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The
NewsRoom
Release #: 3115
Date: August 10, 2004
MMS
Moves to On-Line Public Commenting with "Public Connect"
User-Friendly Access to MMS Regulatory and Planning Information
Improving citizen access and ease of commenting on
public documents, the MMS today launched
“Public Connect,” a new online public commenting system. The new
system allows the public to find, view, and submit comments on MMS’s
proposed regulations, lease sale notices, operational plans,
environmental reports, and related documents. Public Connect is
designed to serve as MMS’s main interface with the public for formal
responses and comments on regulatory and planning information.
The
service is initially available only for the MMS’s
Offshore Minerals
Management Service program. Other MMS program offices, such as
Minerals Revenue Management and Policy and Management Improvement,
will be added to the Public Connect system in the future.
MMS
Director Johnnie Burton said of the new system, “The Public Connect
system will simplify how the public participates in the federal
Outer
Continental Shelf oil and gas program. We expect that providing
easier access will encourage public participation.”
The first OMM document available
for on-line public commenting is a
Notice of Extension of an
Information Collection (1010-0149), 30 CFR 250, Subparts J, H, and I,
“Fixed and Floating Platforms and Structures.”
Public
Connect will provide user-friendly access to agency information and
easier on-line participation in MMS’s regulatory and planning
processes. Advanced search features
allow users to quickly search for keywords that identify projects and
documents with similar programmatic focus, geographic areas or
regulatory domain. User-friendly, on-line help functions and links to
associated documents are also features of Public Connect.
“Involving citizens in the
management of federal resources is an important part of our mission
and this system makes it easier and more efficient for those with
relevant information to be heard,” said Burton.
By
re-engineering, streamlining, and web-enabling its business processes,
MMS will be able to assemble, review, and
post documents for public access, as well as receive, track, manage,
and archive public comments. The Public Connect system automatically
associates and stores submitted comments with the appropriate project
and documents; comments can thus be viewed by citizens in the context
of the relevant project. Although on-line submissions using Public
Connect will be the MMS-preferred method for public commenting,
comments received through traditional delivery services, like the U.S.
Postal Service, will also be accepted and uploaded into the system to
help maintain complete records.
Public
Connect is the first interactive on-line system released as part of a
phased, multi-year e-Government transformation of MMS’s OMM program
called “OCS Connect,” or Outer Continental Shelf Connect. The
blueprint for the OCS Connect project was developed in response to the
increasing complexity of oil and gas operations, greater workloads,
and the need for more sophisticated technical analyses and data
exchange. To meet future mission requirements and encourage
participation in the domestic OCS oil and gas programs, OCS Connect
will dramatically reform and streamline business operations.
Within
the Department of the Interior’s e-Government strategic framework, MMS
has recently embarked upon several e-Government projects that align
with the President’s Management Reform Agenda. Some other examples
include the Gulf of Mexico Region’s Online Ordering System and eWell
Permitting and Reporting System. For more information on these and
other
e-Government initiatives, please visit the
MMS website.
The Minerals Management Service is the Federal agency
in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation’s oil,
natural gas, and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental
Shelf in Federal offshore waters. The agency also collects, accounts
for, and disburses mineral revenues from Federal and American Indian
lands. MMS disbursed more than $8 billion in FY 2003 and more than
$135 billion since the agency was created in 1982. Nearly $1 billion
from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund
annually for the acquisition and development of state and Federal park
and recreation lands.
Relevant Web Sites
MMS Main Website
Public Comment System
OCS Connect Website
Media Contacts
Nicolette Nye
202-208-3985
Curtis Carey
202-208-3985
MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for
America
U.S. Department of the Interior |