August 30, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS has determined that the daily Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) retention limits for the Atlantic tunas General category should be adjusted to allow for a reasonable opportunity to harvest the General category September time-period subquota. Therefore, NMFS increases the daily BFT retention limits to provide enhanced commercial General category fishing opportunities in all areas while minimizing the risk of an overharvest of the General category BFT quota.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the bovine tuberculosis regulations regarding State and zone classifications by removing Minnesota from the list of accredited-free States and adding it to the list of modified accredited advanced States. The interim rule was necessary to help prevent the spread of tuberculosis because Minnesota no longer met the requirements for accredited-free State status.

This document responds to three petitions for reconsideration of our August 2005 final rule amending the Federal motor vehicle safety standard for seat belt assemblies. The amendments redefined and clarified certain requirements and established a new test methodology for emergency-locking retractors. The petitions for reconsideration requested that the agency adopt additional amendments. The petitions are granted in part and denied in part, and, through this document, we are amending the standard accordingly.

NMFS announces that the summer flounder commercial quota available to Maine has been harvested. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder fishery may not land summer flounder in Maine for the remainder of calendar year 2006, unless additional quota becomes available through a transfer. Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require publication of this notification to advise Maine that the quota has been harvested and to advise vessel permit holders and dealer permit holders that no commercial quota is available for landing summer flounder in Maine.

These special conditions are issued to West Pacific Air LLC, 6427 E. Rutter Road, Spokane, WA 99212, for a Supplemental Type Certificate for the Raytheon Beech Model B-36TC airplane. This airplane will have novel and unusual design features when compared to the state of technology envisaged in the applicable airworthiness standards. These novel and unusual design features include the installation of electronic flight instrument system (EFIS) displays Model ICDS-10 manufactured by SAGEM Avionics, Inc. for which the applicable regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate airworthiness standards for the protection of these systems from the effects of high intensity radiated fields (HIRF). These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to the airworthiness standards applicable to these airplanes.

This amendment adopts miscellaneous amendments to the required IFR (instrument flight rules) altitudes and changeover points for certain Federal airways, jet routes, or direct routes for which a minimum or maximum en route authorized IFR altitude is prescribed. This regulatory action is needed because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System. These changes are designed to provide for the safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace under instrument conditions in the affected areas.

This rule makes non-substantive changes in the regulations that govern the operation of the new Woodrow Wilson Memorial (I-95) Bridge, mile 103.8, across the Potomac River between Alexandria, Virginia and Oxon Hill, Maryland. This rule advises that the telephone number for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Operator's Tower has changed from (202) 727-5522 to (703) 836-2396. The rule will have no substantive effect on the regulated public.

This regulation establishes tolerances for combined residues of the herbicide, ethofumesate in or on carrot, roots (with regional restrictions for use in the States of Washington and Oregon), beet, garden, tops and beet, garden, roots; onion, bulb; garlic, bulb; shallot, bulb; and shallot, fresh leaves. The Interregional Research Project 4 (IR-4), 681 Highway 1 South, North Brunswick, NJ 08902-3390 requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).

In a rule published January 18, 2001, EPA promulgated several new standards for heavy-duty highway diesel engines and vehicles beginning in model year 2007. In this rulemaking we are proposing to make some technical amendments to the regulations to correct typographical errors, revise references, remove old provisions, and to revise some provisions regarding deterioration factors to be identical to those for nonroad diesel engines certified under the Tier 4 rule, published June 29, 2004.

On May 30, 2006, the State of Indiana, through the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM), submitted, in final: A request to redesignate the 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) nonattainment area of Allen County, Indiana, to attainment for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS; and a request for EPA approval of an Indiana State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision containing a 14- year maintenance plan for Allen County. Today, EPA is proposing to determine that the Allen County, Indiana ozone nonattainment area has attained the 8-hour ozone NAAQS. This determination is based on three years of complete, quality-assured ambient air quality monitoring data for the 2003-2005 ozone seasons that demonstrate that the 8-hour ozone NAAQS has been attained in the area. EPA is also proposing to approve Indiana's request to redesignate the area to attainment for the 8-hour ozone standard and the State's maintenance plan SIP revision. EPA's proposed approval of the 8-hour ozone redesignation request is based on its determination that Allen County, Indiana has met the criteria for redesignation to attainment specified in the Clean Air Act. EPA is also proposing to approve, for purposes of transportation conformity, the motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) for the year 2020 that are contained in the 14-year 8-hour ozone maintenance plan for Allen County.

This document contains final regulations under sections 162(k) and 404(k) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code) providing that a payment in redemption of employer securities held by an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is not deductible. These regulations generally affect administrators of, employers maintaining, participants in, and beneficiaries of ESOPs. In addition, they will affect corporations that make distributions in redemption of stock held in an ESOP.

