December 16, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NICEATM, in collaboration with the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Validation of Alternative Methods (ICCVAM), is considering convening an independent peer review panel (hereafter, ``Panel'') to evaluate the validation status of five in vitro pyrogenicity test methods: (1) Human PBMC/IL-6 in vitro pyrogen test (PBMC/IL-6), (2) human whole blood/IL-1 in vitro pyrogen test (WB/IL- 1), (3) human whole blood/IL-1 in vitro pyrogen test: application of cryopreserved human whole blood cryo (WB/IL-1), (4) the human whole blood/IL-6 in vitro pyrogen test (WB/IL-6), and (5) an alternative in vitro pyrogen test using the human monocytoid cell line MONO MAC-6 (MM6/IL6). NICEATM requests public comments as to the appropriateness and relative priority of this activity. In addition, NICEAM requests the nomination of expert scientists for consideration as potential Panel members in the event a Panel meeting occurs. Finally, NICEATM requests the submission of data from the rabbit pyrogenicity test, the bacterial endotoxin test (BET), and in vitro pyrogenicity testing with the methods listed above.

TSA invites public comment on one currently approved information collection requirement abstracted below that we will submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for renewal in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act.

TSA invites public comment on one currently approved information collection requirement abstracted below that we will submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for renewal in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act.

The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed existing collection in use without an OMB control number, and allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on information needed to determine claimants' eligibility to reinstate lapsed Government Life Insurance policy.

NMFS proposes 2006 and 2007 harvest specifications and prohibited species catch (PSC) allowances for the groundfish fishery of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to establish harvest limits for groundfish during the 2006 and 2007 fishing years and to accomplish the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (FMP). The intended effect of this action is to conserve and manage the groundfish resources in the BSAI in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act).

The Lake Tahoe Basin Federal Advisory Committee will hold a meeting on January 18, 2006 at the North Tahoe Conference Center, 8318 N. Lake Blvd., Kings Beach, CA 96143. This Committee, established by the Secretary of Agriculture on December 15, 1998 (64 FR 2876), is chartered to provide advice to the Secretary on implementing the terms of the Federal Interagency Partnership on the Lake Tahoe Region and other matters raised by the Secretary.

EPA is taking direct final action to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) section 8(a) Inventory Update Reporting (IUR) regulations by adding 10 aluminum alkyl chemicals to the list of chemical substances in Sec. 710.46(b)(2)(iv) which are exempt from reporting processing and use information required by Sec. 710.52(c)(4). EPA has determined that the IUR processing and use information for these chemicals is of low current interest. Manufacturers and importers of the chemicals listed in Sec. 710.46(b)(2)(iv) must continue to report manufacturing information.

The Secretary of Commerce (Commerce) and the United States Trade Representative (USTR) seek nominations for the appointment of public health or health care community representatives to the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Health/Science Products and Services (ITAC 3); and the Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Intellectual Property Rights (ITAC 15). In order to be considered for such an appointment, a nominee must be a U.S. citizen, must represent a U.S. entity in the public health or health care community, and may not be a registered foreign agent under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. A nominee's interest and expertise in public health or health care, international trade, and sectoral issues will be considered. Recruitment information is available on the International Trade Administration Web site at https://www.ita.doc.gov/ itac.

NMFS has determined that the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) General category daily retention limit for three of the previously designated restricted fishing days (RFD) for December should be adjusted. These General category RFDs are being waived to provide reasonable opportunity for utilization of the coastwide General category BFT quota. Therefore, NMFS waives three RFDs in December and increases the daily retention limit from zero to two large medium or giant BFT on these previously designated RFDs.

In accordance with the procedures governing the application for, and the processing of, special permits from the Department of Transportation's Hazardous Material Regulations (49 CFR Part 107, Subpart B), notice is hereby given that the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety has received the application described herein. Each Mode of transportation for which a particular special permit is requested is indicated by a number in the ``Nature of Application'' portion of the table below as follows: 1Motor vehicle, 2Rail freight, 3Cargo vessel, 4Cargo aircraft only, 5Passenger-carrying aircraft.

The FAA receives several requests for interpretation of the Flight Time, Rest and Duty Period regulations. The FAA has decided that it would be beneficial to follow the procedures announced in the May 8, 1980 Federal Register Notice (45 FR 30424) to request public comments on the requesters' questions, before the FAA issues its responses. Copies of requests from members of the public will be posted on the DOT public electronic docket, using a specified FAA docket number.

On August 18, 2004, the Coast Guard published a temporary rule entitled ``Notification of Arrival in U.S. Ports; Certain Dangerous Cargoes; Electronic Submission.'' 69 FR 51176. This temporary rule, which expires March 20, 2006, added ammonium nitrate and ammonium nitrate based fertilizers, in bulk, and propylene oxide, alone or mixed with ethylene oxide, in bulk, to the list of Certain Dangerous Cargoes (CDCs) for which a notice of arrival (NOA) is required. The Coast Guard is now permanently changing the definition of ``certain dangerous cargo'' to include (1) ammonium nitrate, in bulk; (2) ammonium nitrate based fertilizers, in bulk; and (3) propylene oxide, alone or mixed with ethylene oxide, in bulk. This rule also adds an option for vessels to submit notices of arrival electronically. These changes are necessary to promote maritime safety and security and to facilitate the uninterrupted flow of commerce by providing the Coast Guard with information on these cargoes.

