February 16, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice advises all interested persons of a public meeting of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform.

The Commission will consider a Report and Order that resolves a number of issues regarding application of the Commission's intercarrier compensation rules.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announces that the Wild Horse and Burro Advisory Board will conduct a meeting on matters pertaining to management and protection of wild, free-roaming horses and burros on the Nation's public lands.

The MMS prepared six EAs for processing applications for Suspensions of Production or Operations for nine units and one non- unitized lease located on the Pacific OCS and issued a FONSI for each EA pursuant to the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). These environmental documents are available on MMS's Web site at https://www.mms.gov/omm/pacific.

An open meeting of the Small Business/Self EmployedTaxpayer Burden Reduction Committee of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel will be conducted (via teleconference). The TAP will be discussing issues pertaining to increasing compliance and lessening the burden for Small Business/Self Employed individuals.

This rule makes final the interim rule amending the Department's regulations pertaining to foreign students and exchange visitors who enter the United States in F, M, or J nonimmigrant visa categories. The new regulations will establish the verification and reporting procedures required by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) foreign student monitoring system known as Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). As SEVIS was fully implemented on February 15, 2003, the Department's transitional foreign student database known as the Interim Student and Exchange Authentication System (ISEAS) is no longer available to the educational and exchange visitor communities. However, it remains available to consular sections in the field as a means of electronically verifying student and exchange visitor documentation issued prior to February 15, 2003.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (``MCC'') will hold a public information meeting on Monday, February 28, 2005, at the American Society of Association Executives in Washington, DC. The meeting will inform interested parties that MCC is seeking an indicator that measures a country's economic policies that promote the sustainable management of natural resources. MCC Board member Christine Todd Whitman will chair the event, and the MCC Chief Executive Officer and relevant staff will also attend to facilitate discussion.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 630 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the pollock interim total allowable catch (TAC) for Statistical Area 630 of the GOA.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Science Advisory Board (SAB) Staff Office is announcing two public meetings of the SAB's Environmental Engineering Committee (EEC). The EEC will convene to provide advice on the proposed redesign of EPA's Pollution Prevention and New Technologies research program and conduct other committee business.

EPA is reopening the comment period for a document published on January 12, 2005 (70 FR 2085). In the January 12, 2005 notice of proposed rulemaking, EPA proposed to approve State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the State of Maryland, Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia for the Metropolitan Washington, DC severe 1-hour ozone nonattainment area (the Washington area). These revisions include the post 1996-1999 and post 1999-2005 rate-of- progress (ROP) plans, changes to the 1990 base year inventory, a contingency measures plan, certain transportation control measures (TCMs), and a demonstration that each SIP contains sufficient transportation control measures to offset growth in vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as necessary to demonstrate ROP and attainment of the 1- hour national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for ozone. EPA is reopening the comment period through February 25, 2005. All comments received on or before February 25, 2005 will be entered into the public record and considered by EPA before taking final action on the proposed rule.

This regulation establishes a tolerance for the combined residues of the insecticide/miticide avermectin B1 (a mixture of avermectins containing greater than or equal to 80% avermectin B1a (5-O-demethyl avermectin A1) and less than or equal to 20% avermectin B1b (5-O-demethyl-25-de (1-methylpropyl)-25-(1-methylethyl) avermectin A1)), and its delta-8,9-isomer, in or on avocado at 0.020 ppm; food products in food handling establishments (other than those already covered by higher tolerances as a result of use on growing crops, and other than those already covered by tolerances on milk, meat, and meat byproducts) at 0.01 ppm; herbs, subgroup 19A (except chives) at 0.030 ppm; meat and meat byproducts of goat, hog, horse, poultry, and sheep at 0.02 ppm; mint at 0.010 ppm; plum at 0.010 ppm; plum, prune, dried at 0.025 ppm; vegetable, fruiting, group 8 at 0.020 ppm; and vegetable, leafy, except Brassica, group 4 at 0.10 ppm. These tolerances were requested under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA) in petitions filed by Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. (formerly Novartis Crop Protection, Inc.), Interregional Research Project Number 4, and Whitmire Micro-Gen Research Laboratories, Inc.

This regulation establishes a tolerance for residues of glyphosate, N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine, resulting from the application of glyphosate, the isopropylamine salt of glyphosate, the ethanolamine salt of glyphosate, the ammonium salt of glyphosate, and the potassium salt of glyphosate in or on alfalfa, seed. Monsanto Company requested this tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of syrups, hydrolyzed starch, hydrogenated (CAS Reg. No. 68425-17-2) when used as an inert ingredient in pesticide products. Grain Processing Corporation and SPI Polyols submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA), requesting an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of syrups, hydrolyzed starch, hydrogenated.