April 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

FMCSA withdraws a July 30, 1998, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would have prohibited the driver of a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) from driving onto a highway-railroad grade crossing without sufficient space to drive completely through the crossing without stopping. The NPRM was issued in response to section 112 of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Authorization Act of 1994. After careful analysis and review of the comments, FMCSA has concluded that the NPRM gave a misleading impression of the statutory mandate and the cost and complexity of complying with an implementing regulation. FMCSA is therefore withdrawing the 1998 NPRM in order to eliminate the confusion associated with this rulemaking. The agency, however, will issue a simpler and more clearly written new NPRM addressing the requirements of section 112.

We are proposing to amend the Animal Welfare Act regulations concerning the handling of animals to require that shift cages be used for handling certain species. One of the largest risk factors for animal escape and employee and animal injury occurs when it is necessary to move, or shift, certain animals between enclosures. Requiring shift cages for certain species would mitigate the risk of injuries to people and animals as well as ensure safe transport of animals between enclosures and exhibits.

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) MU-2B series airplanes. This proposed AD would require you to incorporate power assurance charts into the Limitations Section of the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM), inspect the engine torque indication system, and recalibrate the torque pressure transducers as required. This proposed AD results from a recent safety evaluation that used a data-driven approach to analyze the design, operation, and maintenance of the MU-2B series airplanes in order to determine their safety and define what steps, if any, are necessary for their safe operation. Part of that evaluation was the identification of unsafe conditions that exist or could develop on the affected type design airplanes. We are issuing this proposed AD to detect and correct torque transducers that are out of calibration. The above issue, if uncorrected, could result in degraded performance and poor handling qualities with consequent loss of control of the airplane in certain situations.

The following 2006 fishing year (FY) Total Allowable Catches (TACs) are implemented for the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Hard (i.e., the fishery or area closes when a TAC is reached) TACs for Eastern Georges Bank (GB) cod, Eastern GB haddock, and GB yellowtail flounder in the U.S./Canada Management Area; target TACs for all NE regulated multispecies; and hard Incidental Catch TACs for groundfish stocks of concern. The intent of this action is to provide for the conservation and management of groundfish management under the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP).

This document informs the public that the Commandant of the Coast Guard is directing Coast Guard Captains of the Port to prevent access to waterfront facilities to persons that do not have appropriate identification credentials as defined under Coast Guard regulations. This document also identifies additional identification documents that have been approved by the Commandant as identification credentials.

Missouri has applied to EPA for Final authorization of the changes to its hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). EPA proposes to grant final authorization to Missouri.

EPA is proposing to approve two State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation's Nitrogen Oxides (NOX) Budget Trading Program (Trading Program) submitted October 27, 2003, and December 10, 2003, by the State of Tennessee. The first revision corrects a miscalculation in Tennessee's NOX trading budget for non-electric generating units (non-EGUs) resulting from the use of an incorrect control efficiency percentage for one of the Trading Program's non-EGU sourcesan Eastman Chemical Company boiler. The correction of this miscalculation results in a 147 tons per season (tps) increase in Tennessee's NOX trading budget for non-EGUsmaking its non- EGU trading budget 5,666 tps, instead of 5,519 tps, and increasing Tennessee's total State-wide NOX budget from 163,928 tpy to 164,075 tpy. Based on this correction, Tennessee's second revision reallocates trading allowances to Eastman Chemical Companyincreasing the NOX trading allowances from 416 tps to 549 tps for the Eastman Chemical Company boiler. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's SIP revisions as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views these as noncontroversial submittals and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no significant, material, and adverse comments are received in response to this rule, 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 on this document. Any parties interested in commenting on this document should do so at this time.

We are amending the gypsy moth regulations by adding one county in Ohio, one county in West Virginia, and two counties in Wisconsin to the list of generally infested areas based on the detection of infestations of gypsy moth in those counties. As a result of this action, the interstate movement of regulated articles from those areas will be restricted. This action is necessary to prevent the artificial spread of the gypsy moth to noninfested States.

EPA is taking final action to approve revisions to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revisions were submitted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to establish and require reasonably available control technology (RACT) for five major sources and nitrogen oxides (NOX) pursuant to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's SIP-approved generic RACT regulations. EPA is approving these revisions in accordance with the Clean Air Act (CAA).

This interim final rule with comment period sets forth the methodology and process used to compute and issue each State's allotment for fiscal year (FY) 2006 and FY 2007 that is available to pay Medicare Part B premiums for qualifying individuals. It also provides the preliminary FY 2006 allotments determined under this methodology.

This document amends the interim final regulation that implements the Mental Health Parity Act of 1996 (MHPA) to conform the sunset date of the regulation to the sunset date of the statute under legislation passed on December 30, 2005.

