30 day FR Notice

Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 66 / Wednesday, April 8, 2009 / Notices
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
U.S. Geological Survey
Agency Information Collection
Activity; Mineral Resources External
Research Program (MRERP)

rwilkins on PROD1PC63 with NOTICES

AGENCY: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS),
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of a new information
collection.
SUMMARY: To comply with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA), we are notifying the public that
we have submitted to OMB a new
information collection request (ICR) for
approval of the paperwork requirements
for the Mineral Resources Program’s
(MRP) Mineral Resources External
Research Program (MRERP). To submit
a proposal for the MRERP, a project
narrative must be completed and
submitted via http://Grants.gov. For
multi-year projects, an annual progress
report must be completed for all
projects; a final technical report is
required at the end of the project period.
This notice provides the public an
opportunity to comment on the
paperwork burden of these project
narrative and report requirements. The
narrative and report guidance is
available at http://www.usgs.gov/
contracts/Minerals/index.html.
DATES: You must submit comments on
or before May 8, 2009.
ADDRESSES: Please submit comments on
this information collection directly to
the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Desk
Officer for the Department of the
Interior via e-mail
OIRA_DOCKET@omb.eop.gov; or fax
(202) 395–5806; and identify your
submission as 1028–NEW. Please also
submit a copy of your comments to
Phadrea Ponds, USGS Information
Collection Clearance Officer, 2150–C
Center Avenue, Fort Collins, CO 80525
(mail); (970) 226–9230 (fax); or
pponds@usgs.gov (e-mail). Please
reference Information Collection 1028–
NEW, MRERP in the subject line.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To
request additional information about
this ICR, contact Jeff L. Doebrich by mail
at U.S. Geological Survey, 913 National
Center, Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston,
VA 20192 or by telephone at 703–648–
6103.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Abstract
Through the MRERP, the MRP of the
USGS offers an annual competitive
grant and/or cooperative agreement

VerDate Nov<24>2008

17:05 Apr 07, 2009

Jkt 217001

opportunity to individuals, universities,
State agencies, Tribal governments or
organizations, and industry or other
private sector organizations. Applicants
must have the ability to conduct
research in topics related to non-fuel
mineral resources that meet the goals of
the MRP. We will consider all researchbased proposals that address one of the
MRP’s long-term goals. The long-term
goals of the MRP, as described in its
Five-Year Plan for FY 2006–2010
(http://minerals.usgs.gov/plan/20062010/2006-2010_plan.html), are to
ensure availability of: (1) Up-to-date
quantitative assessments of potential for
undiscovered mineral deposits, (2) upto-date geoenvironmental assessments
of priority Federal lands, (3) reliable
geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and
mineral locality data for the United
States, and (4) long-term data sets
describing mineral production and
consumption. Annual research priorities
are provided as guidance for applicants
to consider when submitting proposals.
Annual research priorities are
determined by USGS MRP management.
Since the initiation of MRERP 2004, we
have awarded more than $1.8 million to
30 different research projects across the
country.
II. Data
OMB Control Number: None: This is
an existing collection without an OMB
control number.
Title: Mineral Resources External
Research Program (MRERP).
Respondent Obligation: Required to
obtain or retain benefits.
Frequency of Collection: Annually.
Estimated Number and Description of
Respondents: 35. Individuals,
universities, State agencies, Tribal
governments or organizations, and
industry or other private sector
organizations.
Estimated Number of Annual
Responses: 40 (35 applications and 5
reports per year).
Estimated Annual Reporting and
Recordkeeping ‘‘Hour’’ Burden: 3,060.
We expect to receive approximately 35
applications, each taking 81 hours to
complete. This includes the time for
project conception and development,
proposal writing and reviewing, and
submitting project narrative through
Grants.gov, (2,835 burden hours). We
anticipate awarding an average of 5
grants per year. Each grant recipient
must complete and submit a final
report. We estimate 45 hours to
complete a report (totaling 225 hours).
Estimated Reporting and
Recordkeeping ‘‘Non-Hour Cost’’
Burden: There are no ‘‘non-hour cost’’

PO 00000

Frm 00091

Fmt 4703

Sfmt 4703

16003

burdens associated with this collection
of information.
III. Request for Comments
We invite comments concerning this
ICR on: (a) Whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary
for the agency to perform its duties,
including whether the information is
useful; (b) the accuracy of the agency’s
estimate of the burden of the proposed
collection of information; (c) ways to
enhance the quality, usefulness, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the
burden on the respondents, including
the use of automated collection
techniques or other forms of information
technology.
Comments that you submit in
response to this notice are a matter of
public record. We will include or
summarize each comment in our request
to OMB to approve this ICR. Before
including your address, phone number,
e-mail 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 us in your comment
to withhold your personal identifying
information from public review, we
cannot guarantee that we will be able to
do so.
Dated: April 2, 2009.
Kathleen Johnson,
Program Coordinator, Mineral Resources
External Research Program.
[FR Doc. E9–7924 Filed 4–7–09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4311–AM–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
U.S. Geological Survey
Agency Information Collection
Activities: National Geological and
Geophysical Data Preservation
Program (NGGDPP)
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
Notice of a new information
collection.
AGENCY:
ACTION:

SUMMARY: To comply with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995
(PRA), we are notifying the public that
we have submitted to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) a new
information collection request (ICR) for
approval of the paperwork requirements
for the National Geological and
Geophysical Data Preservation Program
(NGGDPP). This notice provides the
public an opportunity to comment on
the paperwork burden of the project

E:\FR\FM\08APN1.SGM

08APN1