
[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 173 (Wednesday, September 7, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61734-61736]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-21390]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Bureau of Transportation Statistics

[Docket Number DOT-OST-2016-0169]


Agency Request for Emergency Approval of an Information 
Collection

AGENCY: Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Office of the 
Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OST-R), U.S. 
Department of Transportation.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) (PRA), the Department of Transportation (DOT) 
provides notice that it will submit an information collection request 
(ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for emergency 
approval of a proposed information collection. Upon receiving the 
requested six-month emergency approval by OMB, the Bureau of 
Transportation Statistics (BTS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for 
Research and Technology (OST-R), U.S. Department of Transportation will 
follow the normal PRA procedures to obtain extended approval for this 
proposed information collection.
    This collection involves information on barrier failure reporting 
in oil and gas operations on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS), as 
referenced in recently issued Bureau of Safety and Environmental 
Enforcement (BSEE), U.S. Department of the Interior regulations at 30 
CFR 250.730(c) (81 FR 25887, Apr. 29, 2016) and the BSEE final rule 
amending and updating oil and gas production safety system (30 CFR 
250.803) to be published in the Federal Register on September 7, 2016. 
BTS and BSEE have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to 
develop an industry-wide repository of barrier failure data, analyze 
and aggregate information collected under this program, and publish 
reports that will provide BSEE, the industry, and all OCS stakeholders 
with essential information about failure types and modes of critical 
safety barriers for offshore operations.
    BTS and BSEE have determined that it is in the public interest to 
collect and process barrier failure reports or other data deemed 
necessary to administer BSEE's safety program pertaining to barrier 
failures, under a pledge of confidentiality for statistical purposes 
only. The confidentiality of notices and reports submitted directly to 
BTS will be protected in accordance with the Confidential Information 
Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA) (44 U.S.C. 
3501 note), which provides substantial additional confidentiality 
protections than can be provided for reports submitted directly to 
BSEE.
    Currently, reports on equipment failures are submitted directly to 
BSEE with limited information related to barrier failure events and 
root cause. Feedback from the industry during the data collection form 
drafting process indicates substantial reluctance to provide detailed 
barrier failure event information without the additional protections of 
CIPSEA. Reports submitted directly to BTS under CIPSEA will use a 
longer data collection form that includes additional essential detail 
about a barrier failure event such as equipment history information, 
certain important event data information, and root cause information. 
The additional detail included in the longer form is critical to 
comprehensively assess failures and determine appropriate exposure 
denominators for risk estimates, in service of BSEE's mission to 
protect safety and prevent environmental harm.
    Emergency processing of this collection of information is needed 
prior to the expiration of time periods established under the PRA 
because the use of normal clearance procedures is reasonably likely to 
result in the collection of only limited data on barrier failure events 
during the established PRA time periods. The use of normal clearance 
procedures will prevent collection of this data during the established 
PRA time periods, which will inhibit BSEE's ability to comprehensively 
assess barrier failures and risks, identify barrier failure trends, and 
identify causes of critical safety barrier failure events.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Information related to this ICR, 
including applicable supporting documentation may be obtained by 
contacting Demetra V. Collia, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, U.S. 
Department of Transportation, Office of Statistical and Economic 
Analysis, RTS-31, E36-302, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 
20590-0001; Phone No. (202) 366-1610; Fax No. (202) 366-3383; Email: 
demetra.collia@dot.gov. Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., EST, 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

DATES: Comments should be submitted as soon as possible upon 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register. Comments and 
questions should be

[[Page 61735]]

directed to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), 
Attn: OST OMB Desk Officer, 725 17th Street NW., Washington DC 20503. 
Comments and questions about the ICR identified below may be 
transmitted electronically to OIRA at oira_submissions@omb.eop.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. The Data Collection

