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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 63 / Tuesday, April 4, 2017 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Fish and Wildlife Service
[FWS–R7–FHC–2017–N039; FF07CAMM00–
178–FXES111607MRG01]

Information Collection Request Sent to
the Office of Management and Budget
for Approval; Incidental Take of Marine
Mammals During Specified Activities
Fish and Wildlife Service,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice; request for comments.
AGENCY:

We (U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service) have sent an Information
Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) for
review and approval. We summarize the
ICR below and describe the nature of the
collection and the estimated burden and
cost. This information collection is
scheduled to expire on March 31, 2017.
We may not conduct or sponsor and a
person is not required to respond to a
collection of information unless it
displays a currently valid OMB control
number. However, under OMB
regulations, we may continue to
conduct or sponsor this information
collection while it is pending at OMB.
DATES: You must submit comments on
or before May 4, 2017.
ADDRESSES: Send your comments and
suggestions on this information
collection to the Desk Officer for the
Department of the Interior at OMB–
OIRA at (202) 395–5806 (fax) or OIRA_
[email protected] (email). Please
provide a copy of your comments to the
Service Information Collection
Clearance Officer, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, MS BPHC, 5275
SUMMARY:

Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041–
3803 (mail), or madonna_baucum@
fws.gov (email). Please include ‘‘1018–
0070’’ in the subject line of your
comments. You may review the ICR
online at http://www.reginfo.gov. Follow
the instructions to review Department of
the Interior collections under review by
OMB.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Christopher Putnam, Supervisory Fish
and Wildlife Biologist, Marine
Mammals Management, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, 1011 East Tudor Rd.,
MS 341, Anchorage, AK 99503–6199
(mail), or at christopher_putnam@
fws.gov (email).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Abstract
This information collection includes
requirements associated with specified
oil and gas industry activities and their
incidental taking of polar bears, Pacific
walruses, and northern sea otters in
Alaska. The Marine Mammal Protection
Act (MMPA) of 1972, as amended (16
U.S.C. 1361 et seq.), imposed, with
certain exceptions, a moratorium on the
taking of marine mammals. Section
101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA directs the
Secretary of the Interior to allow, upon
request by citizens of the United States,
the taking of small numbers of marine
mammals incidental to specified
activities (other than commercial
fishing) if the Secretary makes certain
findings and prescribes specific
regulations that, among other things,
establish permissible methods of taking.
Applicants seeking to conduct
activities must request a Letter of
Authorization (LOA) for the specific
activity and submit onsite monitoring
Number of
annual
respondents

Type of action

II. Data
OMB Control Number: 1018–0070.
Title: Incidental Take of Marine
Mammals During Specified Activities,
50 CFR 18.27 and 50 CFR 18, Subparts
I and J.
Service Form Number(s): None.
Type of Request: Extension of a
currently approved collection.
Description of Respondents: Oil and
gas industry companies.
Respondent’s Obligation: Required to
obtain or retain a benefit.
Estimated Number of Annual
Respondents: 20.
Frequency of Collection: On occasion.
Total annual
responses

Incidental Take of Marine Mammals—Application for Regulations1 ............................................................................
Incidental Take of Marine Mammals—LOA Requests ........
Incidental Take of Marine Mammals—Onsite Monitoring
and Observation Reports .................................................
Incidental Take of Marine Mammals—Final Monitoring Report ...................................................................................
Polar Bear Den Detection Report ........................................

20
4

1.25
1

25
4

Total ..............................................................................

84

........................

356

1
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Number of
responses
each

reports and a final report of the activity
to the Secretary. This is a nonform
collection. Regulations at 50 CFR 18.27
outline the procedures and
requirements for submitting a request.
Specific regulations governing
authorized activities in the Beaufort Sea
are in 50 CFR part 18, subpart J.
Regulations governing authorized
activities in the Chukchi Sea are in 50
CFR part 18, subpart I. These
regulations provide the applicant with a
detailed description of information that
we need to evaluate the proposed
activity and determine if it is
appropriate to issue specific regulations
and, subsequently, LOAs.
We use the information to verify the
findings required to issue incidental
take regulations, to decide if we should
issue an LOA, and, if issued, what
conditions should be included the LOA.
In addition, we analyze the information
to determine impacts to polar bears and
Pacific walruses and the availability of
those marine mammals for subsistence
purposes of Alaska Natives.

20
20

0.1
1.25

20

2
25

15

300

Average
completion
time (hours)
150
24
1.5
10
50
........................

Total annual
burden hours

300
600
450
250
200
1,800

Occurs once every 5 years.

Estimated Nonhour Cost Burden: We
estimate the nonhour cost burden to be
$200,000 for the Polar Bear Den
Detection Survey and Report (4
responses X $50,000 each).

