June 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus Model A300 airplanes. This proposed AD would require modifying the airplane and the engine/nacelle to install a third line of defense against inadvertent deployment of the thrust reverser in flight. This proposed AD would also require two other actions that must be accomplished before or concurrently with the modification: installing a structural change in the fan cowl to avoid interference; and installing a dedicated, shielded electrical circuit. This proposed AD results from a report that the manufacturer has developed a third line of defense against the inadvertent deployment of the thrust reverser of A300 airplanes that are equipped with General Electric CF6- 50 series engines (in accordance with FAA guidelines). We are proposing this AD to prevent inadvertent deployment of the thrust reverser in flight, which could result in reduced controllability of the airplane.

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bombardier Model DHC-8-100, DHC-8-200, DHC-8-300, and DHC- 8-400 series airplanes. This proposed AD would require inspecting the left and right control column torque tube assemblies to determine the type of rivets installed and replacing incorrect or indeterminate type rivets with the correct type rivets. This proposed AD results from a report that incorrect rivets having lower than required strength were installed on the control column torque tube during production. We are proposing this AD to prevent shear failure of control column torque tube rivets, which could cause unexpected decoupling of the elevators and large unwanted deflection of the free elevator, and consequent reduced controllability of the airplane.

This final rule terminates the Federal marketing order for melons grown in South Texas (order) and the rules and regulations issued thereunder. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has determined the order should be terminated given the declining status of the industry.

In this final rule the Rural Business-Cooperative Service (the Agency) amends existing regulations relating to Business and Industry (B&I) loans made or guaranteed by the Agency by modifying the provisions that address the evaluation of credit quality. Changes to these underwriting provisions were originally proposed on January 16, 2004. The scope of this final rule is more limited than originally proposed but also implements a change not originally discussed in the proposed rule. Specifically, in the case of the refinancing of USDA or other Federal agency debt only, the Agency is modifying the definition of tangible balance sheet equity to include the off balance sheet value of tangible assets to the extent of the difference between the depreciated book value of real property assets and their current market value supported by an appraisal or the original book value, whichever is less. In these limited cases, the adjusted tangible balance sheet equity will also include qualified subordinated debt owed to the owner. As stated above, these adjustments to the equity calculation will apply only in cases where the Agency is asked to guarantee a refinancing of outstanding debt currently owed to or guaranteed by a Federal agency, including the Small Business Administration. The intended effect of this action is to facilitate Agency guarantees of certain refinancing loans that otherwise would not meet the equity requirements because the financial statements prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles do not reflect the current market value of real property assets owned by the borrower. In the case of all direct or guaranteed loan applications, the tangible net equity calculation may include a restricted universe of qualified intellectual property. The Agency is also increasing the equity requirements applicable to energy businesses.

The Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) has adopted an amendment to its bylaws. The amendment was adopted to update and improve the Board's operations.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are opening certain private lands within the boundaries of Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to public use with a permit. We are taking this action to comply with our commitments made under a Conservation Easement among the United States, the State of Alaska, and Koniag, Inc. The Conservation Easement furthers the missions of the Service and the National Wildlife Refuge System and the purposes of Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. While the Conservation Easement encompasses more than 56,000 acres, the lands affected by this rule are only those easement lands within a \1/2\-mile band of land on either side of the Karluk River and lands within \1/2\ mile of the shoreline of Karluk Lake on Kodiak Island, Alaska. The rule will apply as long as the Conservation Easement is in place. Without this rule, the Service would fail to comply with the terms of the Conservation Easement.

This document makes a correction to the final rule published in the Federal Register on May 26, 2006. That rule enhances and improves the security of air cargo transportation by requiring airport operators, aircraft operators, foreign air carriers, and indirect air carriers to implement security measures in the air cargo supply chain as directed under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. The final rule also amends the applicability of the requirement for a ``twelve-five'' security program for aircraft with a maximum certificated takeoff weight of 12,500 pounds or more to those aircraft with a maximum certificated takeoff weight of more than 12,500 pounds to conform to recent legislation. TSA inadvertently left out the amendatory instruction to remove the word ``passenger'' in Sec. 1548.1. This document adds this amendatory change to part 1548.

The Federal Election Commission is revising its regulations regarding communications that are coordinated with Federal candidates and political party committees. The Commission's rules set out a three- prong test for determining whether a communication is ``coordinated'' with, and therefore an in-kind contribution to, a Federal candidate or a political party committee. These final rules implement the recent decision of the Court of Appeals in Shays v. Federal Election Commission, in which the court determined that the Commission needs to provide a more complete explanation and justification for its rules pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act. To comply with the court's decision, and to address other issues involving the coordinated communication rules, the Commission is issuing these Final Rules and Explanation and Justification. Further information is provided in the supplementary information that follows.

