December 22, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is taking direct final action on amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Surface Coating of Automobiles and Light-Duty Trucks (Automobiles and Light- Duty Trucks NESHAP) which were promulgated on April 26, 2004, under the authority of section 112(d) of the Clean Air Act. The direct final rule amendments provide the option of including surface coating of heavier motor vehicles under this rule. This action also makes direct final rule amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Surface Coating of Miscellaneous Metal Parts and Products (Miscellaneous Metal Parts NESHAP) and the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Surface Coating of Plastic Parts and Products (Plastic Parts NESHAP) to maintain consistency between these rules and the Automobiles and Light-Duty Trucks NESHAP.

EPA is revising the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements to reduce burden while continuing to provide valuable information to the public, and promote recycling and treatment as alternatives to disposal and other releases. TRI reporting is required by section 313 of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) and section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA). This rule expands non-Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic (non-PBT) chemical eligibility for Form A by raising the eligibility threshold to 5,000 pounds of total annual waste management (i.e., releases, recycling, energy recovery, and treatment for destruction) provided total annual releases of the non-PBT chemical comprise no more than 2,000 pounds of the 5,000-pound total waste management limit. This rule also allows, for the first time, limited use of Form A for PBT chemicals when total annual releases of a PBT chemical are zero and the total annual amount of the PBT chemical recycled, combusted for energy, and treated for destruction does not exceed 500 pounds. This rule, however, retains the current exclusion of dioxin and dioxin-like compounds from Form A eligibility. By structuring Form A eligibility for both PBT chemicals and non-PBT chemicals in a way that favors recycling and treatment over disposal and other releases, today's rule encourages facilities to reduce their releases and ensures that valuable information will continue to be provided to the public pursuant to the purposes of section 313 of EPCRA and section 6607 of PPA. Further, to guard against situations where large non-production related amounts are not reported on Form R and to provide greater consistency between PBT chemical and non-PBT chemical Form A eligibility, this rule redefines the non-PBT Form A eligibility threshold to include non-production related amounts reported in Section 8.8 of Form R.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of an abbreviated new animal drug application (ANADA) filed by Sparhawk Laboratories, Inc. The ANADA provides for use of a gentamicin sulfate injectable solution in piglets for treatment of porcine colibacillosis.

This rule contains uniform Department of Defense policies for organizations that seek to represent or organize members of the Armed Forces in negotiation or collective bargaining. This updated rule contains editorial changes only as required for internal Department of Defense mandated reconsideration every 5 years.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) issued by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as: ``incidences have been reported to Britten-Norman Aircraft Ltd where cracks have been found in the inner shell of the pitot/static pressure heads. This could result in incorrect readings on the pressure instrumentation, e.g. altimeters, vertical speed indicators (rate-of-climb) and airspeed indicators.'' The proposed AD would require actions that are intended to address the unsafe condition described in the MCAI.

This rule changes the reporting requirements currently prescribed under the marketing order for avocados grown in South Florida (order). The order regulates the handling of avocados grown in South Florida and is administered locally by the Avocado Administrative Committee (Committee). This rule indefinitely suspends the weekly handler reporting requirements specified under the order. The information from the weekly reports is no longer being used by the industry or the Committee staff and the germane information is available from other sources. This action reduces the reporting burden on handlers, while aligning information collection requirements with the needs of the industry.

This document contains corrections to final and temporary regulations (TD 9278) that was published in the Federal Register on Friday, August 4, 2006 (71 FR 44466) regarding the treatment of controlled services transactions under section 482 and the allocation of income from intangibles, in particular with respect to contributions by a controlled party to the value of an intangible owned by another controlled party. This document also contains corrections to final and temporary regulations that modify the regulations under section 861 concerning stewardship expenses to be consistent with the changes made to the regulations under section 482.

EPA is approving a redesignation request and a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Maryland. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) is requesting that Kent and Queen Anne's 8-hour Ozone Nonattainment Area (Kent and Queen Anne's area) be redesignated as attainment for the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). In conjunction with its redesignation request, the State submitted a SIP revision consisting of a maintenance plan which provides for continued attainment of the 8- hour ozone NAAQS for the next 12 years, until 2018. Concurrently, EPA is approving the maintenance plan as meeting the requirements of Clean Air Act (CAA) 175A(b) with respect to the 1-hour ozone maintenance plan update. EPA is also approving the adequacy determination for the motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) that are identified in the 8-hour maintenance plan for Kent and Queen Anne's area for purposes of transportation conformity, and is approving those MVEBs. EPA is approving the redesignation request and the maintenance plan revision to the Maryland SIP in accordance with the requirements of the CAA.