In today's action, we are finalizing regulations to include Delaware and New Jersey in the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) for fine particles (PM2.5), based on our assessment that they contribute significantly to a downwind State's nonattainment. In the CAIR, we determined that upwind States that contribute 0.2 [mu]g/ m3 or more to a downwind PM2.5 nonattainment area are potentially deemed to be contributing significantly to nonattainment in the downwind State. The EPA proposed to augment the analytical approach used in the CAIR by supplementing the air quality step of the contribution analysis. Based on the results of this augmented analytical approach, we proposed that Delaware and New Jersey should be covered by the CAIR for annual sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) requirements and are finalizing the regulation to include these States in the CAIR for PM2.5.

Today, EPA is taking actions to address the interstate transport of emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) that contribute significantly to nonattainment and maintenance problems with respect to the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and 8-hour ozone. As one part of today's action, EPA is providing its final response to a petition submitted to EPA by the State of North Carolina under section 126 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The petition requests that EPA find that SO2 and/or NOX emissions from electric generating units (EGUs) in 13 States are significantly contributing to PM2.5 and/or 8-hour ozone nonattainment and maintenance problems in North Carolina, and requested that EPA establish control requirements to prohibit such significant contribution. The EPA is denying the petition because, in today's action, EPA is promulgating Federal implementation plans (FIPs) for all jurisdictions covered by the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) to address interstate transport. The FIPs will regulate EGUs in the affected States and achieve the emissions reductions requirements established by the CAIR until States have approved State implementation plans (SIPs) to achieve the reductions. As the control requirement for the FIPs, EPA is adopting the model trading rules that EPA provided in CAIR as a control option for States, with minor changes to account for Federal rather than State implementation. Today's action also revises CAIR SIP model trading rules in order to address the interaction between the EPA-administered CAIR FIP trading programs being promulgated today and the EPA-administered CAIR State trading programs that will be created by any State that elects to submit a SIP establishing such a trading program to meet the requirements of the CAIR. In addition, EPA is taking final action on our reconsideration of the definition of ``EGU'' as it relates to solid waste incinerators. Today's action also makes revisions to the Acid Rain Program in order to make the administrative appeals procedures, which currently apply to final determinations by the Administrator under the EPA- administered CAIR State trading programs, also apply to the EPA- administered trading programs under the FIP action. In addition, we are making certain minor revisions to the Acid Rain Program that will apply to all affected units.

EPA proposes to approve revisions to the Pennsylvania State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revisions were submitted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to establish and require reasonably available control technology (RACT) for seven sources of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and one source of nitrogen oxides (NOX) pursuant to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's (Pennsylvania or the Commonwealth) SIP-approved generic RACT regulations. EPA is proposing to approve these revisions in accordance with the Clean Air Act (CAA).

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) requests comments and suggestions to assist in the writing of a proposed rule to update the linear right-of-way rental schedule in 43 CFR parts 2800 and 2880. The rental schedule covers most linear rights-of-way granted under section 28 of the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended (MLA), and Title V of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA). Both laws require the holder of a right-of-way to pay annually, in advance, the fair market value to occupy, use, or traverse public lands for facilities such as power lines, fiber optic lines, pipelines, roads, and ditches. Section 367 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (the Act) directs the Secretary of the Interior to update the per-acre rental fee schedule found in 43 CFR 2806.20. This update is to be completed not later than one year after the date of enactment of the Act, which occurred on August 8, 2005. The Act requires that the BLM revise the per-acre rental fee-zone value schedule by state, county, and type of linear right-of-way use to reflect current land values in each zone. The Act also requires the Secretary of Agriculture (Forest Service) to make the same revisions for rights-of-way on National Forest System lands. We encourage members of the public to provide comments and suggestions to help with updating the BLM's and the Forest Service's rental schedule, as described in the Act.

This amendment supersedes an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for the MD Helicopters, Inc. (MDHI) Model 600N helicopters, that currently requires inspecting both upper tailboom attachment fittings, nut plates and both angles for a crack or thread damage, and repairing or replacing any cracked or damaged part. That AD also requires replacing the upper right tailboom attachment bolt with a new attachment bolt, and if the upper right attachment bolt is broken, replacing the three remaining attachment bolts with airworthy bolts. Adding a washer to each bolt and modifying both access covers is also required. Thereafter, inspecting the upper tailboom attachments and repairing or replacing any cracked part is required by that AD. That AD was prompted by the discovery of a cracked attachment bolt on a helicopter. This AD requires those same actions, plus installing additional inspection holes in the aft fuselage skin panels and inspecting the upper and lower tailboom attachment fittings, the upper longerons, and the angles and nut plates for cracks. It also requires, within a specified time, replacing the upper right tailboom attachment fitting, painting the inspection area, and replacing existing nut plates. Additionally, it requires inspecting the attachment bolts for any damage or wear. This amendment is prompted by an accident involving a Model 600N helicopter. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent failure of the tailboom attachment fittings, separation of the tailboom from the helicopter, and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter.

