April 6, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will hold a public meeting to solicit comments on its proposal to make available to the public lists of the retail consignees of meat and poultry products that have voluntarily been recalled by a federally inspected meat or poultry establishment if product has been distributed to the retail level. FSIS has proposed to routinely post these retail consignee lists on its Web site as they are developed by the Agency during its recall verification activities. There will be a five-minute time limit for each commenter who presents at the meeting.

On January 10, 2006, EPA proposed new requirements to reduce exposure to lead hazards created by renovation, repair, and painting activities that disturb lead-based paint in the Federal Register. The proposal supports the attainment of the Federal government's goal of eliminating childhood lead poisoning by 2010. The proposal discussed requirements for training renovators and dust sampling technicians; certifying renovators, dust sampling technicians, and renovation firms; accrediting providers of renovation and dust sampling technician training; and for renovation work practices. This notice announces a 45-day extension of the comment period for the Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program proposed rule. This extension is necessary to provide the public with an opportunity to review and comment on materials recently added to the docket.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to reclassify the topical oxygen chamber for extremities (TOCE) from class III (premarket approval) into class II (special controls). The device is intended to surround a patient's limb and apply humidified oxygen to aid healing of chronic skin ulcers such as bedsores. Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, FDA is publishing a notice of availability of the draft guidance document that the agency proposes to use as a special control for the device.

The Coast Guard proposes to establish regulations that govern the operation of the new Dismal Swamp Canal Bridge, at the Alternate Route of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW) mile 28.0, in South Mills, NC. The proposed regulations will maintain a level of operational capabilities that will continue to provide for the reasonable needs of the North Carolina Department of Parks and Recreation Visitor Center, at Dismal Swamp, and vessel navigation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'' or ``SEC'') is making technical amendments to Form ADV under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (``Advisers Act''). Form ADV is the form advisers use to register with the Commission and the state securities regulatory authorities. The Commission is also making technical amendments to Form ADV-W, Form ADV-H, and Form ADV-E.

These special conditions are issued for the Cessna Model 510 series airplane. This airplane will have a novel or unusual design feature(s) associated with engine location, certain performance, flight characteristics and operating limitations necessary for this type of airplane. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to airworthiness standards applicable to these airplanes.

This notice proposes to establish Class E airspace at Jersey Shores Airport (P96), Jersey Shores, Pennsylvania. The development of an Area Navigation (RNAV) Standard Instrument Approach Procedure (SIAP) and Helicopter RNAV (GPS) 074 approach for the Jersey Shores Airport to serve flights operating into the airport during Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) conditions makes this action necessary. Controlled airspace extending upward from 700 feet Above Ground Level (AGL) is needed to contain aircraft executing an approach. The area would be depicted on aeronautical charts for pilot reference.

This notice proposes to establish Class E airspace at Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. The development of an Area Navigation (RNAV) Standard Instrument Approach Procedure (SIAP) and Helicopter RNAV (GPS) 188 approach for the Wyoming Valley Medical Center to serve flights operating into the airport during Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) conditions makes this action necessary. Controlled airspace extending upward from 700 feet Above Ground Level (AGL) is needed to contain aircraft executing an approach. The area would be depicted on aeronautical charts for pilot reference.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury is amending the Foreign Assets Control Regulations, 31 CFR part 500, effective May 8, 2006, to add a new provision limiting the authorization of post-June 19, 2000 transactions involving property in which the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (``North Korea'') or a national thereof has an interest. The new provision prohibits United States persons from owning, leasing, operating or insuring any vessel flagged by North Korea.

The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries (AA), NOAA, announces temporary restrictions consistent with the requirements of the ALWTRP's implementing regulations. These regulations apply to lobster trap/pot and anchored gillnet fishermen in an area totaling approximately 1,248 nm\2\ (4,281 km\2\), east of Chatham, MA, for 15 days. The purpose of this action is to provide protection to an aggregation of northern right whales (right whales).

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM or Office), are proposing three revisions to the Tennessee Federal program. The revisions would: (1) Provide regulations establishing trust funds or annuities to fund the treatment of long-term postmining pollutional discharges; (2) delete the minimum requirements of eighty percent (80%) ground cover for certain postmining land uses and provide that herbaceous ground cover be limited to that necessary to control erosion and support the postmining land use; and (3) exempt areas developed for wildlife habitat, undeveloped land, recreation, or forestry from the requirements that bare areas shall not exceed one- sixteenth (1/16) acre in size and total not more than ten percent (10%) of the area seeded.

The Commission will revise its Schedule of Regulatory Fees in order to recover the amount of regulatory fees that Congress has required it to collect for fiscal year 2006. Section 9 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, provides for the annual assessment and collection of regulatory fees under sections 9(b)(2) and 9(b)(3), respectively, for annual ``Mandatory Adjustments'' and ``Permitted Amendments'' to the Schedule of Regulatory Fees.

