30 CFR Part 243, Suspensions Pending Appeal and Bonding

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Title 30: Mineral Resources
PART 290—APPEAL PROCEDURES
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Subpart B—Appeals of Royalty Management Program and Delegated States Orders
§ 290.100 What is the purpose of this subpart?

This subpart tells you how to appeal Minerals Management Service (MMS) or delegated
State orders concerning reporting to the MMS Royalty Management Program (RMP) and
the payment of royalties and other payments due under leases subject to this subpart.
§ 290.101 What leases are subject to this subpart?

This subpart applies to:
(a) All Federal mineral leases onshore and on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS); and
(b) All federally-administered mineral leases on Indian tribal and individual Indian
mineral owners' lands, regardless of the statutory authority under which the lease was
issued or maintained.
§ 290.102 What definitions apply to this subpart?

Assessment means any fee or charge levied or imposed by the Secretary or a delegated
State other than:
(1) The principal amount of any royalty, minimum royalty, rental, bonus, net profit share
or proceed of sale;
(2) Any interest; or
(3) Any civil or criminal penalty.
Delegated State means a State to which MMS has delegated authority to perform royalty
management functions under an agreement or agreements under regulations at 30 CFR
part 227.
Designee means the person designated by a lessee under 30 CFR 218.52 to make all or
part of the royalty or other payments due on a lease on the lessee's behalf.
IBLA means the Interior Board of Land Appeals.
Indian lessor means an Indian tribe or individual Indian mineral owner with a beneficial
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or restricted interest in a property that is subject to a lease issued or administered by the
Secretary on behalf of the tribe or individual Indian mineral owner.
Lease means any agreement authorizing exploration for or extraction of any mineral,
regardless of whether the instrument is expressly denominated as a “lease,” including any:
(1) Contract;
(2) Net profit share arrangement;
(3) Joint venture; or
(4) Agreement the Secretary approves under the Indian Mineral Development Act, 25
U.S.C. 2101 et seq.
Lessee means any person to whom the United States, or the United States on behalf of an
Indian tribe or individual Indian mineral owner, issues a lease subject to this subpart, or
any person to whom all or part of the lessee's interest or operating rights in a lease subject
to this subpart has been assigned.
Notice of Order means the notice that MMS or a delegated State issues to a lessee that
informs the lessee that MMS or the delegated State has issued an order to the lessee's
designee.
Obligation means:
(1) A lessee's, designee's or payor's duty to:
(i) Deliver oil or gas royalty in kind; or
(ii) Make a lease-related payment, including royalty, minimum royalty, rental, bonus, net
profit share, proceeds of sale, interest, penalty, civil penalty, or assessment; and
(2) The Secretary's duty to:
(i) Take oil or gas royalty-in-kind; or
(ii) Make a lease-related payment, refund, offset, or credit, including royalty, minimum
royalty, rental, bonus, net profit share, proceeds of sale, or interest.
(3) The obligations identified in paragraphs (1)(i) and (2)(i) of this definition are
nonmonetary obligations. The obligations identified in paragraphs (1)(ii) and (2)(ii),
including the requirement to compute the amount of such obligations, are monetary
obligations.
Order for purposes of this subpart only, means any document issued by the MMS
Director, MMS RMP, or a delegated State that contains mandatory or ordering language
that requires the recipient to do any of the following for any lease subject to this subpart:
report, compute, or pay royalties or other obligations, report production, or provide other
information.
(1) Order includes:
(i) An order to pay or to compute and pay; and
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(ii) An MMS or delegated State decision to deny a lessee's, designee's, or payor's written
request that asserts an obligation due the lessee, designee or payor.
(2) Order does not include:
(i) A non-binding request, information, or guidance, such as:
(A) Advice or guidance on how to report or pay, including a valuation determination,
unless it contains mandatory or ordering language; and
(B) A policy determination;
(ii) A subpoena;
(iii) An order to pay that MMS issues to a refiner or other person involved in disposition
of royalty taken in kind; or
(iv) A Notice of Noncompliance or a Notice of Civil Penalty issued under 30 U.S.C. 1719
and 30 CFR part 241, or a decision of an administrative law judge or of the IBLA
following a hearing on the record on a Notice of Noncompliance or Notice of Civil
Penalty.
Party means MMS, any person who files a Notice of Appeal, and any person who files a
Notice of Joinder in an appeal under this subpart.
§ 290.103 Who may file an appeal?

(a) If you receive an order that adversely affects you or your lessee, you may appeal that
order except as provided under §290.104.
(b) If you are a lessee and you receive a Notice of Order, and if you contest the order, you
may either appeal the order or join in your designee's appeal under §290.106.
§ 290.104 What may I not appeal under this subpart?

