Adjustment of Service Fees for Outer Continental Shelf Activities

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR <SUBAGY>Bureau of Ocean Energy Management</SUBAGY> <CFR>30 CFR Parts 550 and 556</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. BOEM-2024-0037]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 1010-AE23</RIN> <SUBJECT>Adjustment of Service Fees for Outer Continental Shelf Activities</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Interior. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Department of the Interior (the Department or DOI), acting through the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), is amending its regulations related to service fees. This final rule adjusts for inflation the service fees due to BOEM for processing documents related to oil and gas activities on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This rule is effective November 1, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> BOEM has established a docket for this action under Docket No. BOEM-2024-0037. All documents in the docket are listed on the <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> website and can be found by entering the Docket No. in the “Enter Keyword or ID” search box and clicking “search”. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Kelley Spence, Office of Regulations, BOEM, 45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, Virginia 20166, at email address <E T="03">Kelley.Spence@boem.gov</E> or at telephone number (984) 298-7345; and Karen Thundiyil, Chief, Office of Regulations, BOEM, 1849 C Street NW, Washington DC 20240, at email address <E T="03">Karen.Thundiyil@boem.gov</E> or at telephone number (202) 742-0970. Individuals in the United States who are deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability may dial 711 (TTY, TDD, or TeleBraille) to access telecommunications relay services for contacting the contacts listed in this section. These services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to leave a message or question with the above individual. You will receive a reply during normal business hours. Individuals outside the United States should use the relay services offered within their country to make international calls to the point-of-contact in the United States. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <E T="03">Preamble acronyms and abbreviations.</E> Multiple acronyms are included in this preamble. While this list may not be exhaustive, to ease the reading of this preamble and for reference purposes, BOEM explains the following acronyms here: <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">ANCSA Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">APA Administrative Procedure Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">BEA Bureau of Economic Analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">BOEM Bureau of Ocean Energy Management</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CFR Code of Federal Regulations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CRA Congressional Review Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">DOCD Development Operations Coordination Document</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">DOI Department of the Interior (or Department)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">DPP Development and Production Plan</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">E.O. Executive Order</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">EP Exploration Plan</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">FR Federal Register</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NEPA National Environmental Policy Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">OCS Outer Continental Shelf</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">OIRA Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">OMB Office of Management and Budget</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PRA Paperwork Reduction Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">RFA Regulatory Flexibility Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">RUE Right-of-Use and Easement</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">SBREFA Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">UMRA Unfunded Mandates Reform Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">U.S.C. United States Code</FP> </EXTRACT> <E T="03">Background.</E> The service fees being adjusted in this rulemaking were last adjusted on August 26, 2022 (87 FR 52443). BOEM is adjusting these service fees to reflect inflation since the last update. <E T="03">Organization of this document.</E> The information in this preamble is organized as follows: <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. General Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Does this action apply to me?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Where can I get a copy of this document and other related information?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Summary of the Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Regulatory Amendments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Administrative Procedure Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review, as Amended by Executive Order 14094: Modernizing Regulatory Review, and Executive Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Executive Order 12630: Governmental Actions and Interference With Constitutionally Protected Property Rights</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Executive Order 13132: Federalism</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. Executive Order 12988: Civil Justice Reform</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">I. Executive Order 13175: Consultation and Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">J. Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">K. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">L. Data Quality Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">M. Executive Order 13211: Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">N. Congressional Review Act (CRA)</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. General Information</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Does this action apply to me?</HD> Entities potentially affected by this final action are holders of oil, gas, and sulfur leases and Right-of-Use and Easement (RUE) grants on the OCS. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Where can I get a copy of this document and other related information?</HD> In addition to being available in the docket, BOEM will post an electronic copy of the documents related to this final action at: <E T="03">https://www.boem.gov/regulations-and-guidance</E> . <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Summary of the Rule</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Background</HD> BOEM's regulations at 30 CFR 550.125 and 556.106 provide the authority for BOEM to periodically adjust its service fees according to the Implicit Price Deflator for Gross Domestic Product by publication of a document in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> . BOEM derives its authority from the Independent Offices Appropriation Act of 1952, 31 U.S.C. 9701, as interpreted by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular No. A-25 Revised (1993). That circular states: “When a service (or privilege) provides special benefits to an identifiable recipient beyond those that accrue to the general public, a charge will be imposed (to recover the full cost to the Federal Government for providing the special benefit, or the market price).” The service fees in 30 CFR 550.125 and 556.106 were last updated on August 26, 2022 (87 FR 52443). With this action, BOEM is adjusting the service fees to reflect inflation since the last update. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Regulatory Amendments</HD> This rule adjusts the service fees in accordance with BOEM's regulations at 30 CFR 550.125 and 556.106. The new 2024 fee amounts are based on an inflation rate of 10.94 percent as calculated by the Implicit Price Deflator for Gross Domestic Product for the 2-year period between 2021 and 2023. The inflation rate between any 2 years is calculated as the percentage difference between the measure of prices for a designated year ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> 2023) and some previous year ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> 2021). The prices include all new, domestically produced, final goods and services in the economy for the designated year ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> 2023). See the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) “Table 1.1.9, Implicit Price Deflators for Gross Domestic Product,” available at <E T="03">https://apps.bea.gov/iTable/?1301=i&1303=13&ReqID=13&isuri=1&step=3</E> . The inflation rate was calculated by dividing the deflator from 2023 by the deflator from 2021, and then subtracting one. For example, using the data in the table below from BEA's table 1.1.9 as revised on April 25, 2024, with the base year set to 2021, the inflation multiplier was calculated as (122.273/110.213)−1 = 10.94 percent. A copy of this table is available in the docket. <GPOTABLE COLS="3" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s50,18,16"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Data Sample from BEA's Table 1.1.9</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Calendar Year</CHED> <CHED H="1"> Current implicit price deflator for gross domestic product (Base = 2017) </CHED> <CHED H="1">Latest BEA annual inflation rate</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2017</ENT> <ENT>100.000</ENT> <ENT>1.90%</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2021</ENT> <ENT>110.213</ENT> <ENT>4.15</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2022</ENT> <ENT>117.973</ENT> <ENT>4.80</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">2023</ENT> <ENT>122.273</ENT> <ENT>5.32</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> Table 2 summarizes the change in service fees from 2022 to 2024 using the calculated inflation rate multiplier. <GPOTABLE COLS="4" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s100,r60,12,r60"> <TTITLE>Table 2—Service Fees Adjusted for Inflation</TTITLE> <CHED H="1" O="L">Service—processing of the following:</CHED> <CHED H="1">2022 Fee amount</CHED> <CHED H="1">Multiplier</CHED> <CHED H="1">2024 Fee amount</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Change in Designation of Operator</ENT> <ENT>$207</ENT> <ENT>1.1094</ENT> <ENT>$230.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">RUE for State ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 27k characters. 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