64250 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR (DOI) 

Statement of Regulatory Priorities 

The Department of the Interior (DOI) 

is the principal Federal steward of our 

Nation’s public lands and resources, 

including many of our cultural 

treasures. We serve as trustee to Native 

Americans and Alaska natives and are 

responsible for relations with the island 

territories under United States 

jurisdiction. We manage more than 500 

million acres of Federal lands, including 

391 park units, 548 wildlife refuges, and 

approximately 1.7 billion of submerged 

offshore acres. This includes some of 

the highest quality renewable energy 

resources available to help the United 

States achieve the President’s goal of 

energy independence, including 

geothermal, solar, and wind. On March 

30, 2009, President Barack Obama 

signed into law the Omnibus Public 

Land Management Act of 2009. The Act 

Congressionally established the Bureau 

of Land Management’s National 

Landscape Conservation System 

(NLCS). The new law brings into NLCS 

nearly 928,000 acres of wilderness, one 

national monument, four conservation 

areas, 363 miles of wild and scenic 

rivers, and 40 miles of national scenic 

trails. 

The Department protects and recovers 

endangered species; protects natural, 

historic, and cultural resources; 

manages water projects that are a life 

line and economic engine for many 

communities in the West; manages 

forests and fights wildfires; manages 

Federal energy resources; educates 

children in Indian schools; and provides 

recreational opportunities for over 400 

million visitors annually in our national 

parks, public lands, national wildlife 

refuges, and recreation areas. 

We will continue to review and 

update our regulations and policies to 

ensure that they are effective and 

efficient, and that they promote 

accountability and sustainability. We 

will emphasize regulations and policies 

that: 

• Promote environmentally responsible 

and balanced development of 

renewable and conventional energy 

on our public lands and the Outer 

Continental Shelf; 

• Use the best available science to 

ensure that public resources are 

protected, conserved, and used 

wisely; 

• Adopt performance approaches 

focused on achieving cost-effective, 

timely results; 

• Improve the nation-to-nation 

relationship with American Indian 

tribes; 

• Promote partnerships with States, 

tribes, local governments, other 

groups, and individuals to achieve 

common goals; 

• Promote transparency, fairness, 

accountability, and the highest ethical 

standards while maintaining 

performance goals. 

Major Regulatory Areas 

DOI bureaus implement legislatively 

mandated programs through their 

regulations. Some of these regulatory 

activities include: 

• Developing onshore and offshore 

energy, including renewable energy, 

minerals, oil and gas, and other 

energy resources; 

• Managing migratory birds and 

preservation of certain marine 

mammals and endangered species; 

• Managing dedicated lands, such as 

national parks, wildlife refuges, NLCS 

lands, and American Indian trust 

lands; 

• Managing public lands open to 

multiple use; 

• Managing revenues from American 

Indian and Federal minerals; 

• Fulfilling trust and other 

responsibilities pertaining to 

American Indians; 

• Managing natural resource damage 

assessments; and 

• Managing assistance programs. 

Regulatory Policy 

How DOI Regulatory priorities support 

the President’s energy, resource 

management, environmental 

sustainability, and economic recovery 

goals 

Within the requirements and 

guidance in various Executive Orders, 

DOI’s regulatory programs seek to 

operate programs transparently, 

efficiently, and cooperatively while 

maximizing protection of our land, 

resources, and environment in a fiscally 

responsible way by: 

(1) Protecting Natural, Cultural and 

Heritage Resources. 

The Department’s mission includes 

protecting and providing access to our 

Nation’s natural and cultural heritage 

and honoring our trust responsibilities 

to tribes. We are committed to this 

mission and to applying laws and 

regulations fairly and effectively. Our 

priorities include protecting public 

health and safety, restoring and 

maintaining public lands, protecting 

threatened and endangered species, 

ameliorating land- and resourcemanagement problems on public lands, 

and ensuring accountability and 

compliance with Federal laws and 

regulations. 

The Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM) Wildlife Program continues to 

focus on maintenance and management 

of wildlife habitat to help ensure selfsustaining populations and a natural 

abundance and diversity of wildlife 

resources on public lands. BLMmanaged lands are vital to game species 

and hundreds of species of non-game 

mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. In 

order to provide for long-term 

protection of wildlife resources, 

especially given other mandated land 

use requirements, the Wildlife Program 

supports aggressive habitat conservation 

and restoration activities, many funded 

by partnerships with Federal, State, and 

non-governmental organizations. For 

instance, the Wildlife Program is 

restoring wildlife habitat across a multistate region to support species that 

depend upon sagebrush vegetation. 

Projects are tailored to address regional 

issues such as fire (as in the western 

portion of the sagebrush biome) or 

habitat degradation and loss (as in the 

eastern portion of the sagebrush biome). 

