February 7, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the Gunnison's prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We find that the petition does not present substantial scientific and commercial data indicating that listing the Gunnison's prairie dog may be warranted. Therefore, we will not be initiating a formal status review to determine if listing this species is warranted. We will work with the States where information is currently unavailable to develop information that will assist in determining and monitoring the status of Gunnison's prairie dog. Once those results are available we will reevaluate the status of Gunnison's prairie dog.

The FAA is superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD), which applies to all Short Brothers Model SD3-60 and SD3-SHERPA airplanes. That AD currently requires an inspection of the fork end of the rear pintle pin on each main landing gear (MLG) to verify that sealant is properly applied and is undamaged, and related investigative/corrective actions if necessary. This new AD requires an additional inspection for correctly applied sealant on the MLG rear pintle pin assemblies, and related investigative/corrective actions if necessary. This AD also expands the applicability of the existing AD. This AD results from a new report of a cracked pintle pin fork end. We are issuing this AD to prevent stress-corrosion cracking and subsequent failure of the MLG.

This document adopts several modifications to the Federal Communications Commission's competitive bidding rules. Some of the changes are necessitated by the Commercial Spectrum Enhancement Act and others are designed to enhance the Commission's competitive bidding program.

The Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District, has approved a temporary deviation from the regulations governing the operation of the New Jersey Transit Railroad Drawbridge, at mile 0.9, across the South Channel of the Shark River at Belmar, New Jersey, south of Avon. To facilitate electrical repairs, this deviation allows the drawbridge to remain closed-to-navigation from 11 p.m. on February 10, 2006, until 12 p.m. (noon) on February 11, 2006, and from 11 p.m. on February 24, 2006, until 12 p.m. (noon) on February 25, 2006. If required, a rain date has been set from 11 p.m. on March 10, 2006, until 12 p.m. (noon) on March 11, 2006.

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), published a final rule to add two marine taxa to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife in accordance with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended, on November 16, 2005. For one of the two taxa, the white abalone (Haliotis sorenseni), we incorrectly published in the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife at Sec. 17.11(h) that the species was Threatened, when it is actually listed as Endangered. We now correct that error.

EPA is proposing to revise the waste treatment standard for 1,3-phenylenediamine (1,3-PDA) for a biosludge generated at DuPont's Chambers Works facility in Deepwater, New Jersey. This variance is necessary because the facility is unable to measure compliance with the previously promulgated 1,3-PDA treatment standard in its multisource leachate biosludge matrix. As a practical matter, therefore, the facility cannot fully document compliance with the requirements of the treatment standard. For the same reason, EPA cannot ascertain compliance for this constituent. Furthermore, faced with the inability to demonstrate treatment residual content through analytical testing for this constituent, this facility faces potential curtailment of 1,3- PDA production operations. This site-specific variance will provide alternative technology treatment standards for 1,3-PDA in multisource leachate that do not require analysis of the biosludge matrix to determine whether the numerical treatment standard is being met, thus ensuring that treatment reflecting performance of the Best Demonstrated Available Technology occurs and that threats to human health and the environment from land disposal of the waste are minimized. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of the Federal Register, we are revising the 1,3-PDA multisource leachate (F039) treatment standard for the DuPont Chambers Works facility in Deepwater, New Jersey without prior proposal because we view the revision as noncontroversial and anticipate no adverse comment. We have explained our reasons for this approach in the preamble to the direct final rule. If we receive adverse comment on this revision, however, we will withdraw the direct final action for that portion of the variance and it will not take effect. We will address all public comments in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. We will not institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting on any amendment must do so at this time.

This document contains final regulations relating to the taxation and reporting of income earned on qualified settlement funds and certain other escrow accounts, trusts, and funds, and other related rules. The final regulations affect qualified settlement funds, escrow accounts established in connection with sales of property, disputed ownership funds, and the parties to these escrow accounts, trusts, and funds.