Published 30 Day Notice

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organizations, 18 from mining
companies, ten from consultants and
other businesses, six from nongovernmental environmental
organizations, five from government
agencies, and three from elected
officials). The comments included 147
requests to add a total of 13 minerals to
the list, with seven minerals (copper,
silver, nickel, gold zinc, molybdenum
and lead) each receiving over 10
requests for addition to the list. There
were 183 requests to delete one mineral
(uranium) from the list.
After considering all comments
received, the Department of the Interior
believes that the methodology described
in USGS Open-File Report 2018–1021
remains valid. Therefore, the
Department of the Interior is hereby
finalizing the draft list of 35 critical
minerals as the final list. This list of
critical minerals, while ‘‘final,’’ is not a
permanent list, but will be dynamic and
updated periodically to reflect current
data on supply, demand, and
concentration of production, as well as
current policy priorities. This final list
will serve as the initial focus for the
Department of Commerce report,
currently in development pursuant to
Executive Order 13817.
This final list is based on the
definition of a ‘‘critical mineral’’
provided in Executive Order 13817. The
U.S. Government and other
organizations may also use other
definitions and rely on other criteria to
identify a material or mineral as
‘‘critical’’ or otherwise important. This
final list is not intended to replace those
related terms and definitions for
minerals or materials that are deemed
strategic, critical or otherwise important
(e.g., National Defense Stockpile). The
Department of the Interior recognizes
the economic significance and
indispensable nature of other minerals
that are produced domestically in large
quantities such as copper, zinc,
molybdenum, gold, silver, and
industrial minerals such as phosphate,
sand, gravel, and aggregate. Given
current levels of domestic production,
the U.S. is not highly reliant on imports
for these minerals and typically has a
combination of domestic reserves and
reliable foreign sources adequate to
meet foreseeable domestic consumption
requirements. While these minerals do
not currently meet the definition of
critical, they are similar to critical
minerals in that they are indispensable
to a modern society for the purposes of
national security, technology,
infrastructure, and energy production
(both fossil fuels and renewables). It
should be noted that some potential
supply chain vulnerabilities relating to

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critical minerals, such as high import
reliance and limited domestic capability
for production of refined metals and
processed alloys, extend beyond what is
described here and will be addressed
within the Department of Commerce
report to be submitted to the President
as required by Executive Order 13817.
The Department of the Interior also
recognizes that many public comments
addressed issues not directly associated
with the development of the critical
minerals list. Instead, they addressed
regulatory and policy issues more
appropriately considered as part of the
Department of Commerce report.
Those comments will be available to
help inform the development of the
Commerce report.
Finally, the Department of the Interior
recognizes that a significant number of
comments requested the removal of
uranium from the list. As noted above
and in USGS Open-File Report 2018–
1021, input from other agencies
represented on the NSTC Subcommittee
on Critical and Strategic Mineral Supply
Chains emphasized that uranium, while
primarily known as a fuel mineral, also
has important non-fuel uses, and
otherwise meets the criteria for
inclusion.
The NSTC Mineral Criticality
Screening Tool was designed as an early
warning screening tool that identifies
potentially critical minerals using
regularly-reported and publiclyavailable data. The screening tool was
designed so that potential mineral
criticality could be evaluated in a
repeatable and transparent manner, on
an ongoing basis. This tool is updated
annually by the USGS on behalf of the
NSTC Subcommittee when USGS
releases a new year of mineral
production and price data. This
systematic, annual collection, analysis,
and publication of mineral information
is the foundation for the analysis of
present-day security of supply for
minerals and mineral materials and of
changes in the security of supply over
time. With this basis, the finalized list
of critical minerals provides a starting
point for developing a new Federal
strategy and a continuing process to
strengthen supply chains. The finalized
list does not foreclose later addition of
minerals that become critical in the
future due to advances in technology,
natural disasters, world events, and
other factors influencing the security of
supply and demand.
As part of developing the new Federal
strategy, Executive Order 13817 and
Secretary’s Order 3359, ‘‘Critical
Mineral Independence and Security’’
(December 21, 2017), direct further
efforts to assess potential domestic

