November 3, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is withdrawing its intent to prepare a DEIS for the Baltimore Metropolitan Water Resources StudyGwynns Falls in Baltimore County, Maryland. The Notice of Intent for the DEIS was published in the Federal Register on July 9, 1996 (Volume 61, Number 132, Page 36038). Negative environmental impacts of the recommended plan are not significant and the Corps has determined that a DEIS is not appropriate.

In accordance with 37 CFR 404.6 and 404.7, announcement is made of the availability for licensing of U.S. Patent Application No. 11/133,444 entitled ``Apparatus for Fastening and Loosening a Lid from a Container,'' filed May 20, 2005. Foreign rights are also available (PCT/US2005/017728). The United States Government, as represented by the Secretary of the Army, has rights in this invention.

The Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of the Interior and the State of Florida are proposing to establish the interim goals for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan through the Interim Goals Agreement as required by Section 385.38(d) of the Programmatic Regulations for the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan. Interim goals are a mean by which restoration success of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan may be evaluated at specific points by agency managers, the State of Florida, and Congress throughout the overall planning and implementation process. The public is invited to review and comment on the final draft of this Agreement.

The Defense Business Board (DBB) will meet in open session on Wednesday, December 6, 2006 at the Pentagon, Washington, DC from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The mission of the DBB is to advise the Secretary of Defense on effective strategies for implementation of best business practices of interest to the Department of Defense. At this meeting, the Board will deliberate on recommendations formulated from the Board's review of past DBB reports. The focus of the meeting will be to provide actionable steps to bring prior DBB recommendations to fruition.

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 4314(c)(4), this notice announces the appointment of members of the Departmental PRB. The purpose of this PRB is to review and make recommendations concerning proposed performance appraisals, ratings, bonuses and other appropriate personnel actions for incumbents of SES positions for which the Secretary or Deputy Secretary is the appointing authority. These positions include SES bureau heads, deputy bureau heads and certain other positions. The Board will perform PRB functions for other key bureau positions if requested. Composition of Departmental PRB: The Board shall consist of at least three members. In the case of an appraisal of a career appointee, more than half the members shall consist of career appointees. The names and titles of the PRB members are as follows:

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 4314(c)(4), this notice announces the appointment of members of the Departmental Offices Performance Review Board. The purpose of this Board is to review and make recommendations concerning proposed Performance ratings, bonuses and other appropriate personnel actions for incumbents of SES positions. The Board shall consist of at least three members. In the case of an appraisal of a career appointee, more than half the members shall consist of career appointees. The names and titles of the Board members are attached.

Pursuant to Sec. 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (Pub. L. 91-190, as amended), and the Council on Environmental Quality Regulations (40 CFR part 1500-1508), the National Park Service, Department of the Interior, has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement identifying and evaluating the no action alternative and four action alternatives for restoration activities in Giacomini Wetlands. When approved, the project planning will guide the NPS in restorating lands at the headwaters of Tomales Bay, Marin County, California. Because some of the proposed project area includes state, county and private lands, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement also includes information as required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for a Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). The California State Lands Commission is the CEQA lead agency for this project. The potential impacts of a ``no action'' alternative and four ``action'' alternatives are assessed and, where appropriate, mitigation measures are applied to reduce the intensity of the potential effect or to avoid the potential effect. Three other preliminary alternatives were considered but rejected because they did not achieve the objectives of the restoration plan or were infeasible.

Pursuant to section 215 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), the Commission is proposing to approve 83 of 107 proposed Reliability Standards, including six of the eight regional differences, and the Glossary of Terms Used in Reliability Standards developed by the North American Electric Reliability Council, on behalf of its wholly-owned subsidiary, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which the Commission has certified as the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) responsible for developing and enforcing mandatory Reliability Standards. Those Reliability Standards meet the requirements of section 215 of the FPA and Part 39 of the Commission's regulations. However, although we believe it is in the public interest to make these Reliability Standards mandatory and enforceable by June 2007, we also find that much work remains to be done. Specifically, we believe that many of these Reliability Standards require significant improvement to address, among other things, the recommendations of the Blackout Report. We therefore propose, pursuant to section 215(d)(5), to require the ERO to make significant improvements to many of the 83 Reliability Standards that are being approved as mandatory and enforceable. Appendix D provides a list of the Reliability Standards that should be given the highest priority when the ERO undertakes to make these improvements. With respect to the remaining 24 Reliability Standards, the Commission proposes that they remain pending at the Commission until further information is provided. The Commission is not proposing to remand any Reliability Standards. The Commission proposes to amend the text of its regulation to require that each Reliability Standard identify the subset of users, owners and operators to which that particular Reliability Standard applies. The Commission also is proposing to amend its regulations to require that each Reliability Standard that is approved by the Commission will be maintained in the Commission's Public Reference Room and on the ERO's Internet Web site for public inspection.