You may not appeal:
(a) An action that is not an order, as defined in this subpart; or
(b) A determination of the surety amount or financial solvency under 30 CFR part 243,
subparts B or C.
§ 290.105 How do I appeal an order?

(a) You may appeal an order to the Director, Minerals Management Service (MMS
Director), by filing a Notice of Appeal in the office of the official issuing the order within
30 days from service of the order.
(1) Within the same 30-day period, you must file in the office of the official issuing the
order a statement of reasons or written arguments or briefs that include the arguments on
the facts or laws that you believe justify reversal or modification of the order.
(2) If you are a designee, when you file your Notice of Appeal you must serve your
Notice of Appeal on the lessees for the leases in the order you appealed.
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(b) You may not request and will not receive an extension of time for filing the Notice of
Appeal.
(c) If the office of the official issuing the order does not receive the Notice of Appeal
within the time provided in paragraph (a) of this section, the Notice of Appeal will be
considered timely if the office of the official issuing the order receives:
(1) The Notice of Appeal not later than 10 days after the required filing date; and
(2) The officer with whom the Notice of Appeal must be filed determines that the Notice
of Appeal was transmitted to the proper office before the filing deadline in paragraph (a)
of this section.
(d) If the Notice of Appeal is filed after the grace period provided in paragraph (c) of this
section and was not transmitted to the proper office before the filing deadline in paragraph
(a) of this section, the MMS Director will not consider the Notice of Appeal and the case
will be closed.
(e) The officer with whom the Notice of Appeal is filed will send the appeal and
accompanying papers to the MMS Director.
(f) The MMS Director will review the record and render a decision in the case.
(g) If an order involves Indian leases, the Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs will
exercise the functions vested in the MMS Director.
§ 290.106 How do lessees join a designee's appeal and how does joinder affect the appeal?

(a) If you are a lessee, and your designee files an appeal under §290.103, you may join in
that appeal within 30 days after you receive your designee's Notice of Appeal under
§290.105(a)(2) by filing a Notice of Joinder with the office or official that issued the
order.
(b) If you join in an appeal under paragraph (a) of this section, you are deemed to appeal
the order jointly with the designee, but the designee must fulfill all requirements imposed
on appellants under this subpart and 43 CFR part 4, subparts E and J. You may not file
submissions or pleadings separately from the designee.
(c) If you are a lessee and you neither appeal nor join in your designee's appeal under this
section, your designee's actions with respect to the appeal and any decisions in the appeal
bind you.
(d) If you are a designee and you decide to discontinue participation in the appeal, you
must serve written notice within 30 days before the next submission or pleading is due on:
(1) All lessees who have joined in the appeal under paragraph (a) of this section;
(2) The office or officer with whom any subsequent submissions or pleadings must be
filed, including the IBLA; and
(3) All other parties to the appeal.
(e) If you have joined in the appeal under paragraph (a) of this section, and if the designee
notifies you under paragraph (d) of this section that it declines to further pursue the
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appeal, you become an appellant and must then meet all requirements of this subpart and
43 CFR part 4, subparts E and J, as the appellant.
§ 290.107 Where are the rules concerning the effect of the Department not issuing a decision in my
appeal within the statutory time frame?

If your appeal involves monetary or nonmonetary obligations under Federal oil and gas
leases, the rules concerning the effect of the Department not issuing a final decision in
your appeal within the 33-month period prescribed under 30 U.S.C. 1724(h) are located in
43 CFR part 4, subpart J.
§ 290.108 How do I appeal to the IBLA?

Any party to a case adversely affected by a final decision of the MMS Director or the
Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs under this subpart shall have a right of appeal to
the IBLA under the procedures provided in 43 CFR part 4, subpart E.
§ 290.109 How do I request an extension of time?

(a) If you are a party to an appeal under this subpart, and you need additional time after
the appeal commences under 43 CFR 4.904 for any purpose:
(1) You may obtain an extension of time under this section; and
(2) You must submit a written request for an extension of time to:
(i) The office or official with whom you must file a document before the required filing
date; or
(ii) If you are not seeking an extension of time to file a document, to the office or official
before whom the appeal is pending.
(b) If you are an appellant, and if your appeal involves monetary or nonmonetary
obligations under Federal oil and gas leases, you must agree in writing in your request to
extend the period in which the Department must issue a final decision in your appeal
under 30 U.S.C. 1724(h) and 43 CFR 4.906, by the amount of time for which you are
requesting an extension.
(c) If you are any other party to an appeal involving monetary or nonmonetary obligations
under Federal oil and gas leases, the office or official with whom you must file the request
may require you to submit a written agreement signed by the appellant to extend the
period in which the Department must issue a final decision in the appeal under 43 CFR
4.906, by the amount of time for which you are requesting an extension.
(d) The office or official with whom you must file your request may decline any request
for an extension of time.
(e) You must serve your request on all parties to the appeal.
§ 290.110 How do I exhaust administrative remedies?