Additionally, BLM undertakes habitat 

improvement projects in partnership 

with a variety of stakeholders and 

consistent with State fish and game 

wildlife action plans and local working 

group plans. 

The National Park Service (NPS) is 

working with BLM and the U.S. Fish 

and Wildlife Service (FWS) to finalize a 

rule to implement Public Law 106-206, 

which directs the Secretary to establish 

a system of location fees for commercial 

filming and still photography activities 

on public lands. While commercial 

filming and still photography are 

generally allowed on Federal lands, 

managing this activity through a 

permitting process will minimize 

damage to cultural or natural resources 

and interference with other visitors to 

the area. This regulation would 

standardize the collection of location 

fees by DOI agencies. 

In 2007, the National Park Service 

developed a new winter use regulation 

for Yellowstone and Grand Teton 

National Parks and the John D. 

Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway. This 

2007 regulation replaced an interim rule 

that expired at the end of the 2006-2007 

winter season. It established an average 

daily entrance limit of 540 snowmobiles 


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(compared to 720 under the interim 

rule), continued the limit of 10 

snowmobiles for groups and guided 

tours, and established daily limits on 

snow coach entrances to the park. As 

required by court orders, NPS has 

reinstated the old interim rule pending 

development of an acceptable new rule 

to take its place. As the first steps 

toward developing this new rule, NPS 

published a proposed rule on November 

5, 2008, and reopened comment on this 

rule on July 24, 2009. The Service 

intends to issue a final rule that will 

remain in effect through the 2010-2011 

winter season and will allow 318 

snowmobiles and 78 snow coaches per 

day. 

In 2008, in consultation with an 

interagency work group, NPS began 

developing a proposed rule to provide 

more efficient and cost-effective 

management of federally owned 

archeological collections. At present, 

there is no legal procedure to 

deaccession items in Federal collections 

that are of ‘‘insufficient archeological 

interest,’’ i.e., they are of no further 

value to the science of archaeology, or 

to the integrity of the collection in 

which they are contained. This rule 

would free up space in collections and 

allow custodians to allocate more time 

and effort to care of remaining items. To 

ensure proper disposition of those 

archaeological items, the regulation 

contains: 

• Criteria to determine when material 

remains are of insufficient 

archeological interest and may be 

disposed; 

• Appropriate methods by which to 

dispose of archeological material 

remains in priority order; 

• Conditions that must be met in order 

to determine that if disposal is 

appropriate; 

• Procedures to notify concerned 

parties and solicit comments 

regarding a proposed disposition; 

• A requirement to publish in the 

Federal Register the disposition 

determination and a process to 

dispute it; and 

• Documentary requirements for full 

accountability of the disposition. 

The rule also requires assignment of 

a specific individual to be accountable 

for proper disposition. The rule is now 

undergoing final review and should be 

ready for publication in early 2010. 

(2) Sustainably Using Energy, Water, 

and Natural Resources. 

BLM has identified a total of 

approximately 20.6 million acres of 

public land with wind energy potential 

in the 11 western states and 

approximately 29.5 million acres with 

solar energy potential in the six 

southwestern states. There are over 140 

million acres of public land in western 

states and Alaska with geothermal 

resource potential. There is also 

significant wind and wave potential in 

our offshore waters. The National 

Renewable Energy Lab, a Department of 

Energy national laboratory, has 

identified more than 1,000 gigawatts of 

wind potential off the Atlantic coast - 

roughly equivalent to the Nation’s 

existing installed electric generating 

capacity - and more than 900 gigawatts 

of wind potential off the Pacific Coast. 

Due to the extent and distribution of 

public lands, the Department has an 

important role, in consultation with 

relevant Federal, State, regional, and 

local authorities, in siting new 

transmission lines needed to bring 

renewable energy assets to load centers. 

Since the beginning of the Obama 

Administration, the Department has 

focused on renewable energy issues and 

has established priorities for 

environmentally responsible 

development of renewable energy on 

our public lands and the outer 

continental shelf. Industry has started to 

respond by investing in development of 

wind farms off the Atlantic seacoast, 

solar facilities in the southwest, and 

geothermal energy projects throughout 

the west. Power generation from these 

new energy sources produces virtually 

no greenhouse gases and, when done in 

an environmentally sensitive manner, 

harnesses with minimum impact 

abundant renewable energy that nature 

itself provides. 