This final rule implements Framework Adjustment 18 (Framework 18) to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan (FMP), which was developed by the New England Fishery Management Council (Council). The following management measures are implemented by this rule: Scallop fishery specifications for 2006 and 2007 (open area days-at-sea (DAS) and Scallop Access Area trip allocations); scallop Area Rotation Program adjustments; and revisions to management measures that would improve administration of the FMP. In addition, a seasonal closure of the Elephant Trunk Access Area (ETAA) is implemented to reduce potential interactions between the scallop fishery and sea turtles, and to reduce finfish and scallop bycatch mortality.

In response to a Notice of Proposed Rule Making, this Report and Order upgrades Channel 226A, FM Station WGDQ, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to Channel 226C3, reallotts Channel 226C3 from Hattiesburg to Sumrall, Mississippi, and modifies Station WGDQ's license accordingly. The coordinates for Channel 226C3 at Sumrall, Mississippi, are 31-33-15 NL and 89-24-50 WL, with a site restriction of 19.5 kilometers (12.1 miles) northeast of Sumrall.

NMFS announces that the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (WPFMC) proposes to amend three fishery management plans (western Pacific omnibus amendment) to include fisheries in waters around the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and Pacific Remote Island Areas (PRIA). These amendments would establish new permitting and reporting requirements for vessel operators targeting bottomfish species around the PRIA to improve understanding of the ecology of these species and the activities and harvests of the vessel operators that target them. It would also establish new permitting and reporting requirements for vessel operators targeting crustacean species and precious coral around the CNMI and PRIA.

The Coast Guard is removing one of two duplicate temporary rules that establish safety zones on the navigable waters of Hog Island Reach on the Cooper River, for demolition of the Grace Memorial and Silas Pearman Bridges and associated recovery operations.

This action modifies Control 1487L offshore airspace area in the vicinity of the Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport, Sitka, AK; Merle K. Mudhole Smith Airport, Cordova, AK; and Middleton Island Airport, Middleton Island, AK, by lowering the affected airspace floors associated within Control 1487L. The FAA is taking this action to provide additional controlled airspace for the safety of aircraft executing instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at the Sitka Rocky Gutierrez Airport, Merle K. Mudhole Smith Airport, and Middleton Island Airport.

The Audio Division, at the request of Beanpot Broadcasting Corp., licensee of Station WXRV(FM), Channel 223B, Haverhill, Massachusetts, deletes Channel 223B at Haverhill, Massachusetts, from the FM Table of Allotments, allots Channel 223B at Andover, Massachusetts, as the community's first local FM service, and modifies the license of Station WXRV(FM) to specify operation on Channel 223B at Andover. Channel 223B can be allotted to Andover, Massachusetts, in compliance with the Commission's minimum distance separation requirements at WXRV(FM)'s existing transmitter site. The coordinates for Channel 223B at Andover, Massachusetts, are 42-46-23 North Latitude and 71-06-01 West Longitude, with a site restriction of 13.1 km (8.1 miles) north of Andover.

This final rule amends HUD's regulations that address the predatory practice of property ``flipping'' and establishes certain time restrictions regarding the sale of properties whose purchase is being financed with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance. The final rule broadens the exceptions to the time restrictions on sales to include government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), state- and federally chartered financial institutions, nonprofits organizations approved to purchase HUD Real Estate-Owned (REO) single-family properties at a discount with resale restrictions, local and state governments and their instrumentalities, and, upon announcement by HUD through issuance of a notice, sales of properties in areas designated by the President as Federal disaster areas. This final rule follows publication of a December 23, 2004, interim rule, and takes into consideration the public comments received on the interim rule.

In response to adverse comment, EPA is withdrawing the direct final rule published in the Federal Register on April 11, 2006 (71 FR 18219). This direct final rule sought to exempt importers of aircraft fire extinguishing vessels containing halon-1301 (``aircraft halon bottles'') from the import petition process in order to facilitate the routine hydrostatic testing of these bottles for environmental and safety purposes. In the direct final rule, the Agency indicated that should we receive adverse comment by May 11, 2006, we would publish a timely withdrawal notice in the Federal Register. We received adverse comment on the direct final rule from one commenter and we will address this comment in a subsequent final action based on the parallel proposal also published on April 11, 2006 (71 FR 18259). As stated in the parallel proposal, we will not institute a second comment period on this action.

This regulation establishes a tolerance for residues of methoxyfenozide in or on soybean aspirated grain fractions, soybean forage, soybean hay, soybean hulls, and soybean seed. Dow AgroSciences requested this tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).