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critical mineral resources above ground
and below ground, and to examine
Federal leasing and permitting
processes to expedite access to these
potential resources. Because the critical
minerals on the final list are
administered under existing mineral
disposal laws and regulations, any
recommendations to improve permitting
processes for those critical minerals will
improve permitting processes for all
minerals administered under the same
laws and regulations by the Bureau of
Land Management and other Federal
land management agencies.
The Department of the Interior
recognizes that many commodities are
not mined directly, but are instead
recovered during the processing,
smelting, or refining of a host material
and are, therefore, deemed
‘‘byproducts.’’ Of the 35 minerals
deemed critical, 12 are byproducts.
Therefore, strategies to increase the
domestic supply of these commodities
must necessarily consider the mining
and processing of the host materials
because enhanced recovery of
byproducts alone may be insufficient to
meet U.S. consumption.
Authority: E.O. 13817, 82 FR 60835
(December 26, 2017).
Timothy R. Petty,
Assistant Secretary for Water and Science.
[FR Doc. 2018–10667 Filed 5–17–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4334–63–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of the Secretary
[18XD0120AF/DT11100000/
DST000000.54AB00; OMB Control Number
1035—New]

Agency Information Collection
Activities; Submission to the Office of
Management and Budget for Review
and Approval; Trust Evaluation System
Office of the Special Trustee for
American Indians, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of information collection;
request for comment.
AGENCY:

In accordance with the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we,
the Office of the Special Trustee for
American Indians (OST, we), are
proposing a new information collection.
DATES: Interested persons are invited to
submit comments on or before June 18,
2018.
ADDRESSES: Send written comments on
this information collection request (ICR)
to the Office of Management and
Budget’s Desk Officer for the
Department of the Interior by email at
SUMMARY:

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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2018 / Notices
OIRA_Submission@omb.eop.gov; or via
facsimile to (202) 395–5806. Please
provide a copy of your comments to
Ronald L. Hunt, Federal Information
Resources Director, Department of the
Interior, Office of the Special Trustee for
American Indians, Office of Information
Resources, 4400 Masthead Street NE,
Albuquerque, NM 87109; or by email to
Ronald_Hunt@ost.doi.gov, or by
telephone at (505) 816–1258. Please
reference OMB Control Number 1035–
OST in the subject line of your
comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To
request additional information about
this ICR, contact Cecilia Smith,
Management & Program Analyst, OST,
Program Management, by email at
Cecilia_Smith@ost.doi.gov, or by
telephone at (505) 816–1259. You may
also view the ICR at http://
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In
accordance with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, we provide the
general public and other Federal
agencies with an opportunity to
comment on new, proposed, revised,
and continuing collections of
information. This helps us assess the
impact of our information collection
requirements and minimize the public’s
reporting burden. It also helps the
public understand our information
collection requirements and provide the
requested data in the desired format.
A Federal Register notice with a 60day public comment period soliciting
comments on this collection of
information was published on May 25,
2015 (80 FR 30485). No comments were
received in response to that notice.
We are again soliciting comments on
the proposed ICR that is described
below. We are especially interested in
public comment addressing the
following issues: (1) Is the collection
necessary to the proper functions of the
OST; (2) will this information be
processed and used in a timely manner;
(3) is the estimate of burden accurate;
(4) how might the OST enhance the
quality, utility, and clarity of the
information to be collected; and (5) how
might the OST minimize the burden of
this collection on the respondents,
including through the use of
information technology.
Comments that you submit in
response to this notice are a matter of
public record. Before including your
address, phone number, email 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

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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.
Abstract: The Office of the Special
Trustee for American Indians (OST) is
responsible for overseeing the
implementation of trust reforms, trust
accounting and coordination of trust
policies intra-bureau-wide related to the
management of Indian trust funds and
assets; see 25 U.S.C. 4041. The OST,
Office of Trust Review and Audit
(OTRA) is responsible for performing
trust examinations, evaluations and
assessments of Indian trust programs
and functions, pursuant to executive
direction by the Secretary of the
Interior. In addition, OTRA has a
congressional mandate to conduct
Annual Tribal Trust Evaluations for
Tribes that compact trust programs,
functions, services, and/or activities
under Public Law 93–638 SelfGovernance Compacts on behalf of the
Secretary of the Interior. This authority
is in 25 U.S.C. 5363(d)(1) & (2) and the
enabling regulations in 25 CFR
1000.350. OTRA currently collects
Indian trust data and documentation
from Tribes and Agencies in fulfillment
of performing the Indian trust
examinations on Federal Agencies and
Tribal trust evaluations for compacted
Tribes. This collection is enabled by
performing desk reviews (via email
electronic questionnaires), and on-site
visits to Tribes and Federal agencies
(although Federal agencies are exempt
from the provisions of the PRA).
Under 25 CFR 1000.355, the
Secretary’s designated representative
will conduct trust evaluations for each
self-governance tribe that has an annual
funding agreement. The end result is the
issuance of a report, which is required
by 25 CFR 1000.365. Currently,
Department of the Interior, OST–OTRA,
conducts an on-site review of trust
operations where a tribe has compacted
a trust program. During that review,
under current methodology, interviews
are conducted and documents are
requested on-site. Information collected
is then brought back to the Albuquerque
office and analyzed. A draft report is
written and provided to the tribe for
comment where applicable, comments
received back are incorporated into the
report, and a final report is issued to the
tribe.
OTRA is changing the method of
collecting information from an on-site
manual audit data collection method to
a web-based automated audit data
collection and audit management tool,
called the Trust Evaluation System