On March 11, 2009, the Secretary 

issued his first Secretarial Order that 

made facilitating the production, 

development, and delivery of renewable 

energy on public lands and the OCS top 

priorities at the Department. These goals 

will be accomplished in a manner that 

does not ignore, but instead protects, 

our signature landscapes, natural 

resources, wildlife, and cultural 

resources, and works in close 

collaboration with all relevant Federal, 

state, Tribal and other agencies. The 

order also established an energy and 

climate change task force within the 

Department, drawing from the 

leadership of each of the bureaus. The 

task force is responsible for, among 

other things, quantifying the potential 

contributions of renewable energy 

resources on our public lands and the 

OCS and identifying and prioritizing 

specific ‘‘zones’’ on our public lands 

where the Department can facilitate a 

rapid and responsible move to 

significantly increase production of 

renewable energy from solar, wind, 

geothermal, and biomass sources, and 

incremental or small hydroelectric 

power on existing structures. 

On April 29, 2009, the Minerals 

Management Service published a final 

rule to establish a program to grant 

leases, easements, and rights-of-way for 

renewable energy projects on the Outer 

Continental Shelf (OCS). These 

regulations will ensure the orderly, safe, 

and environmentally responsible 

development of renewable energy 

sources on the OCS. 

(3) Empowering People and 

Communities. 

The Department encourages public 

participation in the regulatory process 

by seeking public input on a variety of 

regulatory issues. For example, every 

year FWS establishes migratory bird 

hunting seasons in partnership with 

flyway councils composed of State fish 

and wildlife agencies. FWS also holds a 

series of public meetings to give other 

interested parties, including hunters 

and other groups, opportunities to 

participate in establishing the upcoming 

season’s regulations. 

Similarly, BLM uses Resource 

Advisory Councils (RACs) made up of 

affected parties to help prepare land 

management plans and regulations that 

it issues. 

The National Park Service has begun 

revising its rules on non-Federal 

development of gas and oil in units of 

the National Park System. Of the 

approximately 700 gas and oil wells in 

13 NPS units, 55 per cent, or 385 wells, 

are exempt from current regulations. In 

order to improve protection of NPS 

resources, and bring those 385 wells 

under the regulatory umbrella, revision 

of the regulation is necessary. NPS is 

encouraging public input into designing 

the rule by publishing an advance 

notice of proposed rulemaking. 

Interested members of the public will be 

able to make suggestions on the content 

of the regulation, which NPS will 

consider in writing the proposed rule. 

After developing a proposed rule, NPS 

will solicit further public comment. 

Publishing an advance notice of 

proposed rulemaking should result in a 

regulation that will minimize impacts 

from drilling, improve operating 

standards for oil and gas operations, and 

allow recovery of administrative costs. 


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64252 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 

Accountability and Sustainability 

Through Regulatory Efficiency 

We are using the regulatory process to 

improve results while easing regulatory 

burdens. For instance, the Endangered 

Species Act (ESA) allows for delisting 

threatened and endangered species if 

they no longer need the protection of 

the ESA. We are working to identify 

species for which delisting or 

downlisting (reclassification from 

endangered to threatened) may be 

appropriate. 

The Fish and Wildlife Service has 

found that making listing decisions 

under the Endangered Species Act in 

Hawaii on a traditional, species-byspecies basis is inefficient, since very 

similar information and analysis would 

be repeated in each rule. To improve 

efficiency, FWS has taken an approach 

that includes consideration of 48 

species in one regulatory package. This 

allows the Service to address the 

existing backlog of candidate species 

more quickly. Most candidate species 

on the Hawaiian Islands face nearly 

identical threats and are only found in 

the few remaining native-dominated 

ecological communities. The impacts of 

these threats are well understood at the 

community level, while their impacts to 

the individual candidate species are 

relatively less studied. Because this 

approach focuses on conserving the key 

physical and biological components of 

native communities and ecosystems, it 

may preclude the need to list additional 

species found in the same ecological 

communities. Recovery plans developed 

in response to the Kauai listing will 

focus conservation efforts on protection 

and restoration of ecosystem processes, 

allowing us to more efficiently address 

common threats in the most important 

areas. 

DOI bureaus work to make our 

regulations easier to comply with and 

understand. Our regulatory process 

ensures that bureaus share ideas on how 

to reduce regulatory burdens while 

meeting the requirements of the laws 

they enforce and improving their 

stewardship of the environment and 

resources. Results include: 

• Effective stewardship of our Nation’s 

resources in a way that is responsive 

to the needs of small businesses; 

• Increased benefits per dollar spent by 

carefully evaluating the economic 

effects of planned rules; and 

• Improved compliance and 

transparency by use of plain language 

in our regulations and guidance 

documents. 

Bureaus and Offices Within DOI 

Bureau of Indian Affairs 

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) 

administers and manages 56 million 

acres of land held in trust by the United 

States for Indians and Indian tribes, 

providing services to approximately 1.9 

million Indians and Alaska Natives, and 

maintaining a government-togovernment relationship with the 564 

federally recognized Indian tribes. BIA’s 

mission is to ‘‘... enhance the quality of 

life, to promote economic opportunity, 

and to carry out the responsibility to 

protect and improve the trust assets of 

American Indians, Indian tribes, and 

Alaska Natives,’’ as well as to provide 

quality education opportunities to 

students in Indian schools. 

