June 10, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Commerce (``Commerce'') is withdrawing its final rule entitled ``Imports of Certain Worsted Wool Fabric: Implementation of Tariff Rate Quota Established Under Title V of the Trade and Development Act of 2000'' published on May 12, 2005 (70 FR 24941). That rule finalized tariff rate quotas (TRQ) for a limited quantity of worsted wool fabrics pursuant to Title V of the Trade and Development Act of 2000 (``the Act'') as amended by the Trade Act of 2002. The rule is being withdrawn due to an incorrect effective date.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations concerning applications for preliminary permits to eliminate certain outdated requirements and reduce unnecessary burdens on persons subject to the Commission's regulations. These modifications are the result of a review begun by the Commission's FERC Information Assessment Team (FIAT) to identify all of the Commission's current information collections to evaluate their original purposes and current uses, and to propose ways to reduce the burden on industry through the elimination, reduction, streamlining or reformatting of current collections. The Commission is amending its regulations to eliminate 18 CFR 4.81(d)(3) to remove the requirements for identifying a market for power and related power system information in the application for a preliminary permit. The Commission expects that these minor modifications of its regulations will not have a significant impact on preliminary permit proceedings. Because these changes relate only to the Commission's procedures and relieve unnecessary regulatory burdens, notice and comment on the changes is not required.

On October 27, 2003, and December 24, 2003, the EPA revised regulations governing the major New Source Review (NSR) programs mandated by parts C and D of title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). The rule changes from October 27, 2003, provide a category of equipment replacement activities that are deemed to be routine maintenance, repair and replacement (RMRR) activities and, therefore, are not subject to Major NSR requirements under the exclusion, while the December 24, 2003 rule changes amended the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) provisions of state programs that did not have approved state rules for PSD. Also on December 24, 2003, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit stayed the new RMRR rules, pending judicial review. Following these actions, the Administrator received petitions for reconsideration. On July 1, 2004, we, the EPA, announced our reconsideration of certain issues arising from these two final rules and requested comment on those issues. After carefully considering all of the comments and information received through our reconsideration process, we have concluded that no additional changes are necessary to the final rules. With respect to all other issues raised by the petitioners, we deny the requests for reconsideration.

EPA is extending the comment period for a proposed rule published May 11, 2005 (70 FR 24734). On May 11, 2005, EPA proposed to conditionally approve revisions to the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) and nonattainment new source review (NSR) construction permit programs submitted by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) on September 14, 2004. On December 31, 2002, EPA published revisions to the Federal PSD and NSR regulations in 40 CFR parts 51 and 52 (67 FR 80186). These ``NSR Reform'' regulatory revisions became effective on March 3, 2003, and include provisions for baseline emissions determinations, actual-to-future actual methodology, plantwide applicability limits (PALs), clean units, and pollution control projects (PCPs). EPA proposed to conditionally approve OEPA's revised rules to implement these NSR Reform provisions. In response to a May 19, 2005, request from the Natural Resources Defense Council, EPA is extending the comment period for 60 days.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the regulations concerning the importation of animals and animal products by adding Malaysia to the list of regions in which highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 is considered to exist. We took that action to prevent the introduction of HPAI subtype H5N1 in the United States.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is amending the Federal meat and poultry products inspection regulations to establish a general definition and standard of identity for standardized meat and poultry products that have been modified to qualify for use of an expressed nutrient content claim in their product names. These products will be identified by an expressed nutrient content claim, such as ``fat free,'' ``low fat,'' and ``light,'' in conjunction with an appropriate standardized term, e.g., ``low fat bologna.'' FSIS is taking this action to: Assist consumers in maintaining healthy dietary practices by providing for modified versions of standardized meat and poultry products that have reductions of certain constituents that are of health concern to some consumers, such as fat, cholesterol, and sodium; increase regulatory flexibility and support product innovation, and provide consumers with an informative nutrition labeling system.

The Coast Guard is establishing temporary special local regulations for the ``Maryland Swim for Life'', an annual marine event to be held on the waters of the Chester River near Chestertown, Maryland on June 18, 2005. These special local regulations are necessary to provide for the safety of life on navigable waters during the event. This action is intended to restrict vessel traffic in portions of the Chester River during the event.

The Coast Guard has temporarily changed the drawbridge operating regulations governing the operation of the Carlton Bridge, mile 14.0, across the Kennebec River between Bath and Woolwich, Maine. This temporary final rule allows the bridge to open on signal every three hours at 6 a.m., 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m., and 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, from July 5 through December 17, 2005, and again from April 1 through June 30, 2006, to facilitate rehabilitation construction at the bridge. This rule also allows five three-day bridge closures in September and October of 2005. Vessels that can pass under the bridge without a bridge opening may do so at all times.

This final rule sets forth the standards adopted by the Postal ServiceTM to implement the Premium Forwarding Service (PFS) experiment. The Postal Service is conducting the PFS experiment to measure interest in a new service that forwards mail to residential customers who are temporarily away from their primary address. With PFS, your local Post Office will ship mail to your temporary address once a week via Priority Mail[reg].

The of State Louisiana has applied to EPA for Final authorization of the changes to its hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). EPA proposes to grant Final authorization to the State of Louisiana. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal Register, EPA is authorizing the changes by an immediate final rule. EPA did not make a proposal prior to the immediate final rule because we believe this action is not controversial and do not expect comments that oppose it. We have explained the reasons for this authorization in the preamble to the immediate final rule. Unless we get written comments which oppose this authorization during the comment period, the immediate final rule will become effective on the date it establishes, and we will not take further action on this proposal. If we receive comments that oppose this action, we will withdraw the immediate final rule and it will not take effect. We will then respond to public comments in a later final rule based on this proposal. You may not have another opportunity for comment. If you want to comment on this action, you must do so at this time.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 98-10-12, which applies to all Revo, Incorporated (REVO) (Type Certificate 1A13 formerly held by Colonial Aircraft Company, Lake Aircraft Corporation, Consolidated Aeronautics, Inc., and Global Amphibians LLC) Models Colonial C-2, Lake LA-4, Lake LA-4A, Lake LA-4P, and Lake LA-4-200 airplanes. AD 98-10-12 currently requires you to ensure adequate clearance between the attachment fitting and the horizontal stabilizer rear beam and between the attachment fitting and the stabilizer skin with inspections, possible replacement, and adjustments as necessary. This new AD is the result of several reports of fatigue cracks found in the horizontal stabilizer attachment fitting (part number 2-2200-21) of Model LA-4-200 airplanes that were in compliance with AD 98-10-12. This includes an airplane accident with a fatality attributed to a fatigue crack in the horizontal stabilizer attachment fitting. Consequently, this AD requires either a dye penetrant inspection of the horizontal stabilizer attachment fitting for any evidence of fretting, cracking, or corrosion (with necessary replacement and modification) or replacement of the fittings depending on the number of operational hours on the fitting. The AD also requires you to repetitively replace the fitting every 850 hours time-in-service (TIS), repetitively inspect (visually) the fittings between replacement times, and report to FAA the results of the initial inspection and any cracks found on repetitive inspections. We are issuing this AD to detect, correct, and prevent future cracks in the horizontal stabilizer attachment fitting, which could result in failure of the horizontal stabilizer attachment fitting. This failure could result in loss of control of the airplane.