December 16, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This interim rule lists communities where modification of the Base (1% annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) is appropriate because of new scientific or technical data. New flood insurance premium rates will be calculated from the modified BFEs for new buildings and their contents.

On November 10, 2010, HUD published a notice that announced its proposal to conduct an FHA Home Energy Retrofit Loan Pilot Program (Retrofit Pilot Program or Pilot Program) known as FHA PowerSaver. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 directs HUD to conduct an Energy Efficient Mortgage Innovation pilot program targeted to the single family housing market, and the Retrofit Pilot Program is designed by HUD to meet this statutory directive and provides funding to support that effort. The November 10, 2010, notice solicited public comment and invited lenders interested in participating in the Pilot Program to submit Expressions of Interest. The deadline for both the submission of public comments and expressions of interest from lenders is December 27, 2010. This notice extends the date for submission of Expressions of Interest to January 31, 2011. The public comment deadline, however, remains December 27, 2010.

On November 5, 2009, President Obama signed the ``Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on Tribal Consultation.'' The President stated that his Administration is committed to regular and meaningful consultation and collaboration with tribal officials in policy decisions that have tribal implications, including, as an initial step, through complete and consistent implementation of Executive Order 13175. The United States has a unique legal and political relationship with Indian tribal governments, established through and confirmed by the Constitution of the United States, treaties, statutes, executive orders, and judicial decisions. In recognition of that special relationship, pursuant to Executive Order 13175 of November 6, 2000, executive departments and agencies are charged with engaging in regular and meaningful consultation and collaboration with tribal officials in the development of Federal policies that have tribal implications, and are responsible for strengthening the government-to-government relationship between the United States and Indian Tribes. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken its responsibility to comply with Executive Order 13175 very seriously over the past decade, including the initial implementation of a Department- wide policy on tribal consultation and coordination in 1997, and through multiple evaluations and revisions of that policy, most recently in 2008. Many HHS agencies have already developed their own agency-specific consultation policies that complement the Department- wide efforts. Since 2005, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has been working under the guidance of the HHS policy issued in 2005, and updated in 2008. Due to the various programs administered by ACF and the many requests from Tribes for consultation for specific programs, as well as specific program mandates for tribal consultation, ACF has decided to create an ACF Tribal Consultation Policy to help ACF program and regional offices better engage Federally recognized Indian Tribes in the development or revision of policies, regulations, and proposed legislation that impact American Indians. ACF firmly believes that to create a good policy, ACF needs input from Tribes to ensure that ACF is meeting tribal needs and to establish a partnership that can carry into the future. ACF solicited membership for an ACF Tribal/Federal Workgroup to develop the initial draft policy. The Workgroup met August 23 and 24, 2010, in Washington, DC, and again in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on September 16 and 17, 2010. The draft was reviewed by tribal leaders attending the ACF Tribal Consultation Session held in Washington, DC on September 29, 2010, and the Workgroup met again to address the comments heard at the Tribal Consultation Session. ACF will convene the Tribal/Federal Workgroup again to review and address the comments received from this publication.

We are superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. That AD currently requires fabricating and installing a placard incorporating information that limits operation when there is known or forecast icing and requires replacing a section of the pneumatic supply tube for the tail deice system with a new tube of a different material. This AD requires fabricating and installing a placard incorporating information that limits operation when there is known or forecast icing and requires replacing the entire length of the pneumatic supply tube for the tail deice system with a new tube of a different material. This AD was prompted by reports of two failures of the pneumatic supply tube for the tail deice system outside the area covered by AD 2008-07-10. We are issuing this AD to prevent collapsed pneumatic supply tubes, which could result in failure of the tail deice boots to operate. This failure could lead to loss of control in icing conditions.

In accordance with the requirements of 49 U.S.C. 5117(c), PHMSA is publishing the following list of special permit applications that have been in process for 180 days or more. The reason(s) for delay and the expected completion date for action on each application is provided in association with each identified application.

EPA is approving a request submitted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) on May 7, 2010, to revise the Minnesota State Implementation Plan (SIP) for particulate matter less than 10 microns (PM10). The approval revises the Minnesota SIP by updating information for the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES) Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant located in St. Paul, Minnesota. The revision reflects changes at the facility which include the decommissioning of six multiple hearth incinerators and associated equipment and the addition of three fluidized bed incinerators and associated equipment. These revisions are included in a joint Title I/Title V document for the MCES Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant, which replaces the document currently approved in the SIP for the facility. These revisions will result in reducing the PM10 emissions in the St. Paul area, and strengthen the existing PM10 SIP.

This initial determination proposes to revise the list required by Executive Order No. 13126 (``Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor''), in accordance with the Department of Labor's ``Procedural Guidelines for the Maintenance of the List of Products Requiring Federal Contractor Certification as to Forced or Indentured Child Labor.'' This notice proposes to add a product, (along with its country of origin) to the list that the Department of Labor preliminarily believes might have been mined, produced, or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor. This notice also proposes to remove a product (along with its country of origin) from the list where, preliminarily, the Department of Labor has reason to believe that the use of forced or indentured child labor has been significantly reduced if not eliminated. The Department of Labor invites public comment on this initial determination. The Department will consider all public comments prior to publishing a final determination updating the list of products, made in consultation and cooperation with the Department of State, and the Department of Homeland Security.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD requires adding two new indicator lights on a certain panel to inform the captain and first officer of a low pressure condition in the left and right override/jettison pumps of the center wing tanks. This AD also requires replacing the left and right override/jettison switches on the M154 fuel control module on the P4 panel with improved switches and doing the associated wiring changes. This AD also requires, for certain airplanes, installation of a mounting bracket for the new indicator lights. This AD also requires a revision to the maintenance program to incorporate airworthiness limitation No. 28-AWL-22. This AD also requires a revision to the airplane flight manual to advise the flightcrew what to do in the event that the pump low pressure light on the flight engineer's panel does not illuminate when the pump is selected off. This AD was prompted by fuel system reviews conducted by the manufacturer. We are issuing this AD to prevent uncommanded operation of the override/jettison pumps of the center wing tanks, and failure to manually shut off the override/ jettison pumps at the correct time, either of which could lead to an ignition source inside the center wing tank. This condition, in combination with flammable fuel vapors, could result in a center fuel tank explosion and consequent loss of the airplane.

On May 27, 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to amend the test procedures for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers. That proposed rulemaking serves as the basis for today's action. DOE is issuing a final rule regarding Appendix A1 and Appendix B1, and an interim final rule for Appendix A and Appendix B. The final rule amends the current procedures, incorporating changes that will take effect 30 days after the final rule publication date. These changes will be mandatory for product testing to demonstrate compliance with the current energy standards and for representations starting 180 days after publication. These changes, which will not affect measured energy use, include test procedures to account for refrigerator-freezers equipped with variable anti-sweat heater controls, establishing test procedures for refrigerator-freezers equipped with more than two compartments, making minor adjustments to eliminate any potential ambiguity regarding how to conduct tests, and clarifying certain reporting requirements. The interim final rule establishes amended test procedures for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers that would be required for measuring energy consumption once DOE promulgates new energy conservation standards for these products. These new standards are currently under development in a separate rulemaking activity and will apply to newly manufactured products starting in 2014. Today's action also discusses the treatment of combination wine storage-freezer products that were the subject of a recent test procedure waiver, energy use measurement round-off, and additional topics raised by stakeholders during the rulemaking's comment period. While the amended test procedures will be based largely on the test methodology used in the existing test procedures, they also include significant revisions with respect to the measurement of compartment temperatures and compartment volumes. These measurements will provide a more comprehensive accounting of energy usage by these products. The amended test procedure will modify the long-time automatic defrost test procedure to capture all energy use associated with the defrost cycle, establish a test procedure for products with a single compressor and multiple evaporators with active defrost cycles, incorporate into the energy use metric the energy use associated with icemaking for products with automatic icemakers, and clarify requirements on temperature control settings during testing.