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This rulemaking would remove the Federal Oil and Gas Management Act (FOGRMA) civil penalty amounts from BSEE regulations and replace them with a cross-reference to the Office of Natural Resource Revenue's (ONRR) FOGRMA civil penalty regulations. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Improvements Act of 2015 (FCPIA of 2015) requires Federal agencies to make annual adjustments for inflation to civil penalties. ONRR makes inflation adjustments to its FOGRMA civil penalties on an annual basis, in which the last adjustment was issued in January 22, 2018 (83 FR 2907). This rulemaking would provide a more cohesive and streamlined approach to BSEE's FOGRMA civil penalty regulations by simply referencing ONRR’s regulations.  The civil penalty inflation adjustment is pursuant to FOGRMA, the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (FCPIA of 2015) and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance. The adjustment accounts for one year of inflation spanning from October 2017 to October 2018. Annual inflation adjustments are applied to all Federal agencies’ civil penalties and are based on the percent change between the Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the October preceding the date of the adjustment, and the prior year’s October CPI-U.

Overall Description of Deadline: The FCPIA of 2015 requires Federal agencies to make annual adjustments for inflation to civil penalties. Agencies are required to publish the annual inflation adjustments in the Federal Register by no later than January 15 of each year.