December 13, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NHTSA published a final rule in December 2004 that amended the Federal motor vehicle safety standard on brake hoses, and announced an effective date of December 20, 2006. The agency has received several petitions for reconsideration of the rule and a petition to delay the effective date of the final rule. To allow for more time to respond to petitions for reconsideration, and to give industry more time to meet new requirements, this document delays the effective date of the final rule for one year, to December 20, 2007. This decision was made after NHTSA published a notice of proposed rulemaking on November 15, 2006, soliciting public comment on whether the effective date should be extended. All commenters wrote in support of extending the effective date.

The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to grant, with conditions, a Petition, from the Governor of the Virgin Islands, submitted under section 325 of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The Petition requests that EPA exempt the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (VIWAPA) from its obligation to comply with the continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) conditions contained in Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permits issued pursuant to section 165 of the CAA to VIWAPA for nine PSD permitted units located on St. Thomas and St. Croix at two of its facilities. This approval will exempt VIWAPA from its obligation to comply for a period of five (5) years with the PSD permit CEMS conditions at seven of its eight PSD permitted combustion turbines and at its two PSD permitted Heat Recovery Steam Generator (HRSG) units. These PSD permit CEMS conditions address monitoring of Nitrogen Oxides (NOX), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and opacity emissions. Additionally, VIWAPA sought to extend the Petitioner's request to include waiver of PSD permit CEMS conditions for a new unit, Unit 23. While this approval will not exempt VIWAPA from the CEMS obligations for Unit 23, it does provide VIWAPA additional time to comply with the CEMS permit conditions. This approval may be revoked or modified if significant changes in circumstances occur at either one or both of the two VIWAPA facilities. Failure to comply with the conditions included in this approval at Section VII (Conditions of Approval), hereinafter called ``Conditions,'' could result in the approval of the exemption being revoked by the Administrator as well as civil and/or criminal enforcement action under the Clean Air Act.

These special conditions are issued for the Airbus A380-800 airplane. This airplane will have novel or unusual design features when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes. The Airbus A380-800 will incorporate the use of high capacity lithium ion battery technology in on-board systems. For this design feature, the applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards regarding lithium ion batteries. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.

We are proposing to amend the brucellosis regulations in order to facilitate research to be conducted on brucellosis-exposed or infected animals. Under the current regulations, such research could adversely affect a State's brucellosis classification. For example, the criteria for achieving and maintaining Class Free status provide that all cattle herds in the State or area must be released from quarantine and remain free of brucellosis for 12 consecutive months. Because the current definition of herd includes animals held in a research facility, a State could lose its Class Free status by allowing such research. By providing an exception for brucellosis-exposed or infected animals held within federally approved research facilities, this proposed rule would enable the initiation of necessary brucellosis research in Class Free States.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is working on a proposed rule to reduce the likelihood that a licensee will have insufficient funds to decommission its facility in accordance with 10 CFR part 20, Subpart E, Radiological Criteria for License Termination. In the past, these funding shortfalls resulted in ``legacy sites,'' which are sites that are in decommissioning but whose operators do not have enough funds to complete the work and terminate the license in accordance with NRC regulations. All of the legacy sites have been materials facilities, primarily those that processed uranium and thorium, with undetected subsurface contamination from operations arising as a significant problem during decommissioning. A risk- informed approach addressing subsurface contamination at operating facilities would affect materials licensees and operators of nuclear power reactors. The purpose of the meeting is to give stakeholders an opportunity to discuss their views and interact with other interested parties on the regulatory issues summarized in the Supplementary Information section of this document. To aid in the rulemaking process, NRC is holding a public meeting with a ``roundtable'' format (defined further in the body of this notice) to solicit input. The meeting is open to the public. The NRC is asking those planning to attend the meeting to pre-register by contacting Jayne McCausland as noted under the For Further Information section of this document. Individuals unable to attend the meeting will be able to listen by teleconference.