In fiscal year 2010, BIA will continue 

its regulatory focus on improved 

management of trust responsibilities 

and promotion of economic 

development in Indian communities. In 

addition, we will focus on updating 

Indian education regulations and on 

other regulatory changes to increase 

transparency in support of the 

President’s Open Government Initiative. 

With the input of tribal leaders, 

individual Indian beneficiaries, and 

other subject matter experts, BIA has 

been examining ways to better serve its 

beneficiaries. The American Indian 

Probate Reform Act of 2004 (AIPRA) 

made clear that regulatory changes were 

necessary to update the manner in 

which we meet our trust management 

responsibilities. We have promulgated 

regulations implementing the probaterelated provisions of AIPRA and will 

now focus on regulations to implement 

other AIPRA provisions related to 

managing Indian land. 

The focus on promoting economic 

development in Indian communities, 

including development of renewable 

and conventional energy resources on 

tribal lands, is a core component of 

BIA’s mission. Economic development 

initiatives can attract businesses to 

Indian communities and fund services 

that support the health and well-being 

of tribal members. By providing the 

tools necessary to promote economic 

development, economic development 

can enable tribes to attain selfsufficiency, strengthen their 

governments, and reduce crime. 

Indian education is a top priority of 

the Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs. 

For this reason, we will review Indian 

education regulations to ensure that 

they adequately support efforts to 

provide students of BIA-funded schools 

with the best education possible. 

Finally, BIA’s regulatory focus on 

increasing transparency implements the 

President’s Open Government Initiative. 

We will ensure that all regulations that 

we draft or revise meet high standards 

of readability, and accurately and 

clearly describe BIA processes. 

Bureau of Land Management 

The Bureau of Land Management 

(BLM) manages 256 million acres of 

public lands, located primarily in the 

western states and Alaska, and the 700- 

million-acre subsurface mineral estate 

located throughout the Nation. Our 

complex mission to manage public 

lands for multiple uses means that we 

affect not only the many Americans who 

live near or visit public lands, but also 

millions more who benefit from 

minerals, energy, and timber produced 

from the lands’ rich resources. 

In carrying out our mission, we 

conserve natural and cultural resources 

and sustain the health and productivity 

of our public lands for the use and 

enjoyment of present and future 

generations. We manage such varied 

uses as energy and mineral 

development, outdoor recreation, 

livestock grazing, and forestry and 

woodlands products. In 2010 we will 

celebrate the tenth anniversary of the 

National Landscape Conservation 

System (NLCS), created to highlight the 

conservation side of our multiple-use 

mandate. Earlier this year, Congress, by 

passing the Omnibus Public Land 

Management Act (P.L. 111-11), affirmed 

its support of the NLCS in statute and 

added 929,000 acres of wilderness, one 

national monument, four national 

conservation areas, 363 miles of wild 

and scenic rivers, and 40 miles of 

national scenic and historic trails to the 

NLCS. There are now more than 880 

NLCS treasured landscapes spanning 

the Nation from Florida to Alaska. 

The diverse public lands managed by 

BLM contain vast potential for 

developing renewable energy resources 

such as wind, solar, and geothermal 

energy, as well as oil, gas, coal, and 

timber. We are analyzing proposals with 

the goal of increasing renewable energy 

development on public lands. We are 

also establishing transmission corridors 

to move renewable energy from 

production sites to market, and have 

taken a significant step in this direction 

by designating more than 5,000 miles of 

energy transport corridors as west-wide 

energy corridors. The next step is 

authorizing rights-of-way across public 

lands. 

We have identified several emphasis 

areas to help explain our regulatory 


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priorities. The narrative below describes 

these emphasis areas and explains their 

relationship with the Secretary of the 

Interior’s priorities in the areas of 

energy independence, treasured 

landscapes, and Native American 

issues. 

(1) Energy Independence 

The quality of life that Americans 

enjoy today depends upon a stable and 

abundant supply of affordable energy. 

Because BLM manages more Federal 

land than any other agency — 256 

million surface acres and 700 million 

sub-surface acres of mineral estate - we 

play a key role in ensuring that our 

country’s energy needs are met by 

managing both renewable and nonrenewable sources. We do this in an 

environmentally balanced and fiscally 

sound way that protects our natural 

resources and critical wildlife habitat 

for such species as the sage grouse and 

lynx. 

