September 11, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to the Government in the Sunshine Act (5 U.S.C. 552b(e)(3)), of the regular meeting of the Farm Credit Administration Board (Board). Date and Time: The regular meeting of the Board will be held at the offices of the Farm Credit Administration in McLean, Virginia, on September 14, 2006, from 9 a.m. until such time as the Board concludes its business.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the reopening of the public comment period on the proposal to designate critical habitat for the Contiguous United States Distinct Population Segment of the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), the availability of the draft economic analysis and draft environmental assessment of the proposed designation of critical habitat, and an amended Required Determinations section of the proposal. The draft economic analysis estimates the potential total future costs to range from $175 million to $889 million in undiscounted dollars over the next 20 years. Discounted future costs are estimated to be from $125 million to $411 million over 20 years ($8.38 million to $27.6 million annually) using a 3 percent discount rate, or $99.9 million to $259 million over 20 years ($9.43 million to $24.4 million annually) using a 7 percent discount rate. The amended Required Determinations section provides our determination concerning compliance with applicable statues and Executive Orders that we have deferred until the information from the draft economic analysis of this proposal was available. We are reopening the comment period to allow all interested parties to comment simultaneously on the proposed rule, the associated draft economic analysis and draft environmental assessment, and the amended Required Determinations section.

The Federal Aviation Administration is requesting public comment on the release of land at the Oneida-Scott Municipal Airport in the City of Oneida, Tennessee. This property, approximately 18.08 acres, will change to a non-aeronautical use. This action is taken under the provisions of Section 125 of the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR 21).

This notice is to inform interested parties of an opportunity to apply to participate in a demonstration under section 646 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), the Medicare Health Care Quality Demonstration, to examine the effects of gainsharing aimed at improving the quality of care in a health delivery system. More specifically, the demonstration will determine if gainsharing is an effective means of aligning financial incentives to enhance quality and efficiency of care across an entire system of care. In contrast to traditional models of gainsharing, which focus on the inpatient stay, this demonstration will examine approaches that involve long-term follow-up to assure both documented improvements in quality and reductions in the overall costs of care. Projects must also be of sufficient size to ensure statistical robustness of the results. CMS is particularly interested in demonstration designs that track patients well beyond a hospital episode, to determine the impact of hospital-physician collaborations on preventing short- and longer- term complications, duplication of services, coordination of care across settings, and other quality improvements that hold great promise for eliminating preventable complications and unnecessary costs. From the perspective of implementing and evaluating the demonstration, we also require some standardization of gainsharing approaches, physician payments, and hospital savings measurement across sites. Therefore, for the Section 646 Gainsharing Demonstration, CMS will operate projects submitted by consortia, comprising of health care groups and their affiliated hospitals. A limited number of projects will be operated in various geographic areas; no more than 72 hospitals can be included across all projects.

The Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service (Services) advise interested parties of their intent to conduct public scoping meeting under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) necessary to gather information to prepare an environmental assessment (EA) or environmental impact statement (EIS), (collectively referred to as ``environmental document''). The Services anticipate permit applications from Stanford University (Stanford) submitted under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the incidental take of federally listed species. The permit applications would be associated with the Stanford University Habitat Conservation Plan (Plan) at Stanford in Palo Alto, CA. We provide this notice to: describe the proposed Plan and possible alternatives; advise other Federal and state agencies, affected Tribes, and the public of our intent to prepare an environmental document; announce the initiation of a public scoping period; obtain information to assist the Services in determining whether to write an EA or EIS; and obtain suggestions and information on the scope of issues to be included in the environmental document.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 620 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to fully use the C season allowance of the 2006 total allowable catch (TAC) of pollock specified for Statistical Area 620 of the GOA.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 610 of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to fully use the C season allowance of the 2006 total allowable catch (TAC) of pollock specified for Statistical Area 610 of the GOA.

On July 10, 2006, we published the Notice of Availability for the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed interstate facility in the south-central portion of Kentucky, between the Somerset Northern Bypass (I-66) and London, KY. The comment period on the DEIS is being extended to October 9, 2006.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) is announcing its intention to request approval for the collections of information for 30 CFR parts 773, 774, and 778.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Secretariat has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a currently approved information collection requirement concerning pollution prevention and right-to-know information. A request for public comments was published in the Federal Register at 71 FR 7020 on February 10, 2006. No comments were received. Public comments are particularly invited on: Whether this collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of functions of the FAR, and whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate, and based on valid assumptions and methodology; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, through the use of appropriate technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

The proposed information collection requirement described below has been 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. Information is used by the PHA to obtain professional architectural services to assist in the administration of a construction contract and to inspect the installation of the work.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (``Commission'') is proposing to amend the rules and forms under Section 17A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (``Act'') to require that the forms filed with respect to transfer agent registration, annual reporting, and withdrawal from registration be filed with the Commission electronically. The forms would be filed on the Commission's EDGAR database in XML format and would be accessible to Commission staff and the public for search and retrieval. The proposed rulemaking would improve the Commission's ability to utilize the information reported on the forms in performing its oversight function of transfer agent operations and to publicly disseminate the information on the forms.