We are amending the regulations regarding tuberculosis in captive cervids by extending, from 2 years to 3, the term for which accredited herd status is valid and increasing by 12 months the interval for conducting the reaccreditation test required to maintain the accredited tuberculosis-free status of cervid herds. We are also reducing, from three tests to two, the number of consecutive negative official tuberculosis tests required of all eligible captive cervids in a herd before a herd can be eligible for recognition as an accredited herd. These actions will reduce testing costs for herd owners, lessen the potential for animal injury or death during testing, and lower administrative costs for State and Federal regulatory agencies. In addition, we are amending the regulations by removing references to the blood tuberculosis test for captive cervids, as that test is no longer used in the tuberculosis eradication program for captive cervids. This change updates the regulations so that they refer only to those official tests currently in use.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of a new animal drug application (NADA) filed by Alpharma Inc. The NADA provides for use of approved single-ingredient Type A medicated articles containing lasalocid and chlortetracycline to formulate two-way, combination drug Type B and Type C medicated feeds for pasture cattle and cattle fed in confinement for slaughter.

This document corrects an error that appeared in Docket No. NM316, Special Conditions No. 25-312-SC, which were published in the Federal Register on January 24, 2006 (71 FR 3753). The error is in the Special Conditions No. and is being corrected herein.

We are proposing to revise and reorganize the regulations pertaining to the importation of fruits and vegetables to consolidate requirements of general applicability and eliminate redundant requirements, update terms and remove outdated requirements and references, update the regulations that apply to importations into territories under U.S. administration, and make various editorial and nonsubstantive changes to regulations to make them easier to use. We are also proposing to make substantive changes to the regulations, including: Establishing criteria within the regulations that, if met, would allow us to approve certain new fruits and vegetables for importation into the United States and to acknowledge pest-free areas in foreign countries more effectively and expeditiously; doing away with the practice of listing specific commodities that may be imported subject to certain types of phytosanitary measures; and providing for the issuance of special use permits for fruits and vegetables. These changes are intended to simplify and expedite our processes for approving certain new imports and pest-free areas while continuing to allow for public participation in the processes. This proposal, if adopted, would represent a significant structural revision of the fruits and vegetables import regulations and would establish a new process for approving certain new commodities for importation into the United States. It would not, however, allow the importation of any specific new fruits or vegetables, nor would it alter the conditions for importing currently approved fruits or vegetables except as specifically described in this document. To the extent to which trading partners consider the time it takes to conduct the rulemaking process a trade barrier, by reducing that time, these proposed changes may facilitate the export of U.S. agricultural commodities. The proposed changes would not alter the manner in which the risk associated with a commodity import request is evaluated, nor would it alter the manner in which those risks are ultimately mitigated.

Pursuant to Sections 323(b)(10) and 346(a) of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, as amended, (EPCA or the Act), 42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(10) and 6317(a), the Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) promulgates a rule prescribing test procedures for measuring the energy efficiency of distribution transformers under EPCA, definitions to delineate the products covered by the test procedures, provisions (including a sampling plan) manufacturers must use to implement the test procedures, provisions to allow manufacturers to use calculation methods to determine the efficiency of some of their models, and enforcement testing for distribution transformers. The Department will use the new test procedures in evaluating what energy conservation standards are warranted for distribution transformers other than the low-voltage dry-type. When DOE promulgates such standards, then the test procedures and other provisions adopted today will be used to determine the efficiencies and assess compliance of the transformers subject to these standards. For low-voltage dry-type distribution transformers, the new standards prescribed for them in section 325(y) of EPCA, 42 U.S.C. 6295(y), go into effect on January 1, 2007, and all of the provisions of today's rule will become applicable to those transformers at that time.

The Farm Credit Administration (FCA) is reopening the comment period on the proposed rule that would revise risk-based capital requirements for the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac or Corporation) so that interested parties will have additional time to provide comments.

EPA is proposing to revoke certain tolerances for the insecticide endosulfan, the fungicides fenarimol, imazalil, and ziram; and the herbicide trifluralin. Also, EPA is proposing to modify certain tolerances for the insecticide endosulfan, the fungicides fenarimol, imazalil, and ziram; and the herbicides sodium acifluorfen and trifluralin. In addition, EPA is proposing to establish new tolerances for the insecticide endosulfan, the fungicides fenarimol, imazalil, and ziram; and the herbicides oryzalin and trifluralin. The regulatory actions proposed in this document are part of the Agency's reregistration program under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and the tolerance reassessment requirements of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) section 408(q), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) of 1996. By law, EPA is required by August 2006 to reassess the tolerances that were in existence on August 2, 1996. No tolerance reassessments will be counted at the time of a final rule because tolerances in existence on August 2, 1996, that are associated with actions proposed herein were previously counted as reassessed at the time of the completed Reregistration Eligibility Decision (RED), Report of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) Tolerance Reassessment Progress and Risk Management Decision (TRED), or Federal Register action.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bombardier Model CL-600-2B19 (Regional Jet Series 100 & 440) airplanes. This AD requires modifying the wiring on an alternating current (AC) service bus contactor that is located in the avionics bay. This AD results from incidents of short circuit failures of certain AC contactors located in the avionics bay. We are issuing this AD to prevent short circuit failures of certain AC contactors, which could result in arcing and consequent smoke or fire.