(2) Treasured Landscapes 

Protecting the landscape means 

moving toward a holistic, landscapelevel approach to managing multiple 

public land uses. To implement this 

approach, we work with partners 

interested in working on a broader scale 

across jurisdictional lines to achieve a 

common landscape vision. Our focus on 

restoring healthy landscapes includes: 

• Reducing the number of wild horses 

and burros on the public lands, 

particularly in areas most affected by 

drought and wildfire. Maintaining the 

wild horse and burro population at 

appropriate levels is critical to 

conserving forage resources that 

sustain native wildlife and livestock. 

• Restoring habitat for sensitive, rare, 

threatened, and endangered species, 

such as the sage grouse, desert 

tortoise, and salmon. 

• Supporting greater biodiversity 

through noxious weed and invasive 

species control to allow native plants 

to thrive. 

• Improving water quality by restoring 

riparian areas and protecting 

watersheds. Enhanced water quality 

aids in restoring habitat for fish and 

other aquatic and riparian species. 

• Conducting post-fire recovery efforts 

to promote healthy landscapes and to 

discourage the spread of invasive 

species. 

(3) Native American Issues 

BLM consults with Indian Tribes on 

a government-to-government basis, and 

we are comprehensively assessing and 

improving our tribal consultation 

practices. In August 2008, the BLM 

Director wrote to more than 600 tribal 

leaders asking about their experiences 

with BLM and their ideas on how we 

could improve our working 

relationship. We then held a follow-up 

listening session in Anchorage to 

coincide with the Alaska Federation of 

Natives Conference. We received many 

valuable comments at this session, 

which led to additional listening 

sessions in May through August 2009. 

One area of concern relates to the 

Native America Graves Protection and 

Repatriation Act (NAGPRA), which 

addresses the rights of Indian Tribes and 

Native Hawaiian organizations to 

certain human remains and objects of 

cultural patrimony. To comply with 

NAGPRA, we are inventorying and 

repatriating human remains and other 

cultural items in BLM museum 

collections. We are also consulting with 

Indian tribes on actions to take when 

human remains and cultural items 

subject to NAGPRA are discovered or 

excavated on public lands. 

We also work with the Bureau of 

Indian Affairs and the Minerals 

Management Service to help Indian 

tribes and individual allottees develop 

their solid and fluid mineral resources. 

We are responsible for protecting, 

developing, measuring, inspecting, and 

enforcing extraction operations of the 

mineral estate on properties held in 

trust for Native Americans. 

BLM’s Regulatory Priorities 

Our regulatory focus is directed 

primarily by the priorities of the 

President and Congress. These priorities 

include; 

• Facilitating balanced domestic 

production of various sources of 

energy, including oil and gas, 

biomass, wind, solar, and other 

alternative sources of energy; 

• Providing for a wide variety of public 

uses while maintaining the long-term 

health and diversity of the land and 

preserving significant natural, 

cultural, and historic resource values; 

• Understanding the varied ecosystems 

we manage and committing ourselves 

to using the best scientific and 

technical information to make 

resource management decisions; 

• Understanding the needs of the 

people who use BLM-managed public 

lands and providing them with 

quality service; 

• Securing the recovery of a fair return 

for using publicly owned resources 

and avoiding creation of long-term 

liabilities for American taxpayers; and 

• Resolving problems and 

implementing decisions in 

cooperation with other agencies, 

States, tribal governments, and the 

public. 

In developing regulations, we strive to 

ensure communication, coordination, 

and consultation with the public, 

including affected interests, tribes, and 

other stakeholders. We also work to 

draft regulations that are clearly written 

and easy for the public to understand. 

For the coming year, our specific 

regulatory goals include: 

(1) Revising onshore oil and gas 

operating standards 

BLM expects to revise existing 

onshore oil and gas operating orders and 

propose a new order. Onshore orders 

establish requirements, minimum 

standards, and standard operating 

procedures. They are binding on Federal 

and Indian (except Osage) oil and gas 

leases and on all wells and facilities on 

State or private lands covered by 

Federal agreements. In order to 

determine the proper royalty that a 

lessee must pay, BLM ensures that oil 

and gas is accurately measured for 

quantity and quality. To ensure that 

proper royalties are paid on oil and gas 

removed from Federal and trust lands, 

we plan to: 

• Revise existing Onshore Orders 

Numbers 3, 4, and 5 to use new 

industry standards that reflect current 

operating procedures and to require 

consistent use of proper verification 

and accounting. 

• Propose new Onshore Order Number 

9 to cover waste prevention and 

beneficial use. 

(2) Revising coal management 

regulations 

BLM plans to publish a proposed rule 

that would amend the coal management 

regulations governing Federal coal 

leases and logical mining units. The rule 

would implement provisions of the 

Energy Policy Act regarding 

administration of coal leases and clarify 

the royalty rate for continuous highwall 

mining, a new coal mining method used 

on some Federal coal leases. 

