February 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.

In accordance with section 6(f)(1) of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), as amended, EPA is issuing a notice of receipt of a request by the registrant to amend their registrations to terminate uses of certain products containing the pesticide DCPA (or dacthal). The requests would terminate DCPA use in or on alfalfa, arracacha, artichokes (Chinese and Jerusalem), beans, bean yam, beets, chestnuts (soil treatment and nursery stock), chufa, citron melon, cotton,crabapples (soil treatment and nursery stock), cucumber, edible canna, eggplant, garlic, ginger, kale, leren, peas, pepper, potatoes, residential uses (turf and ornamentals), squash (including pumpkin), sweet potatoes, tanier, turnips, walnuts (non- bearing and nursery stock), and yam. These requests would not terminate the last DCPA products registered for use in the U.S. EPA intends to grant these requests at the close of the comment period for this announcement unless the Agency receives substantive comments within the comment period that would merit its further review of the requests. Upon acceptance of these requests, any sale, distribution, or use of products listed in this notice will be permitted only if such sale, distribution, or use is consistent with the terms as described in the final order.

This notice announces the availability of EPA's Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED) for the pesticide 2,4-DB (4-2,4- dichlorophenoxy) butyric acid and 2,4-DB-DMAS (dimethylamine 4-2,4- dichlorophenoxy) butyrate. The Agency's risk assessments and other related documents also are available in the 2,4-DB butyric acid and 2,4-DB-DMAS butyrate docket. 2,4-DB is a member of the chlorophenoxy class of herbicides which function by mimicking the action of auxins, plant growth hormones. 2,4-DB is used to control broadleaf weeds in alfalfa, clover, soybeans, peanuts, peppermint, spearmint, and birdfoot trefoil. 2,4-DB is manufactured as an acid and as the dimethylamine salt, 2, 4-DB-DMAS. EPA has reviewed 2,4-DB butyric acid and 2,4-DB- DMAS butyrate through the public participation process that the Agency uses to involve the public in developing pesticide reregistration and tolerance reassessment decisions. Through these programs, EPA is ensuring that all pesticides meet current health and safety standards.

This regulation establishes exemptions from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of N,N-dimethyloctanamide or octanamide, N,N- dimethyl (CAS Reg. No. 1118-92-9), and N,N-dimethyldecanamide or decanamide, N,N-dimethyl (CAS Reg. No. 14433-76-2) when used as inert ingredients (emulsifier, solvent, and cosolvent) in pesticide formulations applied only to growing crops. The C.P. Hall Company, now doing business as CPH Services, 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 N,N- dimethyloctanamide and N,N-dimethyldecanamide.

The Interim Chief Copyright Royalty Judge of the Library of Congress is announcing the commencement of the proceeding to determine the reasonable rates and terms for two statutory licenses for the period beginning January 1, 2006, and ending on December 31, 2010. One license allows public performances of sound recordings by means of an eligible nonsubscription transmission and transmissions made by a new subscription service; the other permits the making of an ephemeral phonorecord of a sound recording in furtherance of making a permitted public performance of the sound recording. The Interim Chief Copyright Royalty Judge is also announcing the date by which a party who wishes to participate in the rate adjustment proceeding must file its Petition to Participate and the accompanying $150 filing fee.

The Indian Health Service published a document in the Federal Register on January 19, 2005. The document contained two errors.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the brucellosis regulations concerning the interstate movement of swine by adding Arkansas, Louisiana, and Michigan to the list of validated brucellosis-free States. That action was necessary to relieve certain restrictions on the interstate movement of breeding swine from Arkansas and Louisiana and to confirm Michigan's status as a validated brucellosis-free State.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321, et seq.), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or ``we'') advises the public that we intend to gather information necessary to prepare, in coordination with the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (CDPR), a joint Environmental Impact Statement/Environmental Impact Report (EIS/EIR) on the proposed Habitat Conservation Plan for the San Luis Obispo Coast District and Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (HCP). The proposed HCP is being prepared under section 10(a)(1)(B) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973 as amended, (ESA) (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). The incidental take permit is needed to authorize the incidental take of listed species as a result of implementing activities covered under the proposed HCP. We provide this notice to: (1) Describe the proposed action and possible alternatives; (2) advise other Federal and State agencies, affected Tribes, and the public of our intent to prepare an EIS/EIR; (3) announce the initiation of a 30-day public scoping period; and (4) obtain suggestions and information on the scope of issues and alternatives to be included in the EIS/EIR.