The Department of the Navy is amending its certifications and exemptions under the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (72 COLREGS), to reflect that the Deputy Assistant Judge Advocate General (Admiralty and Maritime Law) has determined that USS TEXAS (SSN 775) is a vessel of the Navy which, due to its special construction and purpose, cannot fully comply with certain provisions of the 72 COLREGS without interfering with its special function as a naval ship. The intended effect of this rule is to warn mariners in waters where 72 COLREGS apply.

This final rule reforms the structure of the corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) program for light trucks and establishes higher CAFE standards for model year (MY) 2008-2011 light trucks. Reforming the CAFE program will enable it to achieve larger fuel savings, while enhancing safety and preventing adverse economic consequences. During a transition period of MYs 2008-2010, manufacturers may comply with CAFE standards established under the reformed structure (Reformed CAFE) or with standards established in the traditional way (Unreformed CAFE). This will permit manufacturers and the agency to gain experience with implementing the Reformed CAFE standards. In MY 2011, all manufacturers will be required to comply with a Reformed CAFE standard. Under Reformed CAFE, fuel economy standards are restructured so that they are based on a measure of vehicle size called ``footprint,'' the product of multiplying a vehicle's wheelbase by its track width. A target level of fuel economy is established for each increment in footprint. Smaller footprint light trucks have higher targets and larger ones, lower targets. A particular manufacturer's compliance obligation for a model year will be calculated as the harmonic average of the fuel economy targets for the manufacturer's vehicles, weighted by the distribution of manufacturer's production volumes among the footprint increments. Thus, each manufacturer will be required to comply with a single overall average fuel economy level for each model year of production. The Unreformed CAFE standards are: 22.5 miles per gallon (mpg) for MY 2008, 23.1 mpg for MY 2009, and 23.5 mpg for MY 2010. To aid the transition to Reformed CAFE, the Reformed CAFE standards for those years are set at levels intended to ensure that the industry-wide costs of the Reformed standards are roughly equivalent to the industry-wide costs of the Unreformed CAFE standards in those model years. For MY 2011, the Reformed CAFE standard is set at the level that maximizes net benefits. Net benefits includes the increase in light truck prices due to technology improvements, the decrease in fuel consumption, and a number of other factors viewed from a societal perspective. All of the standards have been set at the maximum feasible level, while accounting for technological feasibility, economic practicability and other relevant factors. Since a manufacturer's compliance obligation for a model year under Reformed CAFE depends in part on its actual production in that model year, its obligation cannot be calculated with absolute precision until the final production figures for that model year become known. However, a manufacturer can calculate its obligation with a reasonably high degree of accuracy in advance of that model year, based on its product plans for the year. Prior to and during the model year, the manufacturer will be able to track all of the key variables in the formula used for calculating its obligation (e.g., distribution of production and the fuel economy of each of its models). This final rule announces estimates of the compliance obligations, by manufacturer, for MYs 2008-2011 under Reformed CAFE, using the fuel economy targets established by NHTSA and the product plans submitted to NHTSA by the manufacturers in response to an August 2005 request for updated product plans. This rulemaking is mandated by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA), which was enacted in the aftermath of the energy crisis created by the oil embargo of 1973-74. The concerns about reliance on petroleum imports, energy security, and the effects of energy prices and supply on national economic well-being that led to the enactment of EPCA remain very much alive today. America is still overly dependent on petroleum. Sustained growth in the demand for oil worldwide, coupled with tight crude oil supplies, are the driving forces behind the sharp price increases seen over the past several years and are expected to remain significant factors in the years ahead. Increasingly, the oil consumed in the U.S. originates in countries with political and economic situations that raise concerns about future oil supply and prices. In the long run, technological innovation will play an increasingly larger role in reducing our dependence on petroleum. We recognize that financial difficulties currently exist in the motor vehicle industry and that a substantial number of job reductions have been announced recently by large full-line manufacturers. Accordingly, we have carefully balanced the costs of the rule with the benefits of conservation. Compared to Unreformed CAFE, Reformed CAFE enhances overall fuel savings while providing vehicle manufacturers with the flexibility they need to respond to changing market conditions. Reformed CAFE will also provide a more equitable regulatory framework by creating a level-playing field for manufacturers, regardless of whether they are full-line or limited-line manufacturers. We are particularly encouraged that Reformed CAFE will reduce the adverse safety risks generated by the Unreformed CAFE program. The transition from the Unreformed CAFE to the Reformed CAFE system will begin soon, but ample lead time is provided before Reformed CAFE takes full effect in MY 2011.