Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 66 / Wednesday, April 8, 2009 / Notices 16003 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

U.S. Geological Survey 

Agency Information Collection 

Activity; Mineral Resources External 

Research Program (MRERP) 

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of a new information 

collection. 

SUMMARY: To comply with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), we are notifying the public that 

we have submitted to OMB a new 

information collection request (ICR) for 

approval of the paperwork requirements 

for the Mineral Resources Program’s 

(MRP) Mineral Resources External 

Research Program (MRERP). To submit 

a proposal for the MRERP, a project 

narrative must be completed and 

submitted via http://Grants.gov. For 

multi-year projects, an annual progress 

report must be completed for all 

projects; a final technical report is 

required at the end of the project period. 

This notice provides the public an 

opportunity to comment on the 

paperwork burden of these project 

narrative and report requirements. The 

narrative and report guidance is 

available at http://www.usgs.gov/ 

contracts/Minerals/index.html. 

DATES: You must submit comments on 

or before May 8, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Please submit comments on 

this information collection directly to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) Office of Information and 

Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Desk 

Officer for the Department of the 

Interior via e-mail 

OIRA_DOCKET@omb.eop.gov; or fax 

(202) 395–5806; and identify your 

submission as 1028–NEW. Please also 

submit a copy of your comments to 

Phadrea Ponds, USGS Information 

Collection Clearance Officer, 2150–C 

Center Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80525 

(mail); (970) 226–9230 (fax); or 

pponds@usgs.gov (e-mail). Please 

reference Information Collection 1028– 

NEW, MRERP in the subject line. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To 

request additional information about 

this ICR, contact Jeff L. Doebrich by mail 

at U.S. Geological Survey, 913 National 

Center, Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, 

VA 20192 or by telephone at 703–648– 

6103. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

Through the MRERP, the MRP of the 

USGS offers an annual competitive 

grant and/or cooperative agreement 

opportunity to individuals, universities, 

State agencies, Tribal governments or 

organizations, and industry or other 

private sector organizations. Applicants 

must have the ability to conduct 

research in topics related to non-fuel 

mineral resources that meet the goals of 

the MRP. We will consider all researchbased proposals that address one of the 

MRP’s long-term goals. The long-term 

goals of the MRP, as described in its 

Five-Year Plan for FY 2006–2010 

(http://minerals.usgs.gov/plan/2006- 

2010/2006-2010_plan.html), are to 

ensure availability of: (1) Up-to-date 

quantitative assessments of potential for 

undiscovered mineral deposits, (2) upto-date geoenvironmental assessments 

of priority Federal lands, (3) reliable 

geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and 

mineral locality data for the United 

States, and (4) long-term data sets 

describing mineral production and 

consumption. Annual research priorities 

are provided as guidance for applicants 

to consider when submitting proposals. 

Annual research priorities are 

determined by USGS MRP management. 

Since the initiation of MRERP 2004, we 

have awarded more than $1.8 million to 

30 different research projects across the 

country. 

II. Data 

OMB Control Number: None: This is 

an existing collection without an OMB 

control number. 

Title: Mineral Resources External 

Research Program (MRERP). 

Respondent Obligation: Required to 

obtain or retain benefits. 

Frequency of Collection: Annually. 

Estimated Number and Description of 

Respondents: 35. Individuals, 

universities, State agencies, Tribal 

governments or organizations, and 

industry or other private sector 

organizations. 

Estimated Number of Annual 

Responses: 40 (35 applications and 5 

reports per year). 

Estimated Annual Reporting and 

Recordkeeping ‘‘Hour’’ Burden: 3,060. 

We expect to receive approximately 35 

applications, each taking 81 hours to 

complete. This includes the time for 

project conception and development, 

proposal writing and reviewing, and 

submitting project narrative through 

Grants.gov, (2,835 burden hours). We 

anticipate awarding an average of 5 

grants per year. Each grant recipient 

must complete and submit a final 

report. We estimate 45 hours to 

complete a report (totaling 225 hours). 

Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping ‘‘Non-Hour Cost’’ 

Burden: There are no ‘‘non-hour cost’’ 

burdens associated with this collection 

of information. 

III. Request for Comments 

We invite comments concerning this 

ICR on: (a) Whether the proposed 

collection of information is necessary 

for the agency to perform its duties, 

including whether the information is 

useful; (b) the accuracy of the agency’s 

estimate of the burden of the proposed 

collection of information; (c) ways to 

enhance the quality, usefulness, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the 

burden on the respondents, including 

the use of automated collection 

techniques or other forms of information 

technology. 

Comments that you submit in 

response to this notice are a matter of 

public record. We will include or 

summarize each comment in our request 

to OMB to approve this ICR. Before 

including your address, phone number, 

e-mail 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, we 

cannot guarantee that we will be able to 

do so. 

Dated: April 2, 2009. 

Kathleen Johnson, 

Program Coordinator, Mineral Resources 

External Research Program. 

[FR Doc. E9–7924 Filed 4–7–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4311–AM–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

U.S. Geological Survey 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: National Geological and 

Geophysical Data Preservation 

Program (NGGDPP) 

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). 

ACTION: Notice of a new information 

collection. 

SUMMARY: To comply with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), we are notifying the public that 

we have submitted to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) a new 

information collection request (ICR) for 

approval of the paperwork requirements 

for the National Geological and 

Geophysical Data Preservation Program 

(NGGDPP). This notice provides the 

public an opportunity to comment on 

the paperwork burden of the project 


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