January 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice establishes Class E-2 airspace at Griffiss Airfield, Rome, NY. The opening of a tower and for the protection of instrument approaches make this action necessary. Controlled airspace extending upward from the surface to the base of the overlying controlled airspace is needed to contain aircraft executing an approach. The area would be depicted on aeronautical charts for pilot reference. This was published in the Federal Register on November 17, 2006. 71 FR 66894.

The Emmett Ranger District of the Boise National Forest will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for a resource management project in the Scriver Creek drainage. The entire project area is located in watersheds that drain into the Middle Fork Payette River. The 11,500-acre project area is located approximately 6 miles north of Crouch, Idaho. The agency invites written comments and suggestions on the scope of the analysis. The agency also hereby gives notice of the environmental analysis and decisionmaking process that will occur on the proposal so interested and affected people are aware of how they may participate and contribute to final decision. At this time, no public meetings to discuss the project are planned. Proposed Action: Three purposes have been identified for the project: (1) Modify stand density, structure, species composition, and surface fuels to restore suitable white-headed woodpecker and flammulated owl habitat, in addition to providing forest conditions that are more resistant to insects, disease and wildfire; (2) initiate watershed restoration within the Scriver Creek 6th Field hydrologic unit (subwatershed) to improve watershed conditions and reduce long- term sedimentation caused by existing roads, in addition to reducing road-related impacts to wildlife, fish, soil, and water resources; (3) provide commercial timber that supports local and/or regional sawmills, employment, and economies. The Proposed Action would implement silvicultural activities, including thinning of commercial trees on 2,826 acres (570 acres of commercial thinning, 1,445 acres of commercial thinning followed by prescribed fire, and 811 acres of commercial thinning followed by machine pile and burning). An estimated 928 acres would be harvested with off-road jammer/tractor, 870 acres would be skyline logged and a helicopter would harvest about 1,028 acres. The Proposed Action would employ silvicultural prescriptions including commercial thin, and thinning of submerchantable trees occurring naturally and within about 846 acres of existing plantations. Approximately 16.5 miles of road would be decommissioned, of which an estimated 0.7 mile or road would be decommissioned while leaving the existing drainage and road prism sufficient for a future motorized trail. Approximately 16.1 miles of road improvement on National Forest System (NFS) roads 693, 6930, 695B, and 696 would take place. Roughly 2.4 miles of new specified road and approximately 1.1 miles of temporary road would be constructed to facilitate harvest activities. Approximately 3.8 miles of NFS roads 696 and 693B would be realigned to eliminate roads and road segments paralleling within Riparian Conservation Area (RCA) corridors, and 1.3 miles of NFS road 693A would be reconstructed. Fish passage would be restored by replacing or removing the existing culvert on NFS road 693A and two culverts on NFS roads 693 and 695 would be replaced with fish passable structures. All perennial crossings would have up to 300 feet of surface gravel applied on both sides of the crossing on those roads used in conjunction with timber harvest (except for roads to be decommissioned). Twelve helicopter landings would be developed. Except for administrative use, about 20.5 miles of authorized roads would be closed year-round to motorized use after vegetation treatments are complete. Preliminary Issues: Preliminary concerns with the Proposed Action include potential impacts on water quality and terrestrial wildlife species. Possible Alternatives to the Proposed Action: One alternative to the Proposed Action that has been discussed thus far is a No Action alternative. Other alternatives will likely be developed as issues are identified and information received. Decisions to be Made: The Boise National Forest Supervisor will decide the following: (1) Should vegetation be managed within the project area at this time, and if so, which stands should be treated and what silvicultural systems applied? (2) Should roads be built at this time, and if so, how many miles should be built and where should they occur within the project area? (3) Should identified road maintenance activities occur at this time? (4) Should road decommissioning and realignment take place and which roads and how would this happen? (5) What design features, mitigation measures, and/ or monitoring should be applied to the project?