This document proposes under section 408(e)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) to revoke the existing exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of one inert ingredient because there are insufficient data to make the determination of safety required by FFDCA section 408(b)(2). The inert ingredient tolerance exemption under 40 CFR 180.920 is ``[alpha]-Alkyl (C10-C16)-[omega]-hydroxypoly(oxyethylene) mixture of dihydrogen phosphate and monohydrogen phosphate esters and the corresponding ammonium, calcium, magnesium, monoethanolamine, potassium, sodium, and zinc salts of the phosphate esters; the poly(oxyethylene) content averages 3-20 moles.'' The revocation action in this document contributes towards the Agency's tolerance reassessment requirements under 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. The regulatory action in this document pertains to the revocation of one tolerance exemption which is counted as tolerance reassessment toward the August 2006 review deadline.

EPA is proposing an amendment to its Clean Water Act (CWA) regulations to expressly exclude water transfers from regulation under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting program. The proposed rule would define water transfers as an activity that conveys waters of the United States to another water of the United States without subjecting the water to intervening industrial, municipal, or commercial use. This proposed rule focuses exclusively on water transfers and is not relevant to whether any other activity is subject to the CWA permitting requirement.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is classifying the olfactory test device into class II (special controls). The special control that will apply to the device is the guidance document entitled ``Class II Special Controls Guidance Document: Olfactory Test Device.'' The agency is classifying the device into class II (special controls) in order to provide a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness of the device. Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, FDA is announcing the availability of the guidance document that is the special control for the device.

The Coast Guard is implementing safety zones for annual fireworks displays in the Captain of the Port Detroit Zone during June 2006. This action is necessary to provide for the safety of life and property on navigable waters during these events. These safety zones will restrict vessel traffic from a portion of the Captain of the Port Detroit Zone.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC or Commission) announces its fiscal year 2006 program for systematic review of its current substantive regulations to ensure, to the maximum practical extent, consistency among them and with respect to accomplishing program goals. In fiscal year 2006, the following three regulations will be evaluated: Safety standard for matchbooks, 16 CFR part 1202; toy rattles, 16 CFR part 1500.18(a)(1); and baby bouncers, walker- jumpers, and baby walkers, 16 CFR part 1500.18(a)(6). The primary purpose of the review is to assess the degree to which the regulations under review remain consistent with the Commission's program policies. In addition, each regulation will be examined with respect to the extent that it is current and relevant to CPSC program goals. Attention will also be given to whether the regulations can be streamlined, if possible, to minimize regulatory burdens, especially on small entities. To the degree consistent with other Commission priorities and subject to the availability of personnel and fiscal resources, specific regulatory or other projects may be undertaken in response to the results of the review. The Commission solicits written comments from interested persons concerning the designated regulations' currentness and consistency with Commission policies and goals, and suggestions for streamlining where appropriate. In so doing, commenters are requested to specifically address how their suggestions for change could be accomplished within the statutory frameworks for Commission action under the Consumer Product Safety Act (CPSA), 15 U.S.C. 2051-2084, and the Federal Hazardous Substances Act (FHSA), 15 U.S.C. 1261-1278.

This final rule establishes breaking strength requirements for child restraint webbing. Under today's final rule, new webbing that attaches a restraint to a vehicle is required to have a minimum breaking strength of 15,000 N. New restraint webbing used to restrain a child in a restraint is required to have a minimum breaking strength of 11,000 N. Today's final rule maintains the percent-of-strength requirements for webbing after it is exposed to specific environmental conditions that have been required under the child restraint system standard. Today's final rule also clarifies the weights used in the webbing abrasion test procedure. The requirements of this final rule increase the likelihood that the webbing of child restraint systems will sufficiently perform throughout the life of a child restraint.

This final rule revises the National Organic Program (NOP) regulations to comply with the final judgment in the case of Harvey v. Johanns (Harvey) issued on June 9, 2005, by the U.S. District Court, District of Maine, and to address the November 10, 2005, amendment made to the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990 (7 U.S.C. 6501 et seq., the OFPA), concerning the transition of dairy livestock into organic production. Further, this final rule revises the NOP regulations to clarify that only nonorganically produced agricultural products listed in the NOP regulations may be used as ingredients in or on processed products labeled as ``organic.'' In accordance with the final judgment in Harvey, the revision emphasizes that only the nonorganically produced agricultural ingredients listed in the NOP regulations can be used in accordance with any specified restrictions and when the product is not commercially available in organic form. To comply with the court order in Harvey, USDA is required to publish final revisions to the NOP regulations within 360 days of the court order, or by June 4, 2006. Accordingly, this final rule amends the NOP regulations to eliminate the use of up to 20 percent nonorganically produced feed during the first 9 months of the conversion of a whole dairy herd from conventional to organic production. This final rule also addresses the amendment made to the OFPA concerning the transition of dairy livestock into organic production by allowing crops and forage from land, included in the organic system plan of a dairy farm, that is in the third year of organic management to be consumed by the dairy animals of the farm during the 12-month period immediately prior to the sale of organic milk and milk products.