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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 28 / Friday, February 12, 2021 / Rules and Regulations effective date of the 2020 Rule, published in the Federal Register at 86
FR 4612, is delayed for 60 days, from February 16, 2021 to April 16, 2021.
Comment Period: To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, by 11:59 p.m. EST on March 15, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments to ONRR using either of the following methods. Please reference the Regulation Identifier Number RIN
for this action, RIN 1012AA27 in your comment:
Electronically via the Federal eRulemaking Portal: Please visit https
www.regulations.gov. In the Search Box, enter Docket ID ONRR20200001
and click search to view the publications associated with the docket folder. Locate the document with an open comment period and then click Search. Follow the instructions to submit your public comments prior to the close of the comment period.
Email Submissions: For comments sent via email, please address them to Dane Templin, Regulations Supervisor, at Dane.Templin@onrr.gov and Luis Aguilar, Regulatory Specialist, at Luis.Aguilar@onrr.gov with RIN 1012
AA27 listed in the subject line of your message. Email submissions must be postmarked on or before the close of the comment period.
Instructions: All comments must include the agency name and docket number or RIN for this rulemaking. All comments, including any personal identifying information or confidential business information contained in a comment, will be posted without change to https www.regulations.gov.
Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to https
www.regulations.gov and locate the docket folder by searching the Docket ID
ONRR20200001 or RIN number RIN
1012AA27.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on procedural issues, contact Dane Templin, Regulations Supervisor, at 303 2313149 or Dane.Templin@
onrr.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background On January 15, 2021, ONRR published a final rule in the Federal Register, at 86 FR 4612, to amend certain regulations that inform the manner in which ONRR values oil and gas produced from Federal leases for royalty purposes; values coal produced from Federal and Indian leases for royalty purposes; and assesses civil penalties
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for violations of certain statutes, regulations, leases, and orders associated with mineral leases. In addition, the rule, referred to as the 2020 Rule, made some minor, nonsubstantive corrections to ONRRs regulations. The 2020 Rule had an effective date of February 16, 2021, and, for amendments to 30 CFR part 1206, a compliance date of May 1, 2021.
II. Purpose of This Action On January 20, 2021, the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff issued a memorandum entitled Regulatory Freeze Pending Review Regulatory Freeze Memorandum which, along with the guidance on implementation of the memorandum issued by the Office of Management and Budget OMB in Memorandum M2114 dated January 20, 2021, directs agencies to consider delaying the effective date of rules published in the Federal Register that have not yet become effective, consistent with applicable law, for the purpose of reviewing any questions of fact, law, and policy the rules may raise.
The OMB memorandum directed that the decision to delay should include consideration of whether:
1 The rulemaking process was procedurally adequate;
2 the rule reflected proper consideration of all relevant facts;
3 the rule reflected due consideration of the agencys statutory or other legal obligations;
4 the rule is based on a reasonable judgment about the legally relevant policy considerations;
5 the rulemaking process was open and transparent;
6 objections to the rule were adequately considered, including whether interested parties had fair opportunities to present contrary facts and arguments;
7 interested parties had the benefit of access to the facts, data, or other analyses on which the agency relied;
and 8 the final rule found adequate support in the rulemaking record.
In light of the withdrawal of existing and issuance of new Executive Orders relevant to the matters addressed in the 2020 Rule after its publication date, which are discussed further below, and protracted litigation over ONRRs recent rulemakings, ONRR concludes that postponement of the 2020 Rule and invitation for public comment is appropriate under criteria three and four above. Further, ONRR appreciates the strong public interest in its rulemakings and is especially interested in public comments on each of the eight decision criteria with respect to the 2020 Rule.

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Accordingly, this action delays the effective date of the 2020 Rule and opens a 30-day comment period on the facts, law, and policy underlying the rule as well as the effect of the delay.
ONRR is delaying the effective date of its 2020 Rule from February 16, 2021, to April 16, 2021.
The 60-day delay of the 2020 Rules effective datebased on the good cause articulated belowis for the purpose of reviewing any questions of fact, law, and policy that are raised by that rule as well as the effect of the delay, consistent with the Regulatory Freeze Memorandum and OMB Memorandum M2114. To that end, ONRR invites the public to submit comment on any issue of fact, law, or policy raised by the 2020
Rule, including, without limitation, comment on the following:
1. The 2020 Rule was premised, in part, on certain Executive Orders that are no longer in effect, including Executive Orders 13783 Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth, 13795 Implementing an America-First Offshore Energy Strategy, and 13892 Promoting the Rule of Law Through Transparency and Fairness in Civil Administrative Enforcement and Adjudication. Also, new Executive Orders, including Executive Orders 13990 Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis, 13992 Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation, and 14008 Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad, have been issued from and after January 20, 2021. Does the repeal of prior Executive Orders and issuance of new Executive Orders demonstrate a change in policy meriting or requiring reconsideration of some or all of the 2020 Rule?
2. The 2020 Rule reinstituted an allowance for certain deepwater oil and gas gathering costs based, at least in part, on declining oil and gas production and revenues from the Gulf of Mexico, which allowance is estimated to reduce royalty due the United States by $32.9 million per year.
Is this allowance consistent with the current law and policy of the United States?
3. The 2020 Rule reinstituted extraordinary processing allowances, which allowances are estimated to reduce royalty due the United States by $11.1 million per year. Are extraordinary processing allowances consistent with the current law and policy of the United States in the limited circumstances described in the 2020 Rule?

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