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III. Comments
On January 11, 2017, we published a
notice in the Federal Register (82 FR
3350) informing the public of our intent
to request revisions of this information
collection and soliciting comments for
60 days. The public comment period

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closed on March 13, 2017. We received
six comments in response to that notice.
The comments and our responses are
summarized below.
Comment (1): The Marine Mammal
Commission (Commission) expressed
support for the information collection

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Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 63 / Tuesday, April 4, 2017 / Notices

request. The Commission stated that
they believe that the requested
information is necessary for the Service
to evaluate incidental take applications
and to determine whether to issue
incidental take regulations and
associated LOAs, as required under the
MMPA. The Commission also agrees
that the cost and burden estimates are
appropriate. The Commission suggested
that the Service should request that oil
and gas industry companies submit
information electronically (including
both the applications and monitoring
reports) and then make that information
publicly accessible, barring any
confidentiality concerns. The
Commission further suggested that the
Service make the collected information
publicly accessible consistent with the
manner in which the National Marine
Fisheries Service handles its incidental
take authorizations and regulations.
Our Response: We agree with the
Commission that our information
requests are necessary and appropriate
for us to meet our obligations under the
MMPA. We note that we recommend
that oil and gas industry companies
submit information electronically,
though we do accept information in a
variety of formats to accommodate
convenience. We collect information
primarily via electronic mail.
Information that is restricted for
confidentiality or privacy reasons is
summarized and anonymized prior to
public availability. The Service
periodically posts issued authorizations
and summaries of monitoring report
data on our Web site and in other public
media. The Service believes that we
provide the public access to relevant
information in a transparent manner
while also fulfilling our responsibility to
protect confidential information.
Comment (2): One commenter
opposed the killing of polar bears,
walrus, seals, or any other wildlife by
the oil and gas industry. The commenter
also thinks the Artic should not be open
to energy exploration and suggested
significant fines for anyone killing those
animals.
Our Response: The information
collection authorization, and the
associated MMPA incidental take
regulations, do not authorize the lethal
or injurious take of any wildlife,
including polar bears and walruses, nor
do they authorize any activities,
including oil and gas industry activities.
The MMPA provides for both civil and
criminal penalties for violations of the
MMPA. The commenter did not address
the information collection requirements,
and we did not make any changes to our
information collection; we therefore
have no further response.

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Comment (3): One commenter
claimed that the proposed information
collection does not comply with the
MMPA and that the proposed method of
information collection would constitute
an unlawful taking under the MMPA.
The commenter claimed that the
proposed information collection allows
for intentional takings of polar bears.
The commenter suggested that the
proposed information collection must
impose much stricter standards on
obtaining data. The commenter further
suggested that mandatory polar bear
disturbance mitigation requirements
should be imposed for any LOAs issued
under the MMPA incidental take
regulations.
Our Response: We disagree with the
commenter’s understanding and
interpretation of the MMPA, the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this information
collection authorization, and related
enacting regulations, terms, and
requirements. The commenter did not
address the information collection
requirements, and we did not make any
changes to our information collection;
we therefore have no further response.
Comments (4–6): Three oil and gas
industry companies operating in Alaska
and subject to our collection of
information under this authorization
provided substantially similar
comments. The commenters support our
request for information collection
authorization and agree that our
collection of information is necessary
and useful, is not overly burdensome at
current levels, and that our estimate of
the burden and costs associated with
collecting information is generally
accurate. However, the commenters
expressed a concern that the burden and
costs in certain cases are occasionally
greater than our estimate. For example,
the location and monitoring of maternal
polar bear dens or situations when
individual polar bears linger in an area
for an extended time require additional
monitoring. The commenters suggested
that it would improve the usefulness of
the collected information, and provide a
benefit for the regulated public, if the
Service would provide more frequent
public summaries and analyses of
collected information. For example, the
commenters suggested more frequent
summary and analysis of numbers of
reported polar bear observations. The
commenters also supported the
continued use of electronic methods of
information collection and reporting to
reduce the burden and increase
efficiency.
Our Response: We agree that our
collection of information from oil and
gas industry companies is necessary and

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useful, is not overly burdensome, and
that our estimate of the burden and
costs is generally accurate. Regarding
specific cases where the burden or cost
is greater than the estimate, we point
out that the estimate we provide is an
annualized average over the 3-year
period of the information collection
authorization for all of the regulated
public subject to our collection of
information. We are confident that the
overall estimates are generally accurate.
Nevertheless, we will continue to work
with the regulated public to ensure that
our information collection is not unduly
burdensome and that our estimates
accurately reflect reality. Furthermore,
we are currently developing additional
technological capability to collect
information electronically and to
enhance our ability to provide feedback
to the public with relevant information
products based on the information we
collect.
We again invite comments concerning
this information collection on:
• Whether or not the collection of
information is necessary, including
whether or not the information will
have practical utility;
• The accuracy of our estimate of the
burden for this collection of
information;
• Ways to enhance the quality, utility,
and clarity of the information to be
collected; and
• Ways to minimize the burden of the
collection of information on
respondents.
Comments that you submit in
response to this notice are a matter of
public record. Before including your
address, phone number, email 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 OMB in your comment to
withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that it will be done.
Authority: The authorities for this action
are the Marine Mammal Protection Act
(MMPA) of 1972, as amended (16 U.S.C. 1361
et seq.), and the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
Dated: March 30, 2017.
Tina A. Campbell,
Chief, Division of Policy, Performance, and
Management Programs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service.
[FR Doc. 2017–06649 Filed 4–3–17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4333–15–P

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