This regulation establishes a tolerance for combined residues of flucarbazone-sodium, 4,5-dihydro-3-methoxy-4-methyl-5-oxo-N- [[2(trifluoromethoxy)phenyl] sulfonyl-1H-1,2,4-triazole 1-carboxamide, sodium salt and its N-desmethyl metabolite in or on wheat, forage at 0.30 parts per million (ppm); wheat, grain at 0.01 ppm; wheat, hay at 0.10 ppm; and wheat, straw at 0.05 ppm; and combined residues of flucarbazone-sodium and its metabolites converted to 2- (trifluoromethoxy) benzene sulfonamide and calculated as flucarbazone- sodium in or on milk at 0.005 ppm; meat and meat byproducts (excluding liver) of cattle, goats, hogs, horses, and sheep at 0.01 ppm; and liver of cattle, goats, hogs, horses, and sheep at 1.5 ppm. Arysta LifeScience North America Corporation, 15401 Weston Parkway, Suite 150, Cary, NC 27513 requested this tolerance under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).

In this action, EPA proposes a Federal Plan to implement Clean Air Act (CAA) section 111 mercury (Hg) standards of performance for new and existing coal-fired electric utility steam generating units (Utility Unit or EGU) located in States or Indian Country covered by the Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) which do not have EPA approved and currently effective State plans. The EPA will not take final action on the proposed Federal Plan until EPA either finds that a State has failed to timely submit a plan or disapproves a submitted plan. Any final Federal Plan is expected to serve primarily to temporarily fill a regulatory gap in circumstances where either a State fails to timely submit a plan or EPA disapproves a submitted plan as, in either case, States will be free to submit an approvable plan after promulgation of the Federal Plan and upon approval of the State Plan by EPA, the Federal Plan will no longer apply to coal-fired Utility Units covered by the State Plan. This action also proposes certain revisions to both the CAMR State Plan model cap-and-trade rule (in order to make it compatible with the Federal Plan cap-and-trade rule and to make technical corrections) and the Acid Rain Program regulations (in order to simplify the provision concerning alternate designated representatives and to make the administrative appeals process applicable to the decisions of the Administrator under the State Plan and Federal Plan cap-and-trade rules).

NMFS implements this interim rule to reduce overfishing that may occur in 2007. This rule delays the opening of the Elephant Trunk Access Area (ETAA) until March 1, 2007, reduces the maximum number of trips per vessel in the ETAA per limited access vessel, reduces the number of general category fleet trips from 1,360 to 865 trips in the ETAA, and prohibits the retention of more than 50 U.S. bushels (17.62 hL) of in-shell scallop outside of the boundaries of the ETAA. This interim action is necessary because a recent projection by the New England Fishery Management Council's (Council) Plan Development Team (PDT) indicated that overfishing of the scallop resource may occur in the 2007 fishing year (FY). The new information presents previously unforeseen circumstances that also present serious management problems to the fishery. Overharvest of the ETAA in FY 2007, and resulting overfishing that may result, could undermine the goals and objectives of area rotation that is the cornerstone of the Atlantic Sea Scallop Scallop Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The ETAA has an unprecedented high abundance of scallops, which needs to be husbanded with caution to effectively preserve the long-term health of the scallop resource and fishery.

This document removes part 367, ``Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs'' presently in Title 32 of the Code of Federal Regulations. This part was canceled by DoD Directive 5144.1, ``Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration/Dod Chief Information Officer (ASD(NII)/DOD CIO)''.

This document contains temporary regulations that affect component members of controlled groups of corporations and consolidated groups filing life-nonlife Federal income tax returns. They provide guidance regarding the apportionment of tax benefit items and the amount and type of information these members are required to submit with their returns. The text of the temporary regulations also serves as the text of the proposed regulations set forth in the notice of proposed rulemaking on this subject in the Proposed Rules section in this issue of the Federal Register.