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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 138 / Thursday, July 22, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
section 109 of FOGRMA 30 U.S.C.
1719.1 As required by the Inflation Adjustment Act, however, BOEMs FOGRMA civil penalty amounts must be adjusted annually for inflation.
Within the Department of the Interior the Department, ONRR is the agency responsible for collecting revenue from energy leases and auditing royalty payments under FOGRMA. Like BOEM, ONRR has authority to impose civil penalties for certain violations of FOGRMA. ONRRs civil penalty regulations are found in 30 CFR part 1241. As required by the Inflation Adjustment Act, ONRR also must annually adjust its regulatory MDCP
amounts for inflation. ONRR published such a final rule for calendar year 2017
on April 24, 2017. See 82 FR 18858.
Each year since, ONRR has calculated and adjusted the MDCP amounts in 30
CFR part 1241 in accordance with the Inflation Adjustment Act. On February 2, 2021, ONRR published the final rule adjusting the MDCP amounts in 30 CFR
part 1241 for calendar year 2021. See 86
FR 7808.2
Because FOGRMA sets the MDCP
amounts for penalties assessed by BOEM and ONRR for violations of FOGRMA and because the Inflation Adjustment Act uniformly applies to require adjustments to the civil penalties that may be assessed by both agencies as calculated from the same base year, BOEMs FOGRMA MDCP
amounts must be the same as ONRRs FOGRMA MDCP amounts.

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Changes Made to Existing BOEM
Regulations Through this rule, BOEM amends 550.1453 and 550.1460 of its 1 Under existing 550.1451 and .1453a, BOEM
may initially impose civil penalties of up to $500
per day for each violation of a statute, regulation, order, or lease term for any Federal oil and gas lease that is not corrected within 20 days of receipt of a NONC identifying the violation. Under existing 550.1453b, BOEM may increase the MDCP
amount up to $5,000 per day for each violation not corrected within 40 days of the NONC. In addition, under existing 550.1460b, BOEM may impose civil penalties, without prior notice, of up to $25,000 per day per violation for the knowing or willful preparation, maintenance, or submission of false, inaccurate, or misleading written information.
2 Specifically, in relevant part, ONRR amended 30
CFR 1241.52a2 to authorize civil penalties of up to $1,288 per day for each violation of a statute, regulation, order, or lease term that is not corrected within 20 days of receipt of a NONC identifying the violation. See 86 FR 7808, 7810. Under the amended 30 CFR 1241.52b, ONRR may impose civil penalties of up to $12,891 per day for each violation that is not corrected within 40 days of receipt of the NONC. Finally, ONNR amended 30
CFR 1241.60b2 to authorize imposition of penalties, without prior notice, of up to $64,452 per day per violation for knowing or willful preparation, maintenance, or submission of false, inaccurate, or misleading written information. Id.

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FOGRMA civil penalty regulations in order to cross-reference to ONRRs civil penalty regulations in 30 CFR part 1241.
By cross-referencing to ONRRs regulations, BOEMs MDCP amounts for FOGRMA violations will be the same as ONRRs MDCP amounts, ensuring ongoing consistency within the Department as ONRR adjusts the FOGRMA MDCP amounts annually for inflation. In addition, this rule will avoid the duplication of effort and unnecessary expenditures within the Department that would occur if both BOEM and ONRR were to develop and publish separate final rules every year adjusting their corresponding FOGRMA
MDCP amounts.
Administrative Procedure Act Requirements Section 701b1D of the Inflation Adjustment Act states that agencies must adjust civil monetary penalties notwithstanding section 553 of title 5, United States Code the Administrative Procedure Act APA. OMB interprets that provision to mean the APAs public procedures of notice and comment rulemaking are not required to implement annual civil monetary penalty inflation adjustments. OMB
Memorandum M2110, December 23, 2020 M2110, p. 3. In this manner, Congress exempted the annual inflation adjustments under the Inflation Adjustment Act from the APA notice and comment requirements 5 U.S.C.
553b, allowing agencies to publish annual inflation adjustments as final rules without prior proposed rules.
In addition, the APA provides a good cause exemption from notice and comment rulemaking when an agency finds that prior notice and public procedure are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. 5 U.S.C. 553bB. BOEM finds that it is unnecessary to issue a proposed rule prior to this final rule because the Inflation Adjustment Act does not provide discretion to BOEM
the act specifies the adjustments to be made, the methodology to be employed, and the index for inflation to be utilized. BOEM cannot choose to take a different course in response to public comments.
The APA also exempts rules of agency, organization, procedure, or practice from notice and comment rulemaking. 5 U.S.C. 553bA. BOEMs decision to address the civil penalty inflation adjustment required under the Inflation Adjustment Act by crossreferencing to ONRRs regulations, which are subject to the same inflation adjustment standards under the Inflation Adjustment Act, rather than
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annually amending the FOGRMA
penalties in each affected BOEM
regulation, is an exercise of procedural rulemaking, which primarily concerns BOEMs internal operations. Here, BOEM is organizing its internal procedures to meet its own legal duties.
Moreover, while prior notice and comment is required for rules that affect rights or duties of the public, BOEMs reliance on cross-referencing does not affect the rights of any regulated parties because the civil penalty amounts will be the same regardless of whether those amounts are cross-referenced to ONRRs regulations or calculated and published separately by BOEM. ONRR must calculate and adjust the MDCP amounts in 30 CFR part 1241 annually in accordance with the Inflation Adjustment Act and related OMB
guidance, just as BOEM must do.
Procedural Requirements Regulatory Planning and Review Executive Orders 12866 and 13563
Executive Order E.O. 12866 provides that the OMB Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs OIRA will review all significant rules. Consistent with OIRA criteria, this rule is not significant. OMB M2110 at 3.
E.O. 13563 reaffirms the principles of E.O. 12866 while calling for improvements in the Nations regulatory system to promote predictability, to reduce uncertainty, and to use the best, most innovative, and least burdensome tools for achieving regulatory ends. E.O.
13563 directs agencies to consider regulatory approaches that reduce burdens and maintain flexibility and freedom of choice for the public where these approaches are relevant, feasible, and consistent with regulatory objectives. E.O. 13563 further emphasizes that regulations must be based on the best available science and that the rulemaking process must allow for public participation and an open exchange of ideas. BOEM has developed this rule in a manner consistent with these requirements, to the extent permitted by statute.
Regulatory Flexibility Act The Regulatory Flexibility Act RFA
requires an agency to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis for all rules unless the agency certifies that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The RFA
applies only to rules for which an agency is required to first publish a proposed rule. See 5 U.S.C. 603a and 604a. For the reasons discussed in part III of this rule, BOEM is not
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