November 1, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is taking direct final action to approve State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the State of Utah on February 7, 2006. These changes to the Utah Administrative Code revise some minor technical requirements of Utah's continuous emission monitoring rules and correct several grammatical errors. The intended effect of this action is to make federally enforceable those provisions that EPA is approving. This action is being taken under section 110 of the Clean Air Act.

Advances in medicine, biomedical science, and technology present opportunities for enabling health care practices to be increasingly patient-specific by taking into account individual differences in health states, disease processes, and outcomes from interventions. Often referred to as personalized health care, the desired impact of these types of health practices is improved effectiveness and safety of medical practices. These health benefits may be manifested through new approaches for predicting disease risk at an early time point, enabling preemption of disease processes prior to full manifestation of symptoms, analyzing the effectiveness of different interventions in specific populations based on their genetic makeup, and preventing the progression of disease and the related complications. For the purpose of achieving a broader understanding of rapid changes occurring in the health care setting that may have an impact on the future of personalized health care, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requests input from the public and private sectors on plans for developing and using resources involving health information technology (IT) and genetic and molecular medicine, with specific reference to incorporating these capacities in evidence-based clinical practice, health outcomes evaluations, and research.

This notice announces actions taken by the FHWA and other Federal agencies that are final within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1)-(2). The actions relate to various proposed transit and road improvement projects within the Interstate 405 (I-405) Corridor in the State of Washington. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the projects.

The public is invited to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered species.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing for public comment a notice of receipt of a petition for rulemaking, dated August 25, 2006, which was filed with the Commission by Diane Curran on behalf of Massachusetts Attorney General. The petition was docketed by the NRC on September 19, 2006, and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-51- 10. The petitioner requests that the NRC revoke certain regulations in their entirety, and revoke other regulations to the extent that these regulations, in the petitioner's view, state, imply, or assume that the environmental impacts of storing spent nuclear fuel in high-density pools are not significant; issue a generic determination to clarify that the environmental impacts of high-density pool storage of spent fuel, will be considered significant; and require that any NRC licensing decision concerning high-density pool storage of spent nuclear fuel be accompanied by an environmental impact statement that addresses the environmental impacts of this storage and alternatives for avoiding or mitigating any environmental impacts. The petitioner is seeking the generic treatment of spent fuel pool hazards because he believes that a pool accident at any operating nuclear power plant in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states could significantly affect the health, environmental, and economic well-being of Massachusetts.

The Forest Service, as the lead Federal agency, previously published in the Federal Register (66 FR 46992-46994, September 10, 2001) a Notice of Intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to disclose the environmental effects of the Idaho Cobalt Project. The Idaho Cobalt Project is a proposed plan of operations to develop an underground cobalt-copper-gold mine on the Salmon/Cobalt Ranger District of the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Lemhi County, Idaho. The Forest Service Handbook 1909.15, Chapter 21.2, requires this revised notice in the Federal Register to inform the public of a major change to the applicant's plan and provide revised dates of when the draft and final EIS will be completed. The major plan change is described in the following paragraph. The revised dates of when the draft and final EIS will be available can be found in the DATES section of this notice. The project proponent, Formation Capital Corporation U.S. (Formation), submitted its proposed plan of operation (Plan) to the Forest Service in January 2001. That Plan described the major components of the project, including production adits and declines, waste rock disposal areas, processing plant, process water and tailings disposal methods, haul roads, and ancillary support facilities on National Forest System Lands. Since 2001, Formation has provided the Forest Service with a number of clarifications and minor revisions to their Plan, which, for the most part, did not alter the basic project description contained in the initial Federal Register notice. However, one proposed revision to the Plan's handling of mine and process water constituted a major change, which necessitated publishing this revised notice. Instead of land-applying the water as originally proposed, Formation plans to install a water treatment system and discharge the mine/process water into Big Deer Creek under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. This change would reduce the surface area affected by mining operations from 251 acres to 149 acres. Formation submitted an NPDES permit application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on May 25, 2006 to discharge treated water into Big Deer Creek. The permit is a new source subject to the requirements of 40 CFR Part 440. As described in 40 CFR Part 122.29 and EPA's NEPA implementing regulations in 40 CFR Part 6, a new source is subject to compliance with NEPA prior to taking a final action on the NPDES permit. EPA entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Forest Service on August 8, 2006 as a cooperating agency in the EIS process. The MOU describes the roles, responsibilities, and NEPA coordination amongst the two agencies. Given the public scoping that has already been conducted for this project, the extensive list of significant issues generated as a result of that scoping, and the impending completion of the Draft EIS, the Forest Service will not initiate additional public scoping for this notice. Public comments will be accepted and considered following publication of the Draft EIS.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense is altering a system of records to its existing inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

The Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District, has approved a temporary deviation from the regulations governing the operation of the new Woodrow Wilson Memorial (I-95) Bridge, mile 103.8, across Potomac River between Alexandria, Virginia and Oxon Hill, Maryland. This deviation allows the new drawbridge to remain closed-to-navigation each day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. beginning on October 25, 2006 until and including December 24, 2006, to facilitate completion of the Outer Loop portion for the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge construction project.

Technical information or comments are requested on the proposed Base (1% annual chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and proposed BFE modifications for the communities listed below. The BFEs are the basis for the floodplain management measures that the community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of being already in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Technical information or comments are requested on the proposed Base (1% annual chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and proposed BFEs modifications for the communities listed below. The BFEs are the basis for the floodplain management measures that the community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of being already in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

This document dismisses a petition for reconsideration filed by Aurora Media, LLC., because it was untimely filed. Aurora requested reconsideration of a Report and Order that denied its petition for rule making to reallot Channel 233C from Caliente, Nevada to Moapa, Nevada, and to modify the construction permit authorization to reflect the change of community. The proposed change of community was denied because it would not result in a preferential arrangement of allotments.

This is a notice of the Presidential declaration of a major disaster for the State of New York (FEMA-1665-DR), dated October 24, 2006, and related determinations.