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the United States Coast Guard (Coast Guard), issues this final rule to further secure our Nation's ports and modes of transportation. This rule implements the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 and the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006. Those statutes establish requirements regarding the promulgation of regulations that require credentialed merchant mariners and workers with unescorted access to secure areas of vessels and facilities to undergo a security threat assessment and receive a biometric credential, known as a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC). After DHS publishes a notice announcing the compliance date for each Captain of the Port (COTP) zone, persons without TWICs will not be granted unescorted access to secure areas at affected maritime facilities. Those seeking unescorted access to secure areas aboard affected vessels, and all Coast Guard credentialed merchant mariners must possess a TWIC by September 25, 2008. This final rule will enhance the security of ports by requiring such security threat assessments of persons in secure areas and by improving access control measures to prevent those who may pose a security threat from gaining unescorted access to secure areas of ports. With this final rule, the Coast Guard amends its regulations on vessel and facility security to require the use of the TWIC as an access control measure. The Coast Guard also amends its merchant mariner regulations to incorporate the requirement to obtain a TWIC. This final rule does not include the card reader requirements for owners and operators set forth in the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) issued in this matter on May 22, 2006. Such requirements will be addressed in a future rulemaking. Although the card reader requirements are not being implemented at this time, the Coast Guard will institute periodic unannounced checks to confirm the identity of the holder of the TWIC. With this final rule, TSA applies its security threat assessment standards that currently apply to commercial drivers authorized to transport hazardous materials in commerce to merchant mariners and workers who require unescorted access to secure areas on vessels and at maritime facilities. This final rule amends TSA regulations in a number of ways. To minimize redundant background checks of workers, TSA amends the threat assessment standards to include a process by which TSA determines if a security threat assessment conducted by another governmental agency or by TSA for another program is comparable to the standards in this rule. TSA amends the qualification standards by changing the list of crimes that disqualify an individual from holding a TWIC or a hazardous materials endorsement. TSA expands the appeal and waiver provisions to apply to TWIC applicants and air cargo employees who undergo a security threat assessment. These modifications include a process for the review of adverse waiver decisions and certain disqualification cases by an administrative law judge (ALJ). TSA also extends the time period in which applicants may apply for an appeal or waiver. Finally, this rule establishes the user fee for the TWIC and invites comment on one component of the fee, the card replacement fee. Under this rule, TSA will begin issuing first generation TWIC cards at initial port deployment locations. These TWIC cards will not initially support contactless biometric operations, but the TWIC cards will be functional with certain existing access control systems in use at ports today. TSA and the Coast Guard have established a working group, comprised of members of the maritime and technology industries, through the National Maritime Security Advisory Committee (NMSAC), a federal advisory committee to the Coast Guard. This working group, in consultation with the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), is tasked with recommending the contactless biometric software specification for TWIC cards. TSA will publish a notice detailing the draft contactless biometric software specification for TWIC cards no later than the date by which it publishes the final TWIC fee as required by this Rule. Currently those notices are expected to be published in February 2007. TSA will subsequently publish a final specification for TWIC contactless biometric software functionality and the associated specifications for TWIC card readers. TSA plans also to write electronically the contactless biometric software application to all issued TWIC cards after publication of this specification. After initial field testing, this additional contactless biometric function will be included with all TWIC cards produced after publication of the contactless biometric software specification. Although this rule goes into effect on March 26, 2007, the requirements to hold a TWIC, and to restrict access to secure areas of a facility or OCS facility, will be effective only after the regulated party is notified by DHS. These notifications will be published in the Federal Register and will require compliance on a COTP by COTP basis. Those seeking unescorted access to secure areas aboard affected vessels, and all Coast Guard credentialed merchant mariners must possess a TWIC by September 25, 2008.