    The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35; as 
amended) and 5 CFR part 1320 require each Federal agency to obtain OMB 
approval to initiate an information collection activity. BTS is seeking 
OMB approval for the following BTS information collection activity:
    Title: Barrier Failure Reporting in Oil and Gas Operations on the 
Outer Continental Shelf.
    OMB Control Number: 2138-TBD.
    Type of Review: Approval of data collection. This information 
collection is limited to the establishment of BTS as an authorized 
repository for the previously approved information collections (OMB 
Control Number 1014-0028, expiration 04/30/2019, and OMB Control Number 
1014-0003, expiration 08/31/2019) in order to ensure the 
confidentiality of submissions under CIPSEA.
    Respondents: BTS has entered into a MOU with BSEE to facilitate the 
collection of information from respondents identified in the BSEE 
notices for OMB Control Numbers 1014-0028 and 1014-0003. Responsibility 
for establishing the actual scope and burden for this collection 
resides with BSEE. This BTS information collection request does not 
create any additional burden for respondents. For the purposes of this 
collection BTS has identified BSEE as the sole respondent.
    Number of Potential Responses: For the purposes of this collection 
BTS has identified BSEE as the sole respondent reporting to BTS at the 
annual frequency of one.
    Estimated Time per Response: 60 minutes.
    Frequency: Once. Total Annual Burden: 1 hour.
    Abstract: CIPSEA can provide strong confidentiality protection for 
information acquired for statistical purposes under a pledge of 
confidentiality. CIPSEA Guidance from the Office of Management and 
Budget advises that a nonstatistical agency or unit (BSEE) that wishes 
to acquire information with CIPSEA protection may consider entering 
into an agreement with a Federal statistical agency or unit (BTS). BTS 
and BSEE have determined that it is in the public interest to collect 
and process the blowout preventer (BOP) failure reports required by 30 
CFR 250.730(c), safety and pollution prevention equipment (SPPE) 
failure reports required by 30 CFR 250.803, or other data deemed 
necessary to administer BSEE's safety program pertaining to barrier 
failures under a pledge of confidentiality for statistical purposes 
only. BTS has agreed through an MOU with BSEE to undertake the 
information collection identified in the BSEE notices for OMB Control 
Numbers 1014-0028 and 1014-0003 in order to ensure the confidentiality 
of submissions under CIPSEA. Since this information collection is 
limited to the establishment of BTS as an authorized repository for the 
previously approved information collections (OMB Control Number 1014-
0028, expiration 04/30/2019, and OMB Control Number 1014-0003, 
expiration 08/31/2019), this information collection request does not 
create any additional burden for respondents.
    Authority: The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. Chapter 
35, as amended; and 49 CFR 1:48 and 44 U.S.C. 3501 note.

II. Background

    In August 2013, BTS and BSEE signed an interagency agreement (IAA) 
to develop and implement SafeOCS, a voluntary program for confidential 
reporting of `near misses' occurring on the Outer Continental Shelf 
(OCS). The goal of the voluntary near miss reporting system is to 
provide BTS with essential information about accident precursors and 
other hazards associated with OCS oil and gas operations. Under the 
program, BTS will develop and publish aggregate reports that BSEE, the 
industry and all OCS stakeholders can use--in conjunction with incident 
reports and other sources of information--to reduce safety and 
environmental risks and continue building a more robust OCS safety 
culture.
    On July 28, 2016, new BSEE regulations became effective, requiring 
in part, the reporting of well control barrier-related failure event 
and analysis information. Further, BSEE's final rule amending and 
updating oil and gas production safety systems regulations which 
require, in part, the reporting of SPPE failure event and analysis 
information will become effective on November 8, 2016. BSEE requested 
and BTS agreed to expand the scope of SafeOCS to include reports of 
equipment failure mandated by 30 CFR 250.730(c) or 30 CFR 250.803.
    Both BTS and BSEE agree that reports of equipment failures are 
considered a type of precursor safety information that can be included 
in SafeOCS to provide a means of identifying industry-wide data trends 
on barrier failures or potential for barrier failures. This data 
collection will provide companies in the oil and gas industry a trusted 
means to report sensitive proprietary and safety information related to 
equipment failures and to foster trust in the confidential collection, 
handling, and storage of the raw data.
    Feedback from the industry during the rulemaking and form drafting 
processes indicates substantial reluctance to provide detailed barrier 
failure event information without the additional protections of CIPSEA. 
Reports submitted directly to BSEE use an abbreviated data collection 
form that includes only limited information related to barrier failure 
events. Reports submitted directly to BTS use a longer data collection 
form that includes additional essential detail about a barrier failure 
event such as equipment history information, certain important event 
data information, and root cause information. The additional detail 
included in the longer form is critical to comprehensively assess 
failures and determine appropriate exposure denominators for risk 
estimates, in service of BSEE's mission to prevent safety and 
environmental harm.
    BTS will use the data collected to establish a comprehensive source 
of barrier-related failure data for statistical purposes. With input 
from subject matter experts, BTS will process and analyze information 
on equipment failures, and publish results of such analyses in public 
reports. Such reports will provide BSEE, the industry, and all OCS 
stakeholders with essential information about failure types and modes 
of critical safety barriers for offshore operations, provide valuable 
information to identify and close gaps in risk management, and 
contribute to research and development of intervention programs aimed 
at preventing accidents and fatalities in the OCS.
    BTS will: (1) Collect failure notices, failure analysis reports, 
and design change/modified procedures reports, as described in 30 CFR 
250.730(c) and 30 CFR 250.803, submitted by industry operators, their 
contractors, original equipment manufacturers, and others employed in 
the oil and gas industry; (2) develop an analytical database using the 
reported data and other pertinent information; (3) conduct statistical

