February 1, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice advises all interested persons of the initial public meeting of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. Background: Executive Order 13369 (January 7, 2005) established the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. The Order provides that the purpose of the Advisory Panel shall be to submit to the Secretary of the Treasury a report with revenue neutral policy options for reforming the Federal Internal Revenue Code. The options should (a) simplify Federal tax laws to reduce the costs and administrative burdens of compliance with such laws; (b) share the burdens and benefits of the Federal tax structure in an appropriately progressive manner while recognizing the importance of homeownership and charity in American society; and (c) promote long-run economic growth and job creation, and better encourage work effort, saving, and investment, so as to strengthen the competitiveness of the United States in the global marketplace. At least one option submitted by the Advisory Panel should use the Federal income tax as the base for its recommended reforms. Purpose: This is the first meeting of the Advisory Panel. The meeting will include background information presentations concerning the Federal tax system. Comments: Interested parties are invited to attend the meeting; however, no public comments will be heard at this meeting. The public will be provided additional opportunities to submit comments regarding issues of tax reform at later dates. Any written comments with respect to this meeting must be submitted by mail to The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, 1440 New York Avenue, NW., Suite 2100, Washington, DC 20220. An electronic address will be provided as soon as it is available. All written comments will be made available to the public. Records: Records are being kept of Advisory Panel proceedings and will be available at the Internal Revenue Service's FOIA Reading Room at 1111 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room 1621, Washington, DC 20024. The Reading Room is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday except holidays. The public entrance to the reading room is on Pennsylvania Avenue between 10th and 12th streets. The phone number is (202) 622-5164 (not a toll-free number). Advisory Panel documents, including meeting announcements, agendas, and minutes, will also be available on the Advisory Panel's Web site, which is currently under construction.

The NRC staff is issuing drafts of the revised NUREG-1800; ``Standard Review Plan for License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants'' (SRP-LR); and the revised NUREG-1801, ``Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report'' for public comment. These revised documents describe methods acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing the license renewal rule, Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations part 54 (10 CFR part 54), as well as techniques used by the NRC staff in evaluating applications for license renewals. The NRC is also announcing a public workshop to facilitate gathering public comments on the drafts of these revised documents. These draft documents supersede the preliminary draft documents that were publicly announced and placed on the NRC's Web site at https://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/ licensing/renewal/guidance/updated-guidance.html on September 30, 2004. The NRC is especially interested in stakeholder comments that will improve the safety, effectiveness, and efficiency of the license renewal process.

On August 13, 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a notice in the Federal Register soliciting public comment on an Interim Statement and Guidance to address issues pertaining to coverage under the Clean Water Act (CWA) of pesticides regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) that are applied to or over waters of the United States. The interpretation addressed two sets of circumstances for which EPA has determined that the application of a pesticide to waters of the United States consistent with all relevant requirements of FIFRA does not constitute the discharge of a pollutant that requires a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit under the CWA. EPA is announcing today the interpretive statement developed after consideration of public comments. In this notice, EPA is also proposing to revise the NPDES permit program regulations to incorporate the substance of the interpretive statement.

The next meeting of the Good Neighbor Environmental Board, a Federal advisory committee that reports to the President and Congress on environmental and infrastructure projects along the U.S. border with Mexico, will take place in Eagle Pass, Texas, on February 16th and 17th, 2005. It is open to the public.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit a proposed and continuing Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This is a request to renew an existing approved collection. This ICR is scheduled to expire on April 30, 2005. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.

EPA is proposing to amend the Effluent Limitations Guidelines, Pretreatment Standards, and New Source Performance Standards for the Transportation Equipment Cleaning Point Source Category. This action proposes to correct a typographical error in the regulatory language of the Pretreatment Standards for New Sources in the existing regulation which refers to ``any existing source'' when it should say ``any new source.'' In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of the Federal Register, we are amending the regulatory language of the Pretreatment Standards for New Sources in the existing regulation as a direct final rule without prior proposal because we view this as a noncontroversial revision and anticipate no adverse comment. We have explained our reasons for this revision in the preamble to the direct final rule. If we receive no adverse comment, we will not take further action on this proposed rule. If we receive adverse comment, we will withdraw the direct final rule and it will not take effect. We will address all public comments in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. We will not institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so at this time. The regulatory text for the proposal is identical to that for the direct final rule published in the Rules and Regulations section of this Federal Register. For further supplementary information, see the direct final rule.

In accordance with Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463), announcement is made of the following Committee meeting:

The Per Diem, Travel and Transportation Allowance Committee is publishing Civilian Personnel Per Diem Bulletin Number 237. This bulletin lists revisions in the per diem rates prescribed for U.S. Government employees for official travel in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands and Possessions of the United States. AEA changes announced in Bulletin Number 194 remain in effect. Bulletin Number 237 is being published in the Federal Register to assure that travelers are paid per diem at the most current rates.

The following permits were issued.

Among other changes to patent and trademark fees, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2005 (Consolidated Appropriations Act), splits the national fee for Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications entering the national stage into a separate national fee, search fee and examination fee, during fiscal years 2005 and 2006. The Office is in this notice reducing the search fee and examination fee for certain PCT applications entering the national stage. The Office has implemented the changes to the patent fees provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act in a separate final rule.