This notice proposes changes in the metropolitan area definitions used to calculate HUD median family income estimates and income limits. In this notice, HUD is proposing to issue FY2006 income limits that are based on current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) metropolitan statistical area (MSA) definitions based on 2000 Census data rather than to continue to use old OMB metropolitan area definitions based on 1990 Census data. OMB revises metropolitan area definitions after each Decennial Census. It issued its 2000-Census based definitions in 2003, which contained substantial changes to several metropolitan area definitions. These changes were made to better reflect metropolitan area commuting and economic patterns. The OMB metropolitan area definitions are used on a widespread basis throughout the federal government for both data collection and program administrative purposes. HUD proposed implementing these definitions in its 2004 publication of proposed FY2005 Section 8 Fair Market Rents. It planned to issue FY2005 income limits using the same area definitions. In response to public comments, it reverted to use of old OMB definitions in its final FY2005 Fair Market Rent (FMR) publication. HUD noted in this publication that it intended to continue exploring how to best implement the new definitions, and subsequently received a number of comments supporting use of the new definitions. To meet the needs of agencies required to use current OMB metropolitan area definitions, it published a separate set of FY2005 income estimates based on the new definitions. HUD's final FY2006 FMR publication of October 3, 2005, uses the new OMB definitions in defining metropolitan areas, but modified these definitions to permit subareas based on old metropolitan area definitions in instances when FMRs based on the old definitions differed significantly from the new metropolitan area-wide FMRs. The new approach leaves open the question of whether a hold- harmless provision of some type should be applied in instances where the new metropolitan area definitions produce decreases in estimates of median family income and/or income limits. The statute governing how income limits are to be defined is relatively detailed, but the Secretary of HUD does have limited discretion over its application. Given the number of changes associated with OMB's new metropolitan area definitions, the Department wishes to solicit public comments on this matter prior to implementation. In order to provide directly comparable estimates on the impacts of the changes in metropolitan area definitions on income limits, revised FY2005 income limits were calculated using the new area definitions. The actual FY2006 estimates using the new definitions are likely to be at least somewhat higher than the comparable FY2005 estimates. To provide detailed information on the impacts of the new metropolitan area definitions, HUD prepared a table that compares FY2005 actual income limits with the equivalent FY2005 income limits calculated using the new metropolitan area definitions. Two versions of revised FY2005 income limits are providedone without any hold-harmless policy and one with a hold-harmless policy based on the published FY2005 income limits for the primary old-definition component of the new metropolitan area. This table identifies all of the component parts of the new metropolitan areas and shows which parts previously had different income limits. The table may be obtained at www.huduser.org/datasets/ il.html. In addition to inviting comments on the hold-harmless policy, HUD is also interested in comments on FMR area definitions for areas where two or more metropolitan areas were merged under the new definitions. In preparing its proposed FY2006 FMRs, HUD opted to disaggregate such areas when their FMRs differed by more than 5 percent so as to better reflect local market conditions. In reviewing the impacts of FMR area changes on income limits, it was found that most areas had minimal changes in income limits. There were two notable exceptions. Under the new area definitions, the former Bergen-Passaic and Monmouth-Ocean metropolitan areas were added to New York City and the former Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach-Boca Raton metropolitan areas were added to Miami. In both instances, the old metropolitan areas had very similar 2000 Census-based FMRs to those of the metropolitan areas to which they were being added, but they had significantly higher median family income and income limit amounts. HUD therefore wishes to invite comments as to whether any of these areas should be treated as distinct subparts of their new OMB metropolitan areas, as was done for subparts with measurably different FMRs. Establishing separate income limit areas would mean that separate FMR areas would also be established. In these specific instances, however, the changes in FMR area configurations would have no impact on FY2006 FMRs and would be likely to have very little impact on FY2007 FMRs. HUD believes that the primary area hold-harmless appears to provide the best compromise between program objectives and program administrative considerations. Given that there are methodological changes involved, however, HUD wishes to obtain public comments before calculating and publishing FY2006 income limits.

MMS is modifying its regulations which govern Suspensions of Operations (SOOs) for oil and gas leases on the OCS. The revision will allow MMS to grant an SOO a to lessee or operator to encourage the drilling of ultra-deep wells (i.e., wells below 25,000 feet true vertical depth below the datum at mean sea level). MMS is making this revision because of the added complexity and costs associated with planning and drilling an ultra-deep well. MMS expects that this revision will lead to increased drilling of ultra-deep wells and increased domestic production.

This document contains final and temporary regulations relating to certain business entities included on the list of foreign business entities that are always classified as corporations for Federal tax purposes.