April 7, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS) proposes to amend its regulation for the Business and Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loans by modifying the regulations regarding personal and corporate guarantors. This action will standardize the guarantor process. The Agency will create a guarantor form which will be used to obtain the personal or corporate guarantee of anyone owning greater than 20 percent interest in the borrower. The effect of this rule is to allow the Agency to use all remedies available to pursue collection from guarantors, including offset under the Debt Collection Improvement Act.

In response to a request, we are extending the comment period for the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on January 26, 2005, concerning the transfer, assignment, or sale of permit rights under the provisions of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977.

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of funds in fiscal year (FY) 2005 for the Over-the-Road Bus (OTRB) Accessibility Program, authorized by section 3038 of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). The OTRB Accessibility Program makes funds available to private operators of over-the-road buses to finance the incremental capital and training costs of complying with DOT's over- the-road bus accessibility final rule, 49 CFR part 37, published in a Federal Register notice on September 28, 1998 (63 FR 51670). The authorizing legislation calls for national solicitation of applications, with grantees to be selected on a competitive basis. Federal transit funds are available to intercity fixed-route providers and other OTRB providers at up to 90 percent of the project cost. In FY 2005, $5,208,000 was appropriated for intercity fixed-route service providers and $1,686,400 was appropriated for other over-the- road bus service providers. This announcement is available on the Internet on the FTA Web site at: https://www.fta.dot.gov. FTA will announce final selections on the Web site and in the Federal Register. A synopsis of this announcement will be posted in the FIND module of the government-wide electronic grants Web site at https://www.grants.gov. Applications may be submitted to FTA in hard copy or electronically through the GRANTS.GOV APPLY function.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit a continuing Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This is a request an existing approved collection. This ICRis scheduled to expire on August 31, 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.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing a proposed regulation to designate two sections of the Alternative Ranking and Selection Procedures from the Chief Human Capital Officers Act of 2002 (Title XIII of the Homeland Security Act) as veterans' preference requirements for purposes of a prohibited personnel practice violation, thereby aligning these sections with other statutory provisions covering veterans' preference.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 737-600, -700, -800, and -900 series airplanes. This AD requires installing and testing an updated version of the operational program software of the flight control computers. This AD is prompted by a report of an airplane pitching up with rapidly decreasing indicated airspeed after the flightcrew set a new altitude into the autopilot. We are issuing this AD to prevent anomalous autopilot operation that produces a hazardous combination of airplane attitude and airspeed, which could result in loss of control of the airplane.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 767-300 and -400ER series airplanes. This AD requires replacing the in-flight entertainment cooling card, located in the P50 card file in the main equipment center, with a new, improved cooling card. This AD is prompted by a report of an improperly designed component on the in-flight entertainment (IFE) cooling card, which may cause the IFE cooling system to incorrectly interpret signals from airplane system interfaces. We are issuing this AD to prevent failure of the IFE cooling card to configure itself correctly in response to input signals from airplane system interfaces during a forward cargo fire, which could result in the IFE cooling fan causing smoke to penetrate occupied areas of the airplane.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bombardier Model DHC-8-102, -103, -106, -201, -202, -301, -311, and-315 airplanes. This AD requires revising the airplane flight manual to include applicable procedures to follow when the flightcrew receives abnormal indications of airspeed, altitude, or vertical airspeed. This AD also requires modifying the static system. This AD is prompted by a report of a leak in the static pressure system, which could result in loss of the static systems and consequent erroneous data displayed on the pilot's flight instruments. We are issuing this AD to advise the flightcrew of applicable procedures in the event of abnormal indications of airspeed, altitude, or vertical airspeed; and to prevent leaks in the static system, which could result in the loss of critical flight information that could result in reduced controllability of the airplane or controlled flight into terrain.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus Model A318, A319, A320, and A321 series airplanes. This AD requires an inspection of the spoiler servo control for certain part numbers, and corrective action if necessary. This AD is prompted by a report of a broken piston rod bearing of the spoiler servo control. We are issuing this AD to prevent breakage of the piston rod bearing, which could cause loss of the associated hydraulic system and spoiler extension, and could result in reduced controllability of the airplane.

This Notice announces the availability of the final document, Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment (EPA/630/P-03/001F), hereafter referred to as the Guidelines. These Guidelines were developed as part of an Agency-wide guidelines development program by a Technical Panel of the U.S. EPA's Risk Assessment Forum, which was composed of scientists from throughout the Agency. Selected drafts were peer reviewed internally by the U.S. EPA's Science Advisory Board, and by experts from universities, environmental groups, industry and other governmental agencies. The Guidelines were also subjected to several public comment periods. Issuance of these final Guidelines fulfills EPA's obligations under section 112(o) (7) of the Clean Air Act.

This document amends the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection regulations pertaining to the filing of commercial vessel and aircraft manifests for passengers and crew members. Collectively, the provisions of this final rule require the electronic transmission of manifest information for passengers and crew members onboard commercial vessels and aircraft, in advance of arrival in and departure from the United States, and for crew members and non-crew members onboard commercial aircraft that continue within (foreign air carriers only) and overfly the United States, in advance of the departure of those flights. Submission of this manifest information to the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection is a necessary component of the nation's continuing program of ensuring aviation and vessel safety and protecting national security. The required information also will assist in the efficient inspection and control of passengers and crew members and thus will facilitate the effective enforcement of the customs, immigration, and transportation security laws.