55198 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 205 / Thursday, October 23, 1997 / Proposed Rules

Backup: Wayne Pachall, Texaco, Inc.,

P.O. Box 4325, Houston, TX 77210,

(713) 752–7412, Fax: (713) 752–4660

Royalty Policy Committee

David Blackmon, Burlington Resources,

801 Cherry, Suite 700, Fort Worth, TX

76102, (817) 347–2354, Fax: (817)

347–2877

State and Tribal Royalty Audit

Committee

George Staigle, North Dakota State

Auditor’s Office, Royalty Audit

Section, P.O. Box 3009, Bismark, ND

58502–3009, (701) 250–4682, Fax:

(701) 250–4686

Western Governors’ Association

Paul Kruse, State of Wyoming,

Herschler Building, 3 West, 121 West

25th Street, Cheyenne, WY 82002–

0600, (307) 777–7331, Fax: (307) 777–

5400

Western States Land Commissioners

Association

Roger Melson, Oklahoma

Commissioners of the Land Office,

P.O. Box 26910, Oklahoma City, OK

26910, Phone: (405) 271–1000, Fax:

(405) 271–2500.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: President

Clinton signed the Federal Oil and Gas

Royalty Simplification and Fairness Act

(RSFA) on August 13, 1996, to improve

the management of royalties from

Federal oil and gas leases. This is the

first major legislation affecting royalty

management since the Federal Oil and

Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982

(FOGRMA) was passed in January 1983.

In our Federal Register Notice dated

October 30, 1996 (61 FR 55941), MMS

listed key issues involved in

implementing RSFA. This workshop

will focus on some of those key issues.

Potential discussion topics include:

Interest on Overpayments

• Accepting Interest Payments and

Reporting from ‘‘Designees’’ on

Underpayments.

• Reporting and Paying Interest on

Overpayments.

Assessing for Chronic Erroneous

Reporting Takes/Entitlements

• Marginal Properties exception to

RSFA entitlements reporting

requirements.

• Reporting requirements on takes/

entitlement basis.

Marginal Properties

• Providing Accounting, Reporting,

and Auditing Relief for Marginal

Properties.

• Allowing for Prepayments of Future

Revenue Streams.

For each of these issues, MMS plans

to describe work to date including any

decision reached. MMS will also

discuss the status of regulations,

systems changes, and process

implementation for each of these key

issues. We will also focus on aspects of

these key issues where we believe State

and industry feedback is needed before

we go further in implementation.

In order to accomplish a broad based

fact finding on how the requirements of

RSFA affect our customers and

stakeholders, comments from the public

are encouraged on any issue related to

implementing RSFA. In addition to

attendance at this workshop, comments

can be made in writing and sent directly

to MMS using instructions in the

ADDRESSES part of this notice.

Dated: October 16, 1997.

Lucy Querques Denett,

Associate Director for Royalty Management.

[FR Doc. 97–28088 Filed 10–22–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service

30 CFR Part 206

RIN 1010–AC09

Public Meeting on Proposed Rule;

Establishing Oil Value for Royalty Due

on Federal Leases

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service,

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of public workshop and

reopening of comment period.

SUMMARY: The Minerals Management

Service (MMS) has reopened the public

comment period under a proposed rule

published in the Federal Register on

January 24, 1997 (62 FR 3742),

amending the royalty valuation

regulations for crude oil produced from

Federal leases. In the July 3, 1997,

Federal Register (62 FR 36030), we

published a supplementary notice of

proposed rulemaking. We received a

variety of comments on the proposed

and supplementary proposed rules. In

the September 22, 1997, Federal

Register (62 FR 49460), we published a

summary of these comments, outlined

alternatives for proceeding with further

rulemaking, and requested public

comment on those or other suggested

alternatives. MMS now extends the

comment period to November 5, 1997.

MMS will hold a public workshop to

discuss alternatives for proceeding with

the rulemaking. The purpose of this

workshop is to obtain comments on the

alternatives described in the September

22, 1997, Federal Register notice, or any

new alternatives or modifications to the

proposed alternatives for MMS’s

consideration. We are not requesting

comments on the original proposed rule

or the supplemental proposed rule, nor

on the summary of comments outlined

in the September 22, 1997, Federal

Register notice. Interested parties are

invited to attend and participate in this

workshop.

DATES: The public workshop will be

held from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. on October

27, 1997, Eastern time. MMS must

receive comments on or before

November 5, 1997.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held

at the Main Interior Building, Large

Buffet Room, in the Cafeteria, Basement

Floor, 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington,

D.C. 20240, telephone (202) 208–3512.

Mail written comments to: Minerals

Management Service, Royalty

Management Program, Rules and

Publications Staff, P.O. Box 25165, MS

3021, Denver, Colorado 80225–0165;

courier address is Building 85, Denver

Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225;

or e:Mail to DavidlGuzy@mms.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

David S. Guzy, Chief, Rules and

Publications Staff, Minerals

Management Service, Royalty

Management Program, P.O. Box 25165,

MS 3021, Denver, Colorado 80225–

0165, telephone (303) 231–3432, fax

number (303) 231–3385, e-Mail

DavidlGuzy@mms.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: MMS held

public workshops and meetings in the

oil producing areas of the U.S. where

the issues and alternatives about oil

valuation have been discussed.

Participants at these earlier workshops

and meetings requested more time to

submit comments. Also, we received

requests to hold an additional workshop

in the Washington, D.C. area.

Accordingly, a workshop is now

scheduled for October 27 in

Washington, D.C. The public is invited,

without advance registration, to further

discuss the alternatives. We encourage

members of the public to participate in

a discussion of the alternatives. For

building security measures, each person

will be required to present a picture

identification to gain entry to the

workshop. In order to allow for

sufficient time to comment on the

proposed alternatives, the comment

period is extended to November 5, 1997.

Dated October 17, 1997.

Lucy Querques Denett,

Associate Director for Royalty Management.

[FR Doc. 97–28087 Filed 10–22–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310–MR–P