May 5, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA, 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA, 43 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has prepared a Draft Resource Management Plan/ Environmental Impact Statement (RMP/EIS) for the Kobuk-Seward Peninsula Planning Area.

42 U.S.C. 299c, section 931 of the Public Health Service (PHS Act), established a National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality (the Council). The Council is to advise the Secretary of HHS and the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on matters related to actions of the Agency to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. Eight current members' terms will expire in November 2006. To fill these positions in accordance with the legislative mandate establishing the Council, we are seeking individuals who are distinguished: (1) In the conduct of research, demonstration projects, and evaluations with respect to health care; (2) In the fields of health care quality research or health care improvement; (3) In the practice of medicine; (4) In other health professions; (5) In representing the private health care sector (including health plans, providers, and purchasers) or administrators of health care delivery systems; (6) In the fields of health care economics, information systems, law, ethics, business, or public policy; and, (7) In representing the interests of patients and consumers of health care. Individuals are particularly sought with experience and success in activities specified in the summary above.

The Captain of the Port Portland, Oregon will begin, on April 23, 2006, enforcing a small area of the greater Large Passenger Vessel Security and Safety Zones that were published in the Federal Register on September 12, 2003. The zones provide for the security and safety of large passenger vessels in the navigable waters of Captain of the Port Portland, Oregon zone and adjacent waters. These security and safety zones will be enforced for passenger cruise ships only and only from the mouth of the Columbia River at buoy 14 upriver to, and including, Astoria, Oregon until October 31, 2006.

The FAA publishes a monthly notice, as appropriate, of PFC approvals and disapprovals under the provisions of the Aviation Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1990 (Title IX of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990) (Pub. L. 101-508) and Part 158 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR Part 58). This notice is published pursuant to paragraph d of Sec. 158.29.

The Coast Guard is removing the existing drawbridge operation regulation for the draw of the U.S. 90 bascule bridge across the Back Bay of Biloxi, mile 0.4, between Biloxi and Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The bridge was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and will be replaced with a fixed bridge. Since the movable span of the bridge has been removed, the regulation controlling the opening and closing of the bridge is no longer necessary.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

This rule identifies communities, where the sale of flood insurance has been authorized under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), that are scheduled for suspension on the effective dates listed within this rule because of noncompliance with the floodplain management requirements of the program. If FEMA receives documentation that the community has adopted the required floodplain management measures prior to the effective suspension date given in this rule, the suspension will not occur and a notice of this will be provided by publication in the Federal Register on a subsequent date.

Pursuant to the authorities in the Federal Advisory Committees Act (Pub. L. 93-463), the Northeast Oregon Forests Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet on June 1-2, 2006 in John Day, Oregon. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the selection of Title II projects under Public Law 106-393, H.4. 2389, the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000, also called the ``Payment to States'' Act.

The Department of the Navy proposes to add a system or records to its inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

The Department of the Navy proposes to add a system of records to its inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

The Department of the Army is proposing to amend a system of records notice in its existing inventory of records systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text of a section 36(b)(1) arms sales notification. This is published to fulfill the requirements of section 155 of Public Law 104-164 dated 21 July 1996.

In 1999, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Final Biological Opinion for the Modified Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park Project (MWD Project), the C-111 Project, and the Experimental Water Deliveries to Everglades National Park Project. FWS concluded that the operations, if continued, would likely jeopardize the continued existence of the endangered Cape Sable seaside sparrow and adversely modify its critical habitat. In response, the Corps implemented an Interim Structural and Operational Plan (ISOP) in March 2000, followed by the Interim Operating Plan (IOP) in July 2002. These operations were designed to protect the sparrow pending completion of construction of the MWD Project and the C-111 Project. Because of the urgency to implement IOP in time for the next sparrow breeding season, the IOP Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) was completed prior to conclusion of modeling that supported the selected plan. Pursuant to a March 2006 order by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the Corps will be preparing a supplement to the IOP FEIS. The Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) will update the FEIS with the modeling for the selected alternative, which was completed in November 2002, as well as actual data collected since the May 2002 FEIS. In addition the SEIS will update its analysis of the default condition for the reservoirs.