[[Page 61736]]

analyses; (4) develop and publish aggregate public reports and other 
data produces; and (5) protect the confidentiality of notices and 
reports in accordance with BTS' own statute (49 U.S.C. 6307) and 
CIPSEA. In accordance with these confidentiality statutes, only 
statistical (aggregated) and non-identifying data will be made publicly 
available by BTS through its reports. BTS will not release to BSEE or 
any other public or private entity any information that might reveal 
the identity of individuals or organizations mentioned in failure 
notices or reports without explicit consent of the respondent and any 
other affected entities.
    Respondents who report a barrier-related failure will be asked to 
fill out a form based upon the requirements of 30 CFR 250.730(c) and 
cited industry standards. They will also be asked to submit 
supplemental information and analysis as described in 30 CFR 250.730(c) 
or 30 CFR 250.803 and cited industry standards. Respondents will have 
the option to mail or submit the reports electronically to BTS. 
Respondents will be asked to provide information such as: (1) Name and 
contact information; (2) time and location of the failure event; (3) a 
short description of the failure event and operating conditions that 
existed at the time of the event; (4) contributing factors to the 
event; (5) results of an investigation or safety analysis report; (6) 
any design or procedural changes as a result of the reported equipment 
failure; and (7) any other information that might be useful in 
determining ways to prevents such failures from occurring.
    BTS requests emergency processing of this information collection 
because the use of normal clearance procedures is likely to result in 
the collection of only limited data on barrier failure events during 
the established PRA time periods. The use of normal clearance 
procedures will prevent collection of this data during the established 
PRA time periods, which will inhibit BSEE's ability to comprehensively 
assess barrier failures and risks, identify barrier failure trends, and 
identify causes of critical safety barrier failure events.
    The BSEE Well Control Rule failure data collection for BOP 
equipment was substantially driven by an event of major national 
significance, which also captured international attention. One 
important element of this event was the failure of BOP equipment. The 
event resulted in the deaths of 11 people and the largest oil spill in 
US history. It is in the public interest to commence immediate 
collection of the additional information on equipment history and 
important event data to enable a better understanding of underlying 
root causes.

III. Request for Public Comment

    BTS requests comments on any aspects of this information collection 
request, including: (1) Ways to enhance the quality, usefulness, and 
clarity of the collected information; and (2) ways to minimize the 
collection burden without reducing the quality of the information 
collected, including additional use of automated collection techniques 
or other forms of information technology.

Patricia Hu,
Director, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Office of the Assistant 
Secretary for Research and Technology, U.S. Department of 
Transportation.
[FR Doc. 2016-21390 Filed 9-6-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-9X-P


