April 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.

The FAA is revising an earlier NPRM for an airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to certain BAE Systems (Operations) Limited Model BAe 146 airplanes. The original NPRM would have required repetitive inspections to measure the depth of chafing or scoring in the skin along the full length of the wing-to-fuselage fairing from forward to aft ends at the contact between the seal and fuselage, and related investigative/corrective actions if necessary. The original NPRM resulted from a report of chafing in this area. This action revises the original NPRM by removing certain credit for prior accomplishment of proposed requirements. We are proposing this supplemental NPRM to detect and correct such chafing or scoring, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the fuselage.

This action withdraws a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). That NPRM proposed a new airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to certain RRD Tay 650-15 series turbofan engines. That proposed action would have required initial and repetitive inspections of the high pressure compressor (HPC) shaft and high pressure turbine (HPT) shaft for spline flank wear. Since we issued that NPRM, the Luftfahrt- Bundesamt (LBA), which is the airworthiness authority for Germany, notified us that the spline flank wear inspections are now downgraded by RRD from ``mandatory'' to ``recommended''. Accordingly, we withdraw the proposed rule.

Section 6005 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) established a pilot program to allow the Secretary to assign and the State to assume the Secretary's responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for one or more highway projects. The Secretary may permit not more than five States (including the States of Alaska, California, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas) to participate in the program. Upon assigning NEPA responsibilities, the Secretary may further assign to the State all or part of the Secretary's responsibilities for environmental review, consultation or other action required under any Federal environmental law pertaining to the review of a specific project. In order to be selected for the pilot program a State must submit an application to the Secretary. Section 6005 requires the Secretary to promulgate rules that establish requirements relating to information required to be contained in an application by a State to participate in the pilot program. This proposed rule is intended to provide the application requirements.

The EPA is taking direct final action to amend its regulations relating to the Clean Air Act (CAA) requirement that Federal actions conform to the appropriate State, Tribal or Federal implementation plan for attaining clean air (``general conformity'') to add de minimis emissions levels for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter equal or less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and its precursors.

This document gives notice that we intend to begin consistently and routinely requiring that a permit must accompany all aquatic snails that are imported into the United States or that are moving interstate. We also intend to consistently require that shipments of aquatic snails, as with all other plant pests imported under permit, be subject to inspection and to begin routinely and consistently inspecting shipments of aquatic supplies or plants that may contain aquatic snails. This action is necessary in order to prevent the importation or interstate movement of certain species of aquatic snails which, if released into the environment, can become destructive agricultural pests.

This final rule conforms our regulations to section 302(a)(2)(E)(iv) of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003. This rule defines the term power mobility devices (PMDs) as power wheelchairs and power operated vehicles (POVs or scooters). It sets forth revised conditions for Medicare payment of PMDs and defines who may prescribe PMDs. This rule also requires a face-to-face examination of the beneficiary by the physician or treating practitioner, a written prescription, and receipt of pertinent parts of the medical record by the supplier within 45 days after the face-to-face examination that the durable medical equipment suppliers maintain in their records and make available to CMS or its agents upon request. Finally, this rule discusses CMS' policy on documentation that may be requested by CMS or its agents to support a Medicare claim for payment, as well as the elimination of the Certificate of Medical Necessity (CMN) for PMDs.

NMFS issues this proposed rule to implement Amendment 13 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Shrimp Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico (Amendment 13), as prepared and submitted by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council). This proposed rule would establish a 10-year moratorium on issuance of Federal Gulf shrimp vessel permits; require owners of vessels fishing for or possessing royal red shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to have a royal red shrimp endorsement; require owners or operators of all federally permitted Gulf shrimp vessels to report information on landings and vessel and gear characteristics; and require vessels selected by NMFS to carry observers and/or install an electronic logbook provided by NMFS. In addition, Amendment 13 would establish biological reference points for penaeid shrimp and status determination criteria for royal red shrimp. The intended effects of this proposed rule are to provide essential fisheries data, including bycatch data, needed to improve management of the fishery and to control access to the fishery.

This regulation establishes a tolerance for residues of novaluron in or on brassica, head and stem, subgroup 5A. Interregional Research Project Number 4 (IR-4) requested this tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for Turbomeca Makila 1 A2 turboshaft engines. This AD requires upgrading the software version of the digital electronic control. This AD results from Turbomeca determining that Makila 1 A2 turboshaft engines with software version 9 installed in the digital electronic control unit (DECU), under certain conditions, could experience a free turbine overspeed and uncontained failure. We are issuing this AD to prevent overspeed and uncontained failure of the free turbine and damage to the helicopter.

This action revises Class E airspace at Valdez Pioneer Field, AK to provide adequate controlled airspace to contain aircraft executing two new Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs), and one revised SIAP. This rule results in revised Class E airspace extending upward from 1,200 feet (ft.) above the surface at Valdez Pioneer Field, AK.

This action revises Class E airspace at Cold Bay, AK to provide adequate controlled airspace to contain aircraft executing two new Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs), and seven revised SIAPs. This rule results in revised Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet (ft.) and 1,200 ft. above the surface at Cold Bay, AK.

This rule suspends the container regulations prescribed under the Washington apricot marketing order for the 2006 shipping season only. The marketing order regulates the handling of fresh apricots grown in designated counties in the State of Washington, and is administered locally by the Washington Apricot Marketing Committee (Committee). This relaxation of the regulations provides the apricot industry with increased marketing flexibility by allowing handlers to pack and ship apricots in any size, shape, or type of container. The Committee recommended a temporary suspension of the container regulations so that it can thoroughly evaluate the impact the relaxation has on the apricot industry prior to taking any action for subsequent seasons.

This rule removes volume limitations on new product development, new market development and market expansion activities to facilitate such activities; allows handlers to receive diversion credit for the voluntary destruction of finished, marketable products that have deteriorated in condition to provide handlers more flexibility; adds a procedure to keep Cherry Industry Administrative Board (Board) representation in line with current district production levels; and revises grower application and mapping procedures under the grower diversion program to make the process less burdensome. These changes are intended to improve the operation of the marketing order and to increase the demand for tart cherries and tart cherry products. The changes were unanimously recommended by the Board, the body that locally administers the marketing order. The marketing order regulates the handling of tart cherries grown in the States of Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

The staff denied a petition for reconsideration filed by Communications Capital Company II of Louisiana, LLC, of a Report and Order in this proceeding, which had dismissed its counterproposal. The staff determined that the reconsideration petition did not demonstrate any errors of fact or law and that the counterproposal was properly dismissed as an impermissibly contingent proposal. See also SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

This document allots five channels to the communities of Hermitage, Arkansas; Richland Springs, Texas; Tomahawk, Wisconsin; Wasco, California and Waynoka, Oklahoma. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION, infra.