2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA Region 6 today proposes to issue a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) general permit regulating discharges from oil and gas wells in the Coastal Subcategory in Texas and regulating produced water discharges from wells in the Stripper and Offshore Subcategories which discharge into coastal waters of Texas. As proposed, the permit prohibits the discharge of drilling fluid, drill cuttings, produced sand and well treatment, completion and workover fluids. Produced water discharges are prohibited, except from wells in the Stripper Subcategory located east of the 98th meridian whose produced water comes from the Carrizo/Wilcox, Reklaw or Bartosh formations in Texas. Discharge of dewatering effluent is proposed to be prohibited, except from reserve pits which have not received drilling fluids and/or drill cuttings since January 15, 1997. The discharge of deck drainage, formation test fluids, sanitary waste, domestic waste and miscellaneous discharges is proposed to be authorized. We are proposing to reissue the existing NPDES General Permit for Discharges from the Oil and Gas Extraction Category to Coastal Waters of Texas with only one change, the addition of annual monitoring for dissolved solids from Stripper Subcategory produced water.

The JSC is forwarding final proposed amendments to the Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2005 ed.) (MCM) to the Department of Defense. The proposed changes, resulting from the JSC's 2005 and 2006 annual reviews of the MCM, concern the rules of procedure applicable in trials by courts-martial and offenses that may be charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). The proposed changes have not been coordinated within the Department of Defense under DoD Directive 5500.1, ``Preparation and Processing of Legislation, Executive Orders, Proclamations, and Reports and Comments Thereon'' May 21, 1964, and do not constitute the official position of the Department of Defense, the Military Departments, or any other government agency.

This solicitation is for proposals from pubic transportation agencies currently receiving grant funds under the Urbanized Area Formula Program at 49 U.S.C. 5307 to establish a debt service reserve fund in connection with bonds to be issued in support of a public transportation project.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs and Indian Health Service are submitting the information collection, titled ``Indian Self- Determination and Education Assistance Act Programs, 25 CFR 900'' to the Office of Management and Budget for renewal. The information collection, OMB Control 1076-0136, is used to process contracts, grants or cooperative agreements for award by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service as authorized by the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, as amended. The Department of the Interior and the Department of Health and Human Services invite you to submit comments to the OMB on the information collection described below.

Notice is hereby given that the USDA Forest Service will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a proposal to recover the economic value through salvage harvest of dead and dying trees damaged in the Tripod Complex Fire, to remove potential hazard trees from open roads, and to reforest salvage harvest units within specified drainages of the Methow Valley and Tonasket Ranger Districts, Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests. Details of the proposal are further described in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below. Approximately 2,800 acres would be treated in the proposed project area. The analysis area encompasses a portion of the burned area in the Middle Fork Beaver Creek, Lightning Creek, Chewuch River, Ramsey Creek, Boulder Creek, North Fork Boulder Cree, Bromas Creek, Brevucinus Creek, Twentymile Creek, Pelican Creek, McCay Creek, Granite Creek, Cedar Creek, and Cabin Creek drainages, along Road 37 and Road 39 within the fire boundary, and includes parts of the following townships: T34N, R23E; T34N, R24E; T35N, R22E; T35N, R23E; T35N, R24E; T36N, R22E; T36N, R23E; T36N, R24E; T37N, R22E; T37N, R23E; T38N, R23E; and T39N, R23E; Williamette Meridian. The Tripod Complex Fire, located five miles northeast of Winthrop, Washington, burned approximately 175,000 acres across mixed ownership in July to September 2006. Approximately 164,000 acres were on National Forest System lands administered by the Methow Valley Ranger District and the Tonasket Ranger District, Okanogan and Wenatchee National Forests. The purpose of the EIS will be to evaluate a range of reasonable alternatives for this proposal and take public comment on the analysis. The direction in the amended Okanogan National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (Forest Plan) provides the overall guidance for management of National Forest System lands included in this proposal.

Section 550 of the Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2007 (``Section 550'') provided the Department of Homeland Security with authority to promulgate ``interim final regulations'' for the security of certain chemical facilities in the United States. This notice seeks comment both on proposed text for such interim final regulations and on several practical and policy issues integral to the development of a chemical facility security program.

This document contains regulations relating to a change in computing depreciation or amortization as well as a change from a nondepreciable or nonamortizable asset to a depreciable or amortizable asset (or vice versa). Specifically, these regulations provide guidance to any taxpayer that makes a change in depreciation or amortization on whether such a change is a change in method of accounting under section 446(e) of the Internal Revenue Code and on the application of section 1016(a)(2) in determining whether the change is a change in method of accounting.

This action amends Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations, part 71 (14 CFR 71) by modifying the Class E airspace area at Creston Municipal Airport, IA. An examination of controlled airspace for Creston, IA, revealed discrepancies in the legal description for the Class E airspace area. The intended effect of this rule is to provide controlled airspace of appropriate dimensions to protect aircraft executing Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAP) to Creston Municipal Airport.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be 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.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (``USTR'') is providing notice that on November 21, 2006, the Dispute Settlement Body, at India's request, established a panel under the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization (``WTO Agreement''). That request may be found at https://www.wto.org contained in a document designated as WT/DS345/6. USTR invites written comments from the public concerning the issues raised in this dispute.

The Department of Commerce is modifying its methodology in antidumping investigations with respect to the calculation of the weighted-average dumping margin. This final modification is necessary to implement the recommendations of the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body. Under this final modification, the Department will no longer make average-to-average comparisons in investigations without providing offsets for non-dumped comparisons. The schedule for implementing this change is set forth in the ``Timetable'' section, below.

The NOAA publishes this notice to provide the general public with a consolidated source of program and application information related to its competitive grant and cooperative agreement (CA) award offerings for fiscal year (FY) 2007. This Omnibus notice is designed to replace the multiple Federal Register notices that traditionally advertised the availability of NOAA''s discretionary funds for its various programs. It should be noted that additional program initiatives unanticipated at the time of the publication of this notice may be announced through subsequent Federal Register notices. All announcements will also be available through the Grants.gov website.

This document contains final regulations under section 863(d) governing the source of income from certain space and ocean activities. It also contains final regulations under section 863(a), (d), and (e) governing the source of income from certain communications activities. In addition, this document contains final regulations under section 863(a) and (b), amending the regulations in Sec. 1.863-3 to conform those regulations to these final regulations. The final regulations primarily affect persons who derive income from activities conducted in space, or on or under water not within the jurisdiction of a foreign country, possession of the United States, or the United States (in international water). The final regulations also affect persons who derive income from transmission of communications.