(3) Publishing rules on paleontological 

resources preservation 

The recently enacted omnibus public 

lands law included provisions on 

permits for collecting paleontological 

resources. BLM and the Park Service are 

co-leads of a team with the Forest 

Service that will be drafting a 


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paleontological resources rule. The rule 

would address the protection of 

paleontological resources and how we 

would permit the collection of these 

resources. The rule would also address 

other issues such as the administration 

of permits, causal collection of rocks 

and minerals, hobby collection of 

common invertebrate plants and fossils, 

and the civil and criminal penalties for 

violation of these rules. 

(4) Revising timber sale contract 

extension regulations 

We plan to amend the forest product 

disposal regulations governing forest 

product contracts. BLM regulations 

currently allow timber sale contract 

extensions under very limited 

circumstances and do not allow 

extensions for ‘‘market fluctuations.’’ 

Nor do they allow any reduction of 

contract value due to declines in the 

lumber market. The recent decline in 

the housing industry has resulted in a 

record decline in the timber market, 

leaving many purchasers of BLM timber 

sale contracts without a reasonable 

market in which to sell harvested 

timber. The revised rule would allow us 

to extend contracts under specified 

circumstances and provide more 

options to help maintain the logging and 

sawmilling infrastructure needed to 

manage the 66 million acres of publicly 

owned timber and woodland resources. 

Minerals Management Service 

The Minerals Management Service 

(MMS) collects, accounts for and 

disburses more than $13 billion per year 

in revenues from Federal offshore 

energy and mineral leases and from 

onshore mineral leases on Federal and 

Indian lands. The program is national in 

scope and has two major 

responsibilities. The first is timely and 

accurate collection, distribution, and 

accounting for revenues associated with 

mineral and energy production. The 

second is management and stewardship 

of the resources of the Outer Continental 

Shelf (OCS) in a manner that provides 

for safety, protection of the 

environment, and conservation of 

valuable natural resources. MMS carries 

out these broad responsibilities under 

authority of the Federal Oil and Gas 

Royalty Management Act, the Federal 

minerals leasing acts, the Outer 

Continental Shelf Lands Act, the Indian 

mineral leasing acts, and other related 

statutes. 

In 2009, MMS completed a major 

milestone by developing and codifying 

the regulatory framework for renewable 

energy projects on the OCS. We are now 

beginning to implement the regulatory 

provisions for developing the Nation’s 

offshore wind, wave, and ocean current 

resources in a safe and environmentally 

sound manner. Using cost-effective, 

targeted regulatory authority, we 

continue efforts to improve both the 

safety record and environmental 

protection of all production operations 

while ensuring fair value to the Federal 

Government, Indian Tribes, and 

taxpayers. 

Our regulatory focus for fiscal year 

2010 is directed by Presidential and 

legislative priorities that emphasize 

contributing to America’s energy 

supply, protecting the environment, and 

ensuring a fair return for taxpayers for 

energy production from Federal and 

Indian lands. 

Our regulatory priorities are to: 

• Continue to meet our Indian trust 

responsibilities 

We have a trust responsibility to 

accurately collect and disburse oil and 

gas royalties on Indian lands. MMS will 

increase royalty certainty by addressing 

oil valuation for Indian lands through a 

rulemaking process involving key 

stakeholders. 

• Determine the proper value of coal for 

advanced royalty purposes 

Implementing requirements in the 

Energy Policy Act of 2005, these 

regulations will provide clarification by 

redesignating and amending a BLM coal 

valuation directive. The rule will 

provide a needed alternative method to 

determine the value of coal for 

advanced royalty purposes. 

• Update pipelines and pipeline rightsof-way regulations 

We expect to publish a final rule 

revising the Outer Continental Shelf 

pipeline and pipeline rights-of-way 

regulations. This revised rule will 

reflect current industry practices and 

MMS policies for safe operations of 

pipelines on the OCS. 

• Update Oil and Gas Production 

Requirements 

The final rule revises requirements for 

oil and gas production rates, venting 

and flaring natural gas, and burning oil. 

The rule, which also adds a requirement 

to measure flared or vented gas at high 

volume oil production facilities, is 

expected to publish in FY 2010. 

Office of Surface Mining Reclamation 

and Enforcement 

The Office of Surface Mining 

Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) 

was created by the Surface Mining 

Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 

(SMCRA) to ‘‘strike a balance between 

protection of the environment and 

agricultural productivity and the 

Nation’s need for coal as an essential 

source of energy.’’ Title V of SMCRA 

sets minimum requirements for 

obtaining a permit for surface coal 

mining operations, sets performance 

standards for those operations, requires 

land reclamation once mining ends, and 

requires enforcement to ensure that the 

standards are met. Under SMCRA and 

later amendments we are the primary 

enforcer of the Act’s provisions until a 

State or Indian tribe achieves ‘‘primacy’’ 

by demonstrating that its regulatory 

program meets all of the specifications 

in the Act and is consistent with OSM 

regulations. 