(a) To exhaust administrative remedies, you must appeal an MMS Royalty Management
Program (RMP) or delegated State order:
(1) To the MMS Director (or the Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs when Indian
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lands are involved); and
(2) Subsequently to the Interior Board of Land Appeals under 30 CFR part 290, subpart
B, and 43 CFR part 4.
(b) This section does not apply if an order was made effective by:
(1) The Director;
(2) The Assistant Secretary for Land and Minerals Management;
(3) The Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs; or
(4) The Interior Board of Land Appeals under 43 CFR part 4.
[64 FR 50753, Sept. 20, 1999]
§ 290.111 How will MMS and delegated States serve official correspondence?

(a) Method of service. The Royalty Management Program (RMP) or a delegated State will
serve official correspondence by sending the document by certified or registered mail,
return receipt requested, to the addressee of record established in paragraph (b) of this
section. Instead of certified or registered mail, RMP or a delegated State may deliver the
document personally to the addressee of record and obtain a signature acknowledging the
addressee's receipt of the document. Official correspondence includes all orders that are
appealable under this subpart.
(b) Addressee of record. (1) The addressee of record for administrative correspondence
for refiners participating in the Government's Royalty-in-Kind (RIK) Program is the
position title, department name and address, or individual name and address identified in
the executed royalty oil sale contract. The refiner/purchaser may identify, in writing, a
different position title, department name and address, or individual name and address for
billing purposes. The refiner must notify MMS, in writing, of all addressee changes.
(2) The addressee of record for serving official correspondence on anyone required to
report energy and mineral resources removed from Federal and Indian leases to the RMP
Production Accounting and Auditing System is the most recent position title, department
name and address, or individual name and address that RMP has in its records for the
reporter/payor. The reporter/payor is responsible for notifying RMP, in writing, of any
addressee changes.
(3) The addressee of record for serving official correspondence concerning onshore
Federal leases is the current lessee of record with the Bureau of Land Management. For
Indian leases, the addressee of record is the current lessee of record with the Bureau of
Indian Affairs. For offshore leases, the addressee of record is the current lessee of record
with the MMS Offshore Minerals Management Program. The lessee is responsible for
notifying the appropriate Government office of any addressee changes.
(4) The addressee of record for serving official correspondence in connection with
reviews and audits of payor records is the position title, department name and address, or
individual name and address designated, in writing, by the company at the initiation of the
audit, or the most recent addressee that was specified, in writing, by the payor.
(5) The addressee of record for serving official correspondence relating to reporting on the
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“Report of Sales and Royalty Remittance” (Form MMS–2014) is the most recent position
title, department name and address, or individual name and address specified, in writing,
by the payor. The payor is responsible for notifying RMP, in writing, of any addressee
changes.
(6) The addressee of record for serving official correspondence in connection with
remittances pertaining to rental and bonuses from nonproducing Federal leases is the most
recent position title, department name and address, or individual name and address
maintained in RMP records. The payor is responsible for notifying RMP, in writing, of
any addressee changes.
(7) The addressee of record for serving official correspondence including orders,
demands, invoices, or decisions, and other actions identified with payors reporting to the
RMP Auditing and Financial System not identified above is the position title, department
name and address or individual name and address for the payor identified on the most
recent Payor Confirmation Report (Report No. RPI140R1) of a Payor Information Form
(PIF) (Form MMS–4025 or Form MMS–4030) returned by RMP to the payor for the
Federal or Indian lease (see 30 CFR 210.51 and 210.201).
(8) If correspondence applies to more than one category identified in paragraphs (b)(1)
through (7) of this section, MMS may serve the official correspondence in accordance
with the requirements of any one paragraph.
(c) Dates of service. Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, MMS considers
official correspondence as served on the date that it is received at the address of record
established under paragraph (b) of this section. A receipt signed by any person at that
address is evidence of service. If official correspondence is served both personally and by
registered or certified mail, the date of service is the earlier of the two dates, if they are
different.
(d) Constructive service. (1) If delivery cannot be made after reasonable effort at the
address of record established under paragraph (b) of this section, MMS deems official
correspondence as constructively served 7 days after the date that the document is mailed.
(2) This provision covers such situations as nondelivery because the addressee has moved
without filing a forwarding address, the forwarding order had expired, delivery was
expressly refused, or the document was unclaimed where the attempt to deliver is
substantiated by U.S. Postal Service authorities.
[64 FR 50753, Sept. 20, 1999]
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