March 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document contains three technical corrections to our regulations. We are changing three cross-references because they are currently incorrect.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is publishing for public comment a notice of receipt of a petition for rulemaking, dated February 23, 2007, which was filed with the Commission by David Lochbaum, on behalf of the Project On Government Oversight and the Union of Concerned Scientists. The petition was docketed by the NRC on March 5, 2007, and has been assigned Docket No. PRM-50-83. The petitioners request that the NRC amend its regulations to require periodic demonstrations by applicable local, State and Federal entities to ensure that nuclear power plants can be adequately protected against radiological sabotage greater than the design basis threat.

The Rural Business-Cooperative Service and the Rural Utilities Service seek public input regarding the possibility of operating the Rural Business Investment Program, in light of the loss of funding starting in the 2007 Fiscal Year, to provide for non-leveraged Rural Business Investment Companies.

The OCC, Board, FDIC, OTS, NCUA, FTC, CFTC, and SEC (the Agencies) are proposing amendments to their rules that implement the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB Act), Title V, Subtitle A. These rules require financial institutions to provide initial and annual privacy notices to their customers. As required under section 728 of the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006 (Regulatory Relief Act or Act), the Agencies are proposing a safe harbor model privacy form that financial institutions may use to provide disclosures under the privacy rules. Institutions that use notices based on the Sample Clauses currently contained in most of the privacy rules would lose the benefit of a safe harbor for compliance with respect to those notices if they are provided more than one year following the date of publication of a final rule. Similarly, institutions that use notices based on the Sample Clauses in the SEC's privacy rule could no longer rely on the guidance provided with respect to those notices if they are provided more than one year following the date of publication of a final rule.

The Coast Guard is establishing a permanent security zone on the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, within 250 yards north of the north span and 250 yards south of the south span of the William P. Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge, located between Sandy Point and Kent Island, Maryland. This action is necessary to provide for the security of a large number of participants during the annual Bay Bridge Walk across the William P. Lane Jr. Memorial Bridge, held annually on the first Sunday in May. The security zone will allow for control of vessels or persons within a specified area of the Chesapeake Bay and safeguard the public at large.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is publishing its final List of Fisheries (LOF) for 2007, as required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The final LOF for 2007 reflects new information on interactions between commercial fisheries and marine mammals. NMFS must categorize each commercial fishery on the LOF into one of three categories under the MMPA based upon the level of serious injury and mortality of marine mammals that occurs incidental to each fishery. The categorization of a fishery in the LOF determines whether participants in that fishery are subject to certain provisions of the MMPA, such as registration, observer coverage, and take reduction plan requirements.

EPA is taking direct final action to approve the State of Arizona's boundary redesignation of the Hayden/Miami PM10 nonattainment area into two separate PM10 nonattainment areas: Hayden and Miami. EPA is also finding that the Miami PM10 nonattainment area is attaining the PