April 11, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that certain coal reserves in the Elk Creek East Tract described below in Gunnison County, Colorado, will be offered for competitive lease by sealed bid in accordance with the provisions of the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended.

Under the provisions of Section 3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for review and approval of the information collection listed below. This proposed information collection was previously published in the Federal Register on January 13, 2012, page 2072, and allowed 60 days for public comment. No public comments were received. The purpose of this notice is to allow an additional 30 days for public comment. The National Institutes of Health may not conduct or sponsor, and the respondent is not required to respond to, an information collection that has been extended, revised, or implemented on or after October 1, 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Proposed Collection: Title: Prevalence, Incidence, Epidemiology and Molecular Variants of HIV in Blood Donors in Brazil. Type of Information Collection Request: Reinstatement (OMB No. 0925-0597). Need and Use of Information Collection: Establishing and monitoring viral prevalence and incidence rates, and identifying behavioral risk behaviors for HIV infection among donors are critical steps to assessing and reducing risk of HIV transmission through blood transfusion. Detecting donors with recently acquired HIV infection is particularly critical as it enables characterization of the viral subtypes currently transmitted within the screened population. In addition to characterizing genotypes of recently infected donors for purposes of blood safety, molecular surveillance of incident HIV infections in blood donors serves important public health roles by identifying new HIV infections for anti-retroviral treatment, and enabling documentation of the rates of primary transmission of anti-viral drug resistant strains in the community. This study is a continuation of a previous research project which enrolled eligible HIV-positive blood donors and analyzed HIV molecular variants and their association with risk. This previous project was conducted by the NHLBI Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor StudyII (REDS-II) International Brazil program and included not only data collection on HIV seropositive donors but also collection of risk factor data on uninfected donors. The current Recipient Epidemiology and Donor Evaluation StudyIII (REDS-III) research proposal is a continuation of the previous REDS-II project at the same four blood centers in Brazil, located in the cities of S[atilde]o Paulo, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, but this time restricted to the study of HIV-positive subjects. The primary study aims are to continue monitoring HIV molecular variants and risk behaviors in blood donors in Brazil, and to evaluate HIV subtype and drug resistance profiles among HIV-positive donors according to HIV infection status (recent versus long-standing infection), year of donation, and site of collection. Additional study objectives include determining trends in HIV molecular variants and risk factors associated with HIV infection by combining data collected in the previous REDS-II project with that which will be obtained in the planned research activities. Nucleic acid testing (NAT) for HIV is currently being implemented in Brazil. It will be important to continue to collect molecular surveillance and risk factor data on HIV infections, especially now that infections that might not have been identified by serology testing alone could be recognized through the use of NAT. NAT-only infections represent very recently acquired infections. The NAT assay will be used at the four REDS-III blood centers in Brazil during the planned research activities. In addition, in order to distinguish between recent seroconversion and long-standing infection, samples from all HIV antibody dual reactive donations and/or NAT positive donations will be tested by the Recent Infection Testing Algorithm (RITA) which is based on use of a sensitive/less-sensitive enzyme immunoassay (``detuned'' Enzyme Immunoassay). RITA testing will be performed by the Blood Systems Research Institute, San Francisco, California, USA, which is the REDS-III Central Laboratory. Subjects will be enrolled for a 5-year period from March 2012 (or when OMB approval is received) through 2017. According to the Brazilian guidelines, blood donors are requested to return to the blood bank for HIV confirmatory testing and HIV counseling. Donors will be invited to participate in the study through administration of informed consent when they return for HIV counseling. Once informed consent has been administered and enrollment has occurred, participants will be asked to complete a confidential self-administered risk factor questionnaire by computer. In addition, a small blood sample will be collected from each HIV-positive participant to be used for the genotyping and drug resistance testing. The results of the drug resistance testing will be communicated back to the HIV-positive participants during an in-person counseling session at the blood center. For those individuals who do not return for confirmatory testing, the samples will be anonymized and sent to the REDS-III Central Laboratory to perform the recent infection testing algorithm (RITA). This research effort will allow for an evaluation of trends in the trafficking of non-B HIV subtypes and rates of transmission of drug resistant viral strains in low risk blood donors. These data could also be compared with data from similar studies in higher risk populations. Monitoring drug resistance strains is extremely important in a country that provides free anti-retroviral therapy for HIV infected individuals, many of whom have low level education and modest resources, thus making compliance with drug regimens and hence the risk of drug resistant HIV a serious problem. The findings from this project will add to those obtained in the REDS-II study, allowing for extended trend analyses over a 10-year period and will complement similar monitoring of HIV prevalence, incidence, transfusion risk and molecular variants in the USA and other funded international REDS-III sites in South Africa and China, thus allowing direct comparisons of these parameters on a global level. Frequency of Response: Once. Affected Public: Individuals. Type of Respondents: Blood Donors 18 years old or older. The annual reporting burden is as follows: Estimated Number of Respondents: 100; Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: 1; Average Burden of Hours per Response: 0.40 (including administration of the informed consent form and questionnaire completion instructions); and Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours Requested: 40. The annualized cost to respondents is estimated at: $260 (based on $6.50 per hour). There are no Capital Costs to report. There are no Operating or Maintenance Costs to report.

In accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) and the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (FACA), the U.S. Department of the Interior, North Slope Science Initiative (NSSI) Science Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) will meet as indicated below.

The Department of Agriculture is adopting, as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that decreased the assessment rate established for the Fresh Pear Committee (Committee) for the 2011-2012 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.501 to $0.471 per standard box or equivalent of fresh winter pears handled. The Committee locally administers the marketing order which regulates the handling of fresh pears grown in Oregon and Washington. The Committee recommended the assessment rate decrease because the fresh winter pear promotion budget for the 2011-2012 fiscal period was reduced.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is amending its regulations to remove its published General Counsel interpretations of various regulatory provisions. These interpretations are largely obsolete, having been superseded by subsequent statutory and regulatory changes, and this part of the Commission's regulations is no longer necessary.

On March 9, 2012 (77 FR 14446), the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) published a request for public comments on Draft License Renewal Interim Staff Guidance (LR-ISG), LR-ISG-2011-03, ``Changes to GALL Report Revision 2 Aging Management Program (AMP) XI.M41, `Buried and Underground Piping and Tanks.' '' The draft LR-ISG pertains to the changes to the NUREG-1801, Revision 2, ``Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report,'' and the NRC staff's aging management review procedure and acceptance criteria contained in NUREG-1800, Revision 2, ``Standard Review Plan for Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants (SRP-LR),'' concerning the Buried and Underground Piping and Tanks Aging Management Program. Comments were to be submitted by April 9, 2012. The purpose of this document is to reopen the public comment period on the LR-ISG-2011-03 to allow more time for stakeholders to assemble comments.

The EIA, pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, intends to extend for three years with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) the Petroleum Supply Reporting System. Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

The United States, as a Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), may propose amendments to the CITES Appendices for consideration at meetings of the Conference of the Parties. The sixteenth regular meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP16) is tentatively scheduled to be held in Thailand, March 3-15, 2013. With this notice, we describe proposed amendments to the CITES Appendices (species proposals) that the United States might submit for consideration at CoP16 and invite your comments and information on these proposals.

The Bass Lake Ranger District is proposing a series of ecological restoration treatments, east of the community of North Fork, California. This would be north of Cascadel Point, south of Shuteye Peak, and west of Whisky Ridge. Treatment areas have been initially identified to restore forest conditions to more closely resemble pre- 1900s stand structures which would result in forests that are more resilient and resistant to expected changes in climate and disturbance regimes. Treatments are needed to maintain or improve growth and vigor of conifer stands, reduce the spread and intensity of wildfires within and outside of the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) and restore other ecological processes.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) announce the availability of a Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) and Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Hopper Mountain, Bitter Creek, and Blue Ridge National Wildlife Refuges for public review and comment. The CCP/EA, prepared under the National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act of 1997, and in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, describes how the Service proposes to manage the three refuges for the next 15 years. Draft compatibility determinations for several existing and proposed public uses are also available for review and public comment with the Draft CCP/EA.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has officially filed the plats of survey of the lands described below in the BLM Idaho State Office, Boise, Idaho, effective 9 a.m., on the dates specified.

This is a confirmation notice of the cancellation of TSO-C67, Airborne Radar Altimeter Equipment (For Air Carrier Aircraft). The effect of the cancelled TSO will result in no new TSO-C67 design or production approvals. However, cancellation will not affect any current production of an existing TSO authorization (TSOA). Articles produced under an existing TSOA can still be installed per the existing airworthiness approvals, and all applications for new airworthiness approvals will still be processed.

New Jersey has scheduled elections on June 5, 2012, and November 6, 2012, to fill the U.S. House seat in the 10th Congressional District held by the late Representative Donald M. Payne. Committees required to file reports in connection with the Special Primary Election on June 5, 2012, shall file a 12-day Pre-Primary Report. Committees required to file reports in connection with both the Special Primary and Special General Election on November 6, 2012, shall file a 12-day Pre-Primary Report, a 12-day Pre-General Report, and a 30-day Post-General Report.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council (the ``Council'' or ``FSOC'') issues this rule to implement provisions of the Freedom of Information Act (the ``FOIA''). This final rule implements the requirements of the FOIA by setting forth procedures for requesting access to, and making disclosures of, information contained in Council records.