When a primacy State or Indian tribe 

takes over permitting, inspection, and 

enforcement activities under its 

federally approved regulatory program, 

our role is to regulate mining activities 

and oversee and evaluate the State or 

tribal program. Today, 24 of the 26 coalproducing States have primacy. In 

return for assuming primacy, States are 

entitled to regulatory grants and 

abandoned mine lands grants under 

their abandoned mine lands programs. 

In addition, under cooperative 

agreements, some primacy States have 

agreed to regulate mining on Federal 

lands within their borders. In 2006, 

amendments to SMCRA allowed Indian 

tribes with coal resources to assume 

primacy. No tribes have done so to date, 

although three tribes have expressed an 

interest in submitting a tribal program. 

In summary, OSM regulates mining 

directly only in non-primacy States, on 

Federal lands in States where no 

cooperative agreements are in effect, 

and on Indian lands when the tribe does 

not have primacy. 

OSM has sought to develop and 

maintain a stable regulatory program for 

surface coal mining that is safe, costeffective, and environmentally sound. A 

stable regulatory program provides 

regulatory certainty so that coal 

companies know what is expected of 

them and citizens know how the 

program is being implemented and how 

they can participate. During the 

development and maintenance of its 

program, OSM has recognized the need 

to: (a) respond to local conditions, (b) 

provide flexibility to react to 

technological change, (c) be sensitive to 

geographic diversity, and (d) eliminate 

burdensome recordkeeping and 

reporting requirements that, over time, 

have proved unnecessary to ensure an 

effective regulatory program. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 64255 

OSM’s major regulatory priorities for 

the coming year are to: 

• Address issues resulting from the 

publication of the excess spoil/stream 

buffer zone rule in December 2008 

The publication of the excess 

spoil/stream buffer zone rule on 

December 12, 2008, has raised serious 

concerns about damage to the 

environment and has resulted in 

litigation. We intend to review those 

concerns and will initiate new 

rulemaking to address the issues raised. 

• Issue regulations establishing 

enforceable Federal standards for the 

placement of coal combustion 

byproducts (CCBs) in active and 

abandoned mines 

We intend to publish proposed and 

final regulations establishing permit 

application requirements and 

performance standards for the 

placement of CCBs on coal mining sites. 

The requirements will apply to active 

mining sites with permits for surface 

coal mining operations under Title V of 

SMCRA and to abandoned mine sites 

being reclaimed under Title IV of 

SMCRA. The rule will be designed to 

ensure that mining operations or 

reclamation projects where CCBs are 

placed incorporate adequate protections 

to safeguard the public and the 

environment. The proposed regulations 

will be based upon existing SMCRA 

authorities. Our decision to initiate 

rulemaking is the result of a study 

conducted by the National Research 

Council of the National Academies of 

Science, which recommended the 

establishment of enforceable Federal 

standards for the placement of CCBs on 

mine sites. 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

The mission of the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (FWS) is to work with 

others to conserve, protect, and enhance 

fish, wildlife, and plants and their 

habitats for the continuing benefit of the 

American people. FWS also helps 

ensure a healthy environment for people 

by providing opportunities for 

Americans to enjoy the outdoors and 

our shared natural heritage. 

• FWS fulfills its responsibilities 

through a diverse array of programs 

that: 

• Protect and recover threatened and 

endangered species; 

• Monitor and manage migratory birds; 

• Restore native aquatic populations 

and nationally significant fisheries; 

• Enforce Federal wildlife laws and 

regulate international trade; 

• Conserve and restore wildlife habitat 

such as wetlands; 

• Help foreign governments conserve 

wildlife through international 

conservation efforts; 

• Distribute Federal funds to States, 

territories, and tribes for fish and 

wildlife conservation projects; and 

• Manage the 96-million-acre National 

Wildlife Refuge System, which 

protects and conserves fish and 

wildlife and their habitats and allows 

the public to engage in outdoor 

recreational activities. 

Critical challenges to the work of FWS 

include: Global climate change; 

shortages of clean water suitable for 

wildlife; invasive species that are 

harmful to our fish, wildlife, and plant 

resources and their habitats; and the 

alienation of children and adults from 

the natural world. To address these 

challenges, FWS has identified six 

priorities: 

• National Wildlife Refuge System— 

conserving our lands and resources; 

• Landscape conservation—working 

with others; 

• Migratory birds—conservation and 

management; 

• Threatened and endangered species— 

achieving recovery and preventing 

extinction; 

• Connection between people and 

nature—ensuring the future of 

conservation; and 

• Aquatic species—the National Fish 

Habitat Action Plan (a plan that brings 

public and private partners together to 

restore U.S. waterways to sustainable 

health) and trust species. 