EPA is taking direct final action under the Clean Air Act to approve the Miami Sulfur Dioxide Nonattainment Area State Implementation and Maintenance Plan as a revision to the Arizona state implementation plan. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality developed this plan to maintain the sulfur dioxide national ambient air quality standards in the Miami (Gila County) area. The maintenance plan contains various elements, including contingency provisions that will be implemented if measured ambient concentrations of sulfur dioxide are above certain trigger levels. EPA is also approving the State of Arizona's request for redesignation of the Miami area from nonattainment to attainment for the sulfur dioxide standards. Lastly, EPA is correcting the boundary of the Miami sulfur dioxide nonattainment area to exclude a noncontiguous township that was erroneously included in the description of the area and to fix a transcription error in the listing of one of the other townships. EPA is taking these actions consistent with provisions in the Clean Air Act that obligate the Agency to approve or disapprove submittals of revisions to state implementation plans and requests for redesignation. The intended effect is to redesignate the Miami, Arizona sulfur dioxide nonattainment area to attainment, provide for maintenance of the standard for the ten-year period following redesignation, and correct long-standing errors in the codified description of the area.

The Commander, Eighth Coast Guard District, has issued a temporary deviation from the regulation governing the operation of the BNSF Railway Company Vertical Lift Span Bridge across Berwick Bay, mile 0.4 (Atchafalaya River, mile 17.5), at Morgan City, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana. This deviation provides for the bridge to remain closed to navigation for 12 consecutive hours to conduct scheduled maintenance to the drawbridge.

The Commander, First Coast Guard District, has issued a temporary deviation from the regulation governing the operation of the Amtrak railroad bridge across the Mystic River, mile 2.4, at Mystic, Connecticut. Under this temporary deviation, the bridge may remain in the closed position from February 2, 2007 through February 4, 2007. This deviation is necessary to facilitate scheduled bridge maintenance.

This regulation revises a tolerance for combined residues of spiromesifen in or on vegetables, fruiting, group 8 and establishes tolerances for inadvertent or indirect combined residues in or on oat (grain, forage, hay, straw). Interregional Research Project No. 4 (IR- 4) and Bayer CropScience (respectively) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA).

EPA has granted experimental use permits (EUPs) to the following pesticide applicants. An EUP permits use of a pesticide for experimental or research purposes only in accordance with the limitations in the permit.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has requested supplemental briefing in the above-captioned investigation and has determined to extend the target date for completion of the investigation.

The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau proposes to establish the 179,622-acre ``Paso Robles Westside'' viticultural area in San Luis Obispo County, California. The proposed viticultural area is totally within the existing Paso Robles and Central Coast viticultural areas. We designate viticultural areas to allow vintners to better describe the origin of their wines and to allow consumers to better identify wines they may purchase. We invite comments on this proposed addition to our regulations.

As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, and as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, we invite comments on the proposed or continuing information collections listed below in this notice.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy is soliciting nominations for candidates to serve as members of the Ultra- Deepwater Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee shall advise the Secretary of Energy on the development and implementation of programs under Subtitle J, Section 999 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT) related to ultra-deepwater natural gas and other petroleum resources and review and provide written comments on the annual plan as described in this subtitle of the EPACT. The membership of the Advisory Committee must be in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act and some members of the Advisory Committee may be appointed as special Government employees of the Department of Energy.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to implement requirements for secure transfer of nuclear materials as required by Section 656 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct), signed into law on August 8, 2005. The final rule implements Section 656 by specifically excepting certain licensees from provisions of Section 170I of the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) of 1954, as amended.

This document contains a notice of pendency before the Department of Labor (the Department) of a proposed amendment to the Underwriter Exemptions. The Underwriter Exemptions are individual exemptions that provide relief for the origination and operation of certain asset pool investment trusts and the acquisition, holding and disposition by employee benefit plans (Plans) of certain asset-backed pass-through certificates representing undivided interests in those investment trusts. The proposed amendment, if granted, would expand the definition of ``Rating Agency'' in section III. X of the Underwriter Exemptions to include Dominion Bond Rating Service Limited (DBRS Limited) and Dominion Bond Rating Service, Inc. (DBRS, Inc.). The proposed amendment, if granted, would affect the participants and beneficiaries of the Plans participating in such transactions and the fiduciaries with respect to such plans.

The IC Clearance Official, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the proposed information collection requests as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), is announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of certain information by the agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, Federal agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension of a currently approved collection, and allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice. This notice solicits comments on the information needed to verify the actual number of hours worked by a work-study claimant.