In accordance with 37 CFR 404.6, announcement is made of the availability for licensing of U.S. Patent No. U.S. 7,028,951 B1 entitled ``Parachute Reefing System'' issued April 18, 2006. This patent has been assigned to the United States Government as represented by the Secretary of the Army.

In accordance with 35 U.S.C. 209(e) and 37 CFR 404.7(a)(I)(i), announcement is made of the intent to grant an exclusive, royalty- bearing, revocable license to U.S. patent number 6,875,602 issued April 4, 2005 entitled ``Portable Thermocycler,'' to Dark Horse Technologies LLC. with its principal place of business at 140 County Rd. 128 N., Nederland, CO 80466. The exclusive field of use will be in sequence specific identification of nucleic acids from any biological sample.

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), Huntington District will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to disclose potential impacts to the natural, physical, and human environment resulting from modifications to Dover Dam. This high hazard dam does not conform to current design standards related to stability and sliding during a probable maximum flood. Modifications will be performed so the Dam will meet these standards.

This notice announces an upcoming meeting of the Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Commission. Notice of this meeting is required under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463). Meeting Date and Time: Friday, May 12, 20061:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The Department is seeking additional comments on our proposal to clarify policies that it may use to evaluate air carriers' citizenship during initial and continuing fitness reviews. Our proposal would affect how we determine ``actual control'' of the carrier in situations where the foreign investor's home country has an open skies air services agreement with the United States, and permits reciprocal investment opportunities in its own national air carriers for U.S. investors. We continue to believe that our proposed policy would remove unnecessary restrictions on U.S. air carriers' access to the global capital market without compromising the statutory requirement that U.S. citizens remain in actual control of such carriers. We are issuing a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM) because, after reviewing comments submitted on the NPRM and in consultation with other Executive Branch agencies, we have decided to strengthen the proposal in several areas. We have revised the proposed rule further to ensure that U.S. citizens will have actual control of the air carrier. We are also mindful of the strong interest in this proposal expressed by members of Congress. This SNPRM will furnish Congress the opportunity to review the proposal in its refined form, and to undertake a more informed assessment of its likely consequences. Our NPRM proposal would allow for delegation to foreign investors of decision-making authority regarding commercial issues, but in the areas of organizational documents, safety, security, and the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) program the NPRM would not permit these delegations. In a key refinement of our original proposal, we now propose in this SNPRM to require that any such delegation of authority to foreign interests by the U.S. citizen majority owners be revocable. We are proposing this change to ensure that, notwithstanding their ability to delegate decision-making authority over certain commercial matters (as described in the NPRM) to foreign investor interests, the U.S. voting shareholders of a U.S. airline will retain actual control of the airline. We originally proposed to reserve exclusively to U.S. citizens decisions relating to organizational documents, safety, security, and CRAF. In another refinement, in keeping with suggestions received from the Departments of Homeland Security and Defense as well as the Federal Aviation Administration, we are now proposing to broaden the scope of the decision-making that must remain under the actual control of U.S. citizens. The aspects of control of safety and security decisions would no longer be limited to those implementing FAA and TSA safety and security regulations, but would cover safety and security decisions generally. Similarly, the proposed control of CRAF decisions would be expanded to cover all national defense airlift commitments. Our proposed expansion of the coverage of these three areas will ensure that all critical elements of a carrier's decision-making that could impact safety, security, and national defense airlift are fully covered, and that our review of a carrier's compliance with these requirements will not be unduly narrow. We tentatively conclude that, as modified, this proposal will eliminate unnecessary and anachronistic limitations on the ability of eligible foreign minority investors to participate in the commercial decision-making at a U.S. airline in which they have made an otherwise statutorily-permitted investment. At the same time, it should eliminate any doubt that the voting stockholders (75 percent of whom are U.S. citizens) and the board of directors (two-thirds of whom are U.S. citizens) will retain full control over decisions regarding safety, security, and contributions to our national defense airlift capability, and that those U.S. citizens also retain ``actual control'' of the carrier as a whole as required by statute.