March 4, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commission is noticing a recently-filed Postal Service request to add Competitive Ancillary Services to the competitive product list. The Postal Service also states that it has established a new price category under that product.

FMCSA announces its decision to renew the exemptions from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for 11 individuals. FMCSA has statutory authority to exempt individuals from the vision requirement if the exemptions granted will not compromise safety. The Agency has concluded that granting these exemption renewals will provide a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety maintained without the exemptions for these commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Department of the Air Force is proposing to alter a system of records notice in its existing inventory of records systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

Under the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (5 U.S.C., Appendix, as amended), the Government in the Sunshine Act of 1976 (5 U.S.C. 552b, as amended), and 41 CFR 102-3.150, the Department of Defense announces that the following Federal Advisory Committee meeting of the Department of Defense Task Force on the Care, Management, and Transition of Recovering Wounded, Ill, and Injured Members of the Armed Forces (subsequently referred to as the Task Force) will take place.

The Department of the Air Force proposes to add a system of records to its inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

NMFS is suspending directed fishing for Pacific sardine off the coasts of Washington, Oregon and California through June 30, 2011. This action is necessary because the proposed directed harvest allocation total for Pacific sardine the first seasonal period (January 1-June 30) of 15,214 metric tons (mt) is projected to be reached by the effective date of this rule. Under this rule, Pacific sardine may be harvested only as part of the live bait fishery or incidental to other fisheries; the incidental harvest of Pacific sardine is limited to 30-percent by weight of all fish caught per trip. Vessels with Pacific sardine catch must be at shore and in the process of offloading at 12:01 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) on the date of this closure. This rule is necessary to help conserve and manage Pacific sardine off the West Coast.

On December 8, 2010 (75 FR 76396), the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights announced a briefing to be held on Friday, March 11, 2011 at the Commission's headquarters. On March 1, 2011, the Commission cancelled the briefing. The details of the cancelled meeting are:

In this rule, EPA is making a minor correction to the final rule titled, ``Limitation of Approval of Prevention of Significant Deterioration Provisions Concerning Greenhouse Gas Emitting-Sources in State Implementation Plans'' to correct the regulatory text related to Oklahoma's State Implementation Plan (SIP). Region 6 approved revisions to the Oklahoma SIP that recodified the regulations. This approved recodification took effect on December 27, 2010. This rule updates cross-references in the regulatory text in light of this recodification.

Congress recently enacted the Coin Modernization, Oversight, and Continuity Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-302) to provide the Secretary of the Treasury research and development authority for alternative metallic coinage materials. Specifically, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to(1) conduct any appropriate testing of appropriate metallic coinage materials within or outside of the Department of the Treasury; and (2) solicit input from or otherwise work in conjunction with Federal and nonfederal entities, including independent research facilities or current or potential suppliers of the metallic material used in volume production of circulating coins. In accordance with Public Law 111-302, Section 2(b), in conducting research or soliciting input, the Secretary of the Treasury shall consider the following: (A) Factors relevant to the potential impact of any revisions to the composition of the material used in coin production on the current coinage material suppliers; (B) factors relevant to the ease of use and ability to co-circulate of new coinage materials, including the effect on vending machines and commercial coin processing equipment and making certain, to the greatest extent practicable, that any new coins work without interruption in existing coin acceptance equipment without modification; and (C) such other factors that the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with merchants who would be affected by any change in the composition of circulating coins, vending machine and other coin acceptor manufacturers, vending machine owners and operators, transit officials, municipal parking officials, depository institutions, coin and currency handlers, armored-car operators, car wash operators, and American-owned manufacturers of commercial coin processing equipment, considers to be appropriate and in the public interest. Additionally, the Secretary of the Treasury is required to report biennially to the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on the production costs for each circulating coin, cost trends for such production, and possible new metallic materials or technologies for the production of circulating coins. The Secretary of the Treasury has delegated to the Director of the United States Mint the authority to conduct research and development for alternative metallic coinage materials, to consider the factors specified in Public Law 111-302, Section 2(b), and to prepare a biennial report to the Congress on the current status of coin production costs and analysis of alternative metallic coinage materials. Accordingly, the United States Mint requests public comment on the factors specified in Public Law 111-302, Section 2(b).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (DOE/EIS-0465), pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA regulations, and the DOE NEPA implementing procedures, to assess the potential environmental impacts of its proposed action of issuing a Federal loan guarantee to Pepco Holdings, Inc. (PHI). Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco) and Delmarva Power & Light Company (Delmarva), both subsidiaries of PHI, submitted an application to DOE under the Federal loan guarantee program pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005) to support construction of Phase II of the Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway (MAPP) transmission line project. PHI proposes to develop Phase II of the MAPP project, an approximately 100-mile electric transmission line from the Chalk Point Substation in Prince George's County, Maryland, to the Indian River Substation in Sussex County, Delaware, using a High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) transmission system. The EIS will evaluate the potential environmental impacts of the issuance of a DOE Loan Guarantee for PHI's proposed MAPP project and the range of reasonable alternatives. The purposes of this Notice of Intent are to inform the public about DOE's proposed action, invite public participation in the EIS process, announce plans for public scoping meetings, and solicit public comments for consideration in establishing the scope and content of the EIS. DOE hereby provides notice of a proposed action located in part in a floodplain and that DOE will include a floodplain assessment in the EIS. DOE invites those agencies with jurisdiction by law or special expertise to be cooperating agencies.