The FDIC is seeking comment on whether and how the largest insured depository institutions should be required to modify their deposit account systems to speed depositor access to funds in the event of a failure. Today, insured institutions do not track the insured status of their depositors yet the FDIC must make deposit insurance coverage determinations in the event of failure. The current process might result in unacceptable delays if used for an FDIC-insured institution with a large volume of deposit accounts. Such delays would have an impact on depositors' ability to access their funds and are likely to result in a resolution (of the failed institution) significantly more costly to the Deposit Insurance Fund. As currently contemplated, the options discussed in the ANPR would apply only to the 152 insured depository institutions with more than 250,000 deposit accounts and more than $2 billion in domestic deposits, as well as seven additional institutions with total assets over $20 billion, less than 250,000 deposit accounts and at least $2 billion in domestic deposits. In December 2005 the FDIC issued a prior advance notice of proposed rulemaking on this subject (``2005 ANPR'').\1\ This ANPR is a follow-up to that issuance. The FDIC is seeking comment on all aspects of the ANPR.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending its regulations on supplements and other changes to approved new animal drug applications (NADAs) or abbreviated new animal drug applications (ANADAs) to implement the manufacturing changes provision of the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 (the Modernization Act). The final rule requires manufacturers to assess the effect of a manufacturing change on the identity, strength, quality, purity, and potency of a drug as those factors relate to the safety or effectiveness of the drug. The final rule sets forth requirements for changes requiring submission and approval of a supplement before the distribution of the drug made using the change, changes requiring the submission of a supplement at least 30 days prior to the distribution of the drug, changes requiring the submission of a supplement at the time of distribution of the drug, and changes to be described in an annual report.

This document makes minor revisions to the terminology of certain commodity terms listed under 40 CFR part 180, subpart C. EPA is taking this action to establish a uniform listing of commodity terms.

This amendment amends Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) for operations at certain airports. These regulatory actions are needed because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System, such as the commissioning of new navigational facilities, addition of new obstacles, or changes in air traffic requirements. These changes are designed to provide safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace and to promote safe flight operations under instrument flight rules at the affected airports.

In this document, the Commission adopts minor modifications of the Commission's customer account record exchange (CARE) rules. The Commission concluded that minor modifications to its rules are needed to clarify carriers' respective obligations under that section in order to ensure accurate billing of end user customers, and to execute end user customer requests in a timely manner.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proposes to exempt three systems of records and portions of four other systems of records from certain provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a, pursuant to Section (k)(2) of that Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2), and to amend existing Privacy Act regulations for clarity.

This document contains a correction to the final rule (FAA- 2006-25270; 06-ASO-9), which was published in the Federal Register on November 30, 2006 (71 FR 69191), establishing Class D airspace at Eastman, GA. This action corrects the effective date of the Class D airspace.

This document contains final regulations that provide guidance under section 9802(c) of the Internal Revenue Code relating to the exception for certain grandfathered church plans from the nondiscrimination requirements applicable to group health plans under section 9802(a) and (b). Final regulations relating to the nondiscrimination requirements under section 9802(a) and (b) are being published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register. The regulations will generally affect sponsors of and participants in certain self-funded church plans that are group health plans, and the regulations provide plan sponsors and plan administrators with guidance necessary to comply with the law.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or we) is proposing migratory bird subsistence harvest regulations in Alaska for the 2007 season. This proposed rule would establish regulations that prescribe frameworks, or outer limits, for dates when harvesting of birds may occur, species that can be taken, and methods and means that would be excluded from use. These regulations were developed under a co-management process involving the Service, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, and Alaska Native representatives. These regulations are intended to provide a framework to enable the continuation of customary and traditional subsistence uses of migratory birds in Alaska. The rulemaking is necessary because the regulations governing the subsistence harvest of migratory birds in Alaska are subject to annual review. This rulemaking proposes regulations that go into effect on April 2, 2007, and expire on August 31, 2007.