To carry out these priorities, FWS has 

a large regulatory agenda. FWS 

programs will conduct rulemaking to, 

among other things: 

• List, delist, and reclassify species on 

the List of Threatened and 

Endangered Species and designate 

critical habitat for certain listed 

species; 

• Update our regulations to carry out 

the Convention on International Trade 

in Wild Fauna and Flora; 

• Manage migratory bird populations; 

• Administer the subsistence program 

for harvesting fish and wildlife in 

Alaska; 

• Update our regulations to carry out 

the Wildlife and Sport Fish 

Restoration Program; and 

• Publish hunting and sport fishing 

regulations for the National Wildlife 

Refuge System. 

National Park Service 

NPS currently administers 

Commercial Use Authorizations (CUAs) 

under an interim policy, but needs a 

regulation to standardize fees; allow 

cost recovery by NPS where 

appropriate; ensure clear and consistent 

criteria for issuance of CUAs; and, 

where necessary, allow parks to limit 

and set conditions for limiting the 

number of authorizations issued. The 

regulation will also allow better 

enforcement of permit conditions, 

which promotes protection of park 

resources and public safety. NPS 

expects to publish the proposed rule in 

December 2009. 

In November 2006 the National Park 

Service completed a nearly 10-year 

public process to develop a management 

plan for the Colorado River in Grand 

Canyon National Park. The Service is 

now implementing the plan by 

developing regulations that: implement 

permit requirements for commercial 

river trips below a specified location in 

the canyon; update visitor use 

restrictions and camping closures; and 

eliminate unnecessary provisions in the 

current regulation. The proposed rule 

was published in the Federal Register 

on July 13, 2009, and the public 

comment period ended on September 

11, 2009. 

The National Park Service is working 

with the Bureau of Land Management 

and the Fish and Wildlife Service to 

finalize rules implementing Public Law 

106-206, which directs the Secretary to 

establish a reasonable fee system 

(location fees) for commercial filming 

and still photography activities on 

public lands. Although commercial 

filming and still photography are 

generally allowed on Federal lands, it is 

in the public’s interest to manage these 

activities through a permitting process. 

This will minimize the possibility of 

damage to the cultural or natural 

resources or interference with other 

visitors to the area. This regulation 

would standardize the collection of 

location fees by DOI agencies. 

Bureau of Reclamation 

The Bureau of Reclamation’s mission 

is to manage, develop, and protect water 

and related resources in an 

environmentally and economically 

sound manner in the interest of the 

American public. To accomplish this 

mission, we apply management, 

engineering, and science to achieve 


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64256 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 233 / Monday, December 7, 2009 / The Regulatory Plan 

effective and environmentally sensitive 

solutions. 

Reclamation projects provide: 

Irrigation water service, municipal and 

industrial water supply, hydroelectric 

power generation, water quality 

improvement, groundwater 

management, fish and wildlife 

enhancement, outdoor recreation, flood 

control, navigation, river regulation and 

control, system optimization, and 

related uses. We have increased security 

at our facilities and implemented our 

law enforcement authorization received 

in November 2001. 

Our regulatory program focus in fiscal 

year 2010 is to ensure that our mission 

and laws that require regulatory actions 

are carried out expeditiously, 

efficiently, and with an emphasis on 

cooperative problem solving by 

implementing two newly authorized 

programs: 

• Title I of Public Law 109-451 

authorizes establishment of a rural 

water supply program to enable the 

Bureau of Reclamation to coordinate 

with rural communities throughout 

the Western United States to identify 

their potable water supply needs and 

evaluate options for meeting those 

needs. Under the Act, we are 

finalizing a rule that will define how 

we will identify and work with 

eligible rural communities. We 

published an interim final rule on 

November 17, 2008, and expect to 

publish a final rule in 2010. 

• Title II of Public Law 109-451 

authorizes the Secretary of the 

Interior, through the Bureau of 

Reclamation, to issue loan guarantees 

to assist in financing: (a) rural water 

supply projects, (b) extraordinary 

maintenance and rehabilitation of 

Reclamation project facilities, and (c) 

improvements to infrastructure 

directly related to Reclamation 

projects. This new program will 

provide an additional funding option 

to help western communities and 

water managers to cost effectively 

meet their water supply and 

maintenance needs. Under the Act, 

we are working with the Office of 

Management and Budget to publish a 

rule that will establish criteria for 

administering the loan guarantee 

program. We published a proposed 

rule on October 6, 2008, and expect to 

publish a final rule in 2010. 

BILLING CODE 4310–RK–S 


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