This rule amends regulations governing the cotton Marketing Assistance Loan Program of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC). The changes provide that bales of upland cotton pledged as collateral for CCC loans may be stored outside at warehouses approved by CCC subject to special storage, protection, receipting, and reporting requirements and loss of any applicable storage credits for the period stored outside. Second, the rule provides that producers or their agents may transfer cotton loan collateral to another approved location. Third, the rule provides limits on the amount of storage credits provided to producers when an upland cotton marketing assistance loan is repaid. Fourth, the rule requires ginned cotton to meet the definition of good condition and not be wet cotton in order to be eligible for a CCC loan. Fifth, this rule requires any unpaid warehouse compression charges to be billed to producers on loan cotton collateral that is delivered to CCC in satisfaction of the loan obligation. Sixth, this rule defines a minimum acceptable shipping standard for cotton warehouses. This rule also corrects and clarifies the Marketing Assistance Loan (MAL) and Loan Deficiency Payment (LDP) Program regulations of CCC regarding loss of beneficial interest in commodities delivered to certain facilities engaged in storing and handling commodities under those programs.

This rule is published to streamline personnel security clearance procedures and make the process more efficient within the Department of Defense. This will simplify security processing and allow the deserving public to obtain a security clearance in a more efficient manner.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all McDonnell Douglas Model DC-9-10, -20, -30, -40, and -50 series airplanes. This AD requires replacing the clamp bases for the fuel vent pipe with improved clamp bases. This AD results from reports that the foil wrapping on existing plastic clamp bases has migrated out of position, which compromises the bonding of the fuel vent lines to the airplane structure. We are issuing this AD to ensure that the fuel vent lines are properly bonded to the airplane structure. Improper bonding could prevent electrical energy from a lightning strike from dissipating to the airplane structure, and create an ignition source, which could result in a fuel tank explosion.

The FAA is superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for Pratt & Whitney (PW) JT8D-209, -217, -217A, -217C, and -219 turbofan engines. That AD currently requires initial and repetitive visual inspections for fretting and fluorescent magnetic particle inspections (FMPI) for cracking in the area of the tierod holes on 8th stage high pressure compressor (HPC) front hubs (from here on, referred to as HPC front hubs) that have operated at any time with PWA 110-21 coating. This AD requires either replacing HPC front hubs and HPC disks that have operated at any time with PWA 110-21 coating and that operated in certain engine models, or, visually inspecting and FMPI for cracking of those parts and re-plating them if they pass inspection. This AD also requires adding JT8D-1, -1A, -1B, -7, -7A, -7B, -9, -9A, - 11, -15, -15A, -17, -17A, -17R, and -17AR engines to the applicability. This AD results from an investigation by PW, which concluded that any HPC front hub or HPC disk coated with PWA 110-21 that ever operated on JT8D-15, -15A, -17, -17A, -17R, -17AR, -209, -217, -217A, -217C, and - 219 turbofan engines, could crack before reaching their published life limit. We are issuing this AD to prevent a rupture of an HPC front hub or an HPC disk that could result in an uncontained engine failure and damage to the airplane.

FRA is issuing procedures governing the creation of Emergency Relief Dockets (ERD) as well as procedures for obtaining waivers from a safety rule, regulation, or standard during an emergency situation or event. FRA's purpose for establishing the ERD and emergency waiver procedures is to provide an expedited process for FRA to address the needs of the public and the railroad industry during emergency situations or events.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), are finalizing minor changes to our regulations to improve the quality and diversity of revegetation in the reclamation of coal mined lands. These revisions govern topsoil redistribution and revegetation success standards and will: Encourage species diversity on reclaimed lands by allowing replacement of soil in variable thicknesses; provide more flexibility to States in using new vegetative success standards and sampling techniques by removing the current requirement that such changes be included in the approved regulatory program; define success standards for lands with an undeveloped land postmining land use; remove shelter belts from the list of postmining land uses subject to success standards; provide more flexibility to operators when they demonstrate compliance with time-in-place requirements by allowing them to consider all trees and shrubs in place at bond release, including volunteer trees and shrubs, and not requiring them to verify the length of time that individual trees and shrubs have been in placethis change will remove a significant impediment to reforestation of mined lands; and make the timing of revegetation success measurements in areas receiving 26 inches of annual precipitation or less consistent with those in areas receiving more than 26 inches of annual precipitation.

The United States Commission on Civil Rights (Commission) is proposing to repeal its old employee conduct regulations, which have been superseded by the executive branch Standards of Ethical Conduct, financial disclosure and financial interests regulations issued by the Office of Government Ethics (OGE) In place of its old regulations, the Commission is proposing to add a section of residual cross-references to those branchwide regulations as well as its proposed new supplemental standards regulations and certain executive branchwide conduct rules promulgated by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

The Board is amending Regulation E, which implements the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, and the official staff commentary to the regulation, which interprets the requirements of Regulation E. The final rule provides that Regulation E covers payroll card accounts that are established directly or indirectly through an employer, and to which transfers of the consumer's salary, wages, or other employee compensation are made on a recurring basis. The final rule also provides financial institutions with an alternative to providing periodic statements for payroll card accounts if they make account information available to consumers by specified means.