June 20, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On April 6, 2005, NMFS proposed threatened status for the Southern Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of North American green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris; hereafter ``green sturgeon'') under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973. In this notice, NMFS is announcing that a public hearing has been scheduled at one location in Sacramento, CA, in July 2005 to provide additional opportunities for the public and other interested parties to comment on the subject proposal.

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 United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) is reducing the search fee and examination fee for certain PCT applications entering the national stage.

EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Virginia. This revision removes the volatile organic compound (VOC) emission standards exemption for sources located in the Hampton Roads VOC Emissions Control Area localities of James City County, York County, Poquoson City, and Williamsburg City. Sources located in these jurisdictions will now be subject to the VOC emission standards for existing sources as is the case in the other jurisdictions within the Area. This action is necessary in order for Virginia to meet its obligation to implement contingency measures as a result of the area's violation of the 1-hour ozone standard. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's SIP submittal as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A more detailed description of the state submittal and EPA's evaluation are included in a Technical Support Document (TSD) prepared in support of this rulemaking action. A copy of the TSD is available, upon request, from the EPA Regional Office listed in the ADDRESSES section of this document. If no adverse comments are received in response to this action, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Raytheon Aircraft Company (Raytheon) Model 390 airplanes. This proposed AD would require you to replace the rudder pedal arm assemblies used in the rudder control system with parts of improved design. This proposed AD results from reports of cracks found on the rudder pedal arm assemblies. We are issuing this proposed AD to prevent failure of the rudder pedal arm assemblies caused by fatigue cracks. This failure could lead to loss of rudder control, loss of nose gear steering, and loss of toe brakes on the side on which the failure occurs.

On behalf of the President's Pay Agent, the Office of Personnel Management is issuing proposed regulations on the locality pay program for General Schedule employees. The proposed regulations would merge the Kansas City, St. Louis, and Orlando locality pay areas with the Rest of U.S. locality pay area; create new locality pay areas for Buffalo, NY; Phoenix, AZ; and Raleigh, NC; add Fannin County, TX, to the Dallas-Fort Worth locality pay area; and make minor changes in the official description of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside and Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia locality pay areas. The new locality pay area definitions would become effective in January 2006.