Survey (State and local 

government sample).

NCS 24–1G, NCS 24–2G, NCS 24–5G, 

NCS–9G, SO–1003G, E-update, 

SO100BF–1GP, IDCF.

Establishment Form, Earnings Form, Benefits 

Form, Earning Update Form, Benefits Update Form, E-update Screen, Benefits Update Fillable Form, NCS IDCF Screen. 

Comments submitted in response to 

this notice will be summarized and/or 

included in the request for Office of 

Management and Budget approval of the 

information collection request; they also 

will become a matter of public record. 

Signed at Washington, DC, this 3rd day of 

November 2023. 

Eric Molina, 

Chief, Division of Management Systems, 

Branch of Policy Analysis. 

[FR Doc. 2023–24732 Filed 11–8–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4510–24–P 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Mine Safety and Health Administration 

Petition for Modification of Application 

of Existing Mandatory Safety Standard; 

Correction 

AGENCY: Mine Safety and Health 

Administration, Labor. 

ACTION: Notice; correction. 

SUMMARY: This notice amends a petition 

for modification published in the 

Federal Register on October 19, 2023, 

for Peabody Midwest Mining, LLC, CR 

725 East, Francisco, Indiana 47699. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: S. 

Aromie Noe, Office of Standards, 

Regulations, and Variances at 202–693– 

9440 (voice), Petitionsformodification@

dol.gov (email), or 202–693–9441 (fax). 

[These are not toll-free numbers.] 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Correction 

This notice corrects the docket 

number cited in the notice. Docket 

Number M–2023–021–C is incorrectly 

referenced in the Federal Register, 88 

FR 72106, October 19, 2023, first 

column. The correct Docket Number is 

M–2023–024–C. 

Song-ae Aromie Noe, 

Director, Office of Standards, Regulations, 

and Variances. 

[FR Doc. 2023–24835 Filed 11–8–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND 

BUDGET 

Privacy Act of 1974; System of 

Records 

AGENCY: Office of Management and 

Budget. 

ACTION: Notice of a new system of 

records. 

SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Privacy Act of 

1974 and Office of Management and 

Budget Circular No. A–108, Federal 

Agency Responsibilities for Review, 

Reporting, and Publication under the 

Privacy Act, notice is hereby given that 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) is establishing the following new 

system of records: ‘‘OMB Freedom of 

Information Act and Privacy Act 

Requests System of Records, OMB/ 

FOIAPA/01.’’ This system covers all 

information pertaining to Freedom of 

Information (FOIA) or Privacy Act 

requests and information relating to 

other agencies’ FOIA or Privacy Act 

requests received through the National 

FOIA Portal (www.foia.gov), email, 

hardcopy communications, and other 

authorized means, including OMB’s 

FOIA and Privacy Act tracking, 

management, reporting, and e-Discovery 

software and tools. This system also 

covers information pertaining to any 

administrative appeals or litigation 

relating to FOIA or Privacy Act requests 

to OMB or to another agency. 

DATES: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 

552a(e)(4) and (11), this system of 

records notice (SORN) is effective upon 

its publication in today’s Federal 

Register, with the exception of the 

routine uses, which are subject to a 30- 

day comment period, and will be 

effective December 11, 2023. Please 

submit any comments on or before 

December 11, 2023. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by: 

Email: SORN@omb.eop.gov. 

Instructions: All submissions must 

contain the subject heading ‘‘OMB 

FOIA/PA Requests System.’’ 

Privacy Act Statement: Submission of 

comments is voluntary. The information 

will be used to inform sound decision 

making. Please note that all comments 

received in response to this notice may 

be posted or released in their entirety, 

including any personal and business 

confidential information provided. Do 

not include any information you would 

not like to be made publicly available. 

Additionally, the OMB System of 

Records Notice, OMB Public Input 

System of Records, OMB/INPUT/01 

includes a list of routine uses associated 

with the collection of this information. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

general questions and privacy issues, 

please contact Shraddha A. Upadhyaya 

by email at SORN@omb.eop.gov or by 

phone at (202) 395–9225. You must 

include ‘‘OMB FOIA/PA Requests 

System’’ in the subject line. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 

1974, 5 U.S.C. 552, and the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB), 

Circular No. A–108, OMB proposes to 

create a new system of records for OMB 

titled, ‘‘OMB Freedom of Information 

Act and Privacy Act Requests System of 

Records, OMB/FOIAPA/01’’ (OMB 

FOIA/PA Requests System).’’ 

The OMB FOIA/PA Requests System 

covers all information related to 

Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with NOTICES1