1105-0025 Supporting Statement_111015

Supporting Statement for Information Collected for Federal Coal Lease Review
A.

Justification
1.

The Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act of 1976 ("FCLAA") provides
that no federal "coal lease may be issued, renewed, or readjusted ... until
at least thirty days after the Secretary of the Interior notifies the Attorney
General of the proposed issuance, renewal or readjustment. Such
notification shall contain such information as the Attorney General may
require in order to advise the Secretary as to whether such lease would
create or maintain a situation inconsistent with the antitrust laws." 30
U.S.C. § 184(1)(2)(1976). Regulations promulgated by the Department of
Interior ("Interior") provide that "[subsequent to a lease sale, but prior to
issuing a lease, [Interior] shall require the successful bidder to submit on a
form or in a format approved by the Attorney General information relating
to the bidder's coal holdings ... for transmittal to the Attorney General."
43 C.F.R. § 3422.3-4. Similar regulations apply to lease exchanges,
readjustments, and transfers. 43 C.F.R. §§ 3435.3-7, 3451.2 and 3453.2-2.
After careful consideration, the Department of Justice ("Department") has
determined that is requires the attached forms to be completed by
prospective lessees of federal coal leases in order to carry out its
responsibilities under the FCLAA.

2.

The information collected on the attached forms will be and has been used
by the Antitrust Division of the Department in reviewing individual
federal coal leases under FCLAA. Information about a prospective
lessee's coal holdings is critical to an analysis of the competitive effects of
a lease issuance.

3

The collection involves the potential coal lessee providing coal holdings
information on a form accessed on the website of the Antitrust Division of
the Department. The Department has modified the form so that the
potential lessee can now complete the form electronically or manually.
Once completed, the potential lessee prints and then submits the form to
the Interior's Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") office administering
the coal lease transaction. Per existing regulations, the B L M office
transmits the collected coal holding information to the Antitrust Division
when the B L M determines it is time to seek the Department's advice on
the lease transaction at issue. The B L M typically forwards about 20
responses per year to the Antitrust Division for review. As the B L M
determines when during the lease process it will seek the Department's
advise on a particular transaction, the Department does not think it
practicable to have the collected information submitted by the potential
coal lessee directly to the Department, electronically or otherwise. The
forms themselves seek limited, discrete types of information, e.g., the
amount of coal reserves the prospective lessee holds in specific geographic

regions of the United States. The Antitrust Division generally requires 30
minutes to review the information provided in the forms. Given the
discrete amount of information sought by the forms, the limited number of
submissions per year, and the ease of extracting from the forms the
information necessary for its antitrust review, the Department does not
believe receiving the collected information directly from potential lessees
electronically would enhance the Department's review of the collected
information or reduce the burden on the person completing the form.
4.

The Department of Energy and Interior have advised the Department that,
to the best of their knowledge, information similar to that requested by
these forms - current, detailed, and company-specific information
regarding an individual coal company's coal reserves - does not exist
elsewhere in the federal government.

5.

For the most part, the coal companies that constitute the prospective
federal coal lessees that will be completing these forms are not small
businesses. However, to the extent that some of the coal companies
seeking to obtain federal coal leases are small businesses, it should not be
a hardship for those companies to provide information regarding the
amount and location of their coal holdings in the manner requested by
these forms.

6.

These forms are the only practicable method of collecting information
regarding a prospective federal coal lessee's coal holdings. If the
Department did not have access to the coal reserve information requested
by these forms, the Department would not be able to perform its
responsibilities under the FCLAA.

7.

The only circumstance in which a prospective federal coal lessee would
have to report the information sought by these forms more than once per
quarter, would be in the unlikely event that the coal company was seeking
to obtain federal coal leases more than once per quarter.

8.

In developing the reporting criteria for these forms, the Department
consulted a number of outside sources. First, the Department contacted a
cross-section of coal reserve holders in the West and inquired as to how
they classified their coal holdings. The criteria adopted by the Department
appear to be consistent with the criteria they use. The companies
contacted were: Exxon U.S.A., Northern Coal Company, Peabody Coal
Company, Rocky Mountain Energy, Utah International, Inc., Utah Power
& Light Company, and Western Slope Carbon, Inc. Second, the
Department formulated the criteria on the form entitled "Western Federal
Coal Lease Form" in conjunction with ICF, Inc., a consulting firm that had
done extensive work on coal reserve information. ICF's participation in
this project was funded by Consolidation Coal Company, but the company

did not participate in the formulation of the criteria. Since these forms
have been in use, the Department has continued to consult informally with
companies about the clarity and other aspects of the forms. In addition,
both forms include an estimate of the respondent's burden in completing
the forms and invite any comments that the respondents might have
regarding the collection of information. Thus far, the Department has not
received any suggestions pursuant to this request detailing any means of
further minimizing the burden imposed.
9.

There are no payments made to respondents.

10.

Interior, the agency responsible for federal coal leasing, will direct
prospective lessees, as to where to find the forms. Interior will transmit
the completed forms to the Department for its review. The information
will be transmitted in a sealed envelope, and the Department will accord it
the fullest protection from disclosure permitted by law. The Department
believes that the information qualifies for the exception to disclosure
under the Freedom of Information Act that applies to "trade secrets and
commercial or financial information obtained from a person and
privileged or confidential." 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(4)(1976).

11.

The forms do not seek information of a sensitive nature, such as sexual
behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, or other matters that are
commonly considered private.

12.

The forms must be completed each time there is an issuance, transfer or
exchange of a federal coal lease. The number of lease issuances and
exchanges is controlled primarily by Interior. The number of lease
transfers is controlled by the coal companies holding the leases. The
Department estimates that there will be a total of 20 reviews of lease
issuances, transfers and exchanges per year for the foreseeable future. In
the past, prospective lessees rarely, i f ever make more than one application
per year. Thus, the Department anticipates collecting information from 20
coal companies per year. Based upon the available information about the
way in which companies maintain their coal reserve information,
completing these forms will not be burdensome. Companies that use
reserve criteria similar to those used in the forms should be able to
complete the forms in a short time, probably 15 minutes or less. Other
companies will have to do some arithmetic and make some adjustments in
order to conform their information to the criteria used in the forms.
However, this should not be very burdensome. Companies are asked to
estimate where necessary and are in no way required to compile additional
information. Companies should be able to complete either of these forms
in about two hours. Assuming average personnel costs of $15.00 per hour,
the cost preparing this information will be $30.00 for each coal company.

B.

13.

No costs to the coal company. Upon completion of the form, the company
has no ongoing collection burden.

14.

The average time for processing the information submitted on the forms
should be about 30 minutes. The cost of analyzing and processing the
information from the forms by the Department employee represents
approximately one-and-a-half days of that employee's time and $671.28
using the appropriate assumption for wages and benefits.

15.

There are no program changes or adjustments to this collection. The
collection will be approved at the current burden levels.

16.

There are no plans to publish this information. This information is only
for internal use to evaluate the competitive impact of issuances, transfers
and the exchange of federal coal leases to determine whether such a lease
transfer is consistent with the antitrust laws.

17.

The Antitrust Division will display the OBM number and expiration date
on the form.

18.

There are no exceptions to the "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act
Submissions."

Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods
This collection does not employ statistical methods.
PAPERWORK CERTIFICATION

In submitting this request for OMB approval, I certify that the requirements of the
Privacy Act and OMB directives have been complied with including paperwork
regulations, statistical standards or directives, and any other information policy directives
promulgated under 5 C.F.R. § 1320.

Date
Attorney
Antitrust Division
U.S. Department of Justice