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(TES). Currently OTRA travels to the
audit location and uses a Thomas
Reuters audit software solution called
Auto Audit to manage the data collected
in the field and the audit. TES, a webbased tool, will be cloud hosted and
will be interactive with the Auditor,
Tribes and Agencies throughout the
evaluation process in conducting the
trust examinations, tribal trust
evaluations, and trust records
assessments, via the web, as desktop
reviews.
OST will be collecting the same data
it currently collects manually, but will
utilize electronic questionnaires and
document uploads from Tribes and
Federal agencies, via the web in TES, to
complete the evaluations and
examinations it currently conducts. This
method will be implemented to replace
the desktop reviews and/or traveling to
each location to conduct these audits.
Some audits will be still be conducted
on-site, but only for high-risk locations.
OTRA’s audit universe consists of up to
300 audits on 3–5 year audit cycle for
OST and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)
offices throughout the greater United
States and Alaska.
Title of Collection: Trust Evaluation
System.
OMB Control Number: 1035–New.
Form Number: None.
Type of Review: Existing collection in
use without OMB approval.
Respondents/Affected Public: Tribes
that have an annual funding agreement
in place to compact Indian trust
programs.
Total Estimated Number of Annual
Respondents: 80 Tribes. Federal
agencies are exempt from the PRA and
are not included in the total annual
respondents/responses/burden hours
estimates.
Total Estimated Number of Annual
Responses: 1,280.
Estimated Completion Time per
Response: 2 hours for reporting and 1
hour for recordkeeping.
Total Estimated Number of Annual
Burden Hours: 3,840.
Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory.
Frequency of Collection: Once per
fiscal or calendar year (year the
respective tribe operates under).
Total Estimated Annual Non-hour
Burden Cost: None.
An agency may not conduct or
sponsor and a person is not required to
respond to a collection of information
unless it displays a currently valid OMB
control number.

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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 97 / Friday, May 18, 2018 / Notices

The authority for this action is the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
Jerold Gidner,
Principal Deputy Special Trustee, Office of
the Special Trustee for American Indians.
[FR Doc. 2018–10596 Filed 5–17–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4334–63–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[LLCAD06000 L51010000.ER0000
LVRWB17B5480 17X]

Notice of Availability of the Final
Supplemental Environmental Impact
Statement and Environmental Impact
Report and Proposed Land Use Plan
Amendment to the California Desert
Conservation Area Plan for the Palen
Solar Project, California
Bureau of Land Management,
Interior.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
AGENCY:

In accordance with the
National Environmental Policy Act of
1969, as amended (NEPA), and the
Federal Land Policy and Management
Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has
prepared a Final Supplemental
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
and Proposed Land Use Plan
Amendment to the California Desert
Conservation Area (CDCA) Plan for the
Palen Solar Project, and by this notice
is announcing its availability. This
document is also an Environmental
Impact Report (EIR) prepared by
Riverside County under the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
DATES: BLM planning regulations state
that any person who meets the
conditions as described in the
regulations may protest the BLM’s
Proposed Land Use Plan Amendment
and Final Supplemental EIS. A person
who meets the conditions and files a
protest must file the protest within 30
days of the date that the Environmental
Protection Agency publishes its Notice
of Availability in the Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the Final
Supplemental EIS and Proposed Land
Use Plan Amendment have been sent to
affected Federal, State, local, and tribal
government agencies and to other
stakeholders. Copies of the Final
Supplemental EIS and Proposed Land
Use Plan Amendment are available for
public inspection at the BLM-Palm
Springs South Coast Field Office at 1201
Bird Center Dr., Palm Springs, CA 92262
and at the BLM-California Desert

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SUMMARY:

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District Office, 22835 Calle San Juan de
Los Lagos, Moreno Valley, CA 92553.
Interested persons may also review the
Final Supplemental EIS and Proposed
Land Use Plan Amendment on the
internet at https://eplanning.blm.gov/
epl-front-office/eplanning/
planAndProjectSite.do?methodName=
renderDefaultPlanOrProjectSite&
projectId=68122. All protests must be in
writing and mailed to one of the
following addresses:
• Regular Mail: BLM Director (210),
Attention: Protest Coordinator, P.O. Box
71383, Washington, DC 20024–1383.
• Overnight Delivery: BLM Director
(210), Attention: Protest Coordinator, 20
M Street SE, Room 2134LM,
Washington, DC 20003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Mark DeMaio, BLM Project Manager,
telephone (760) 833–7124; address
Bureau of Land Management, Palm
Springs-South Coast Field Office, 1201
Bird Center Drive, Palm Springs, CA
92262; email mdemaio@blm.gov.
Persons who use a
telecommunications device for the deaf
(TDD) may call the Federal Relay
Service (FRS) at (800) 877–8339 to
contact the above individual during
normal business hours. The FRS is
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.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EDF
Renewable Energy has applied for a
Right-of-Way (ROW) from the BLM to
construct, operate, maintain, and
decommission a 500 megawatt (MW)
solar photovoltaic facility near Desert
Center, Riverside County, California.
The ROW application area comprises
about 4,200 acres, with a proposed
project footprint of about 3,400 acres.
The proposed project also includes
construction of a 6.7-mile single circuit
230 kilovolt generation interconnection
(gen-tie) transmission line connecting
the project to the Southern California
Edison (SCE) Red Bluff Substation. The
BLM is also considering an amendment
to the CDCA Plan that would be
necessary to authorize the project. This
is a joint EIS/EIR for compliance with
NEPA and CEQA. Riverside County is
the lead agency under CEQA.
This Project application was
originally submitted in 2007 as the
Palen Solar Power Project (PSPP) by
Palen Solar I, LLC (PSI), a wholly
owned subsidiary of Solar Millennium.
The PSPP was proposed as a solar
trough project, and was the subject of an
EIS under NEPA. The BLM, pursuant to
its obligations under FLPMA and NEPA,
published a Draft EIS, followed by a

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Proposed CDCA Plan Amendment and
Final EIS on May 13, 2011 (76 FR
28064). Before the BLM issued a Record
of Decision (ROD), PSI informed the
BLM that it would not construct the
Project due to bankruptcy. As a result,
the BLM did not issue a ROD, did not
amend the CDCA Plan, and did not
issue a ROW grant for the PSPP. On
June 21, 2012, the bankruptcy court
approved the transfer of the application
from PSI to Palen Solar III, LLC (PSIII).
BrightSource Energy Inc. (BSE) then
acquired all rights to PSIII at auction.
PSIII submitted a revised ROW
application to the BLM for the Palen
Solar Electricity Generating System
Project (PSEGS), a 500 MW
concentrating solar power tower
technology facility and single-circuit
230 kV gen-tie line. On July 27, 2013,
the BLM issued a Draft Supplemental
EIS and Plan Amendment to evaluate
the potential additional environmental
impacts caused by PSEGS. As part of the
state permitting process, the California
Energy Commission evaluated the
PSEGS under CEQA, and issued
Preliminary and Final Staff Assessments
for the amended project in June and
November of 2013, respectively. The
BLM did not issue a Final Supplemental
EIS for the PSEGS Project because BSE
and its partner, Abengoa Solar Inc.,
abandoned the State authorization
proceedings at the California Energy
Commission. In December 2015, EDF
Renewable Energy acquired the PSEGS
application. EDF Renewable Energy has
submitted a revised ROW application
for the Proposed Project, which is
analyzed in this Final Supplemental
EIS/EIR and Proposed Land Use Plan
Amendment.
The BLM held public meetings on the
revised ROW application in June and
August 2016 in Palm Springs,
California. On October 27, 2017, the
BLM issued the Draft Supplemental EIS/
EIR and Draft Land Use Plan
Amendment, which analyzed the
impacts of the Proposed Action and two
action alternatives, in addition to a No
Action Alternative. Alternative 1,
Reduced Footprint, would be a 500 MW
Photovoltaic (PV) array on about 3,100
acres. It avoids the central and largest
desert wash and incorporates a more
efficient use of the land for the solar
array. Alternative 2, Avoidance
Alternative, would be a solar PV project
on about 1,620 acres (160 to 230 MW).
Like the Proposed Action, under each of
these alternatives, the BLM would
amend the CDCA Plan to allow the
project. Under the No-Action
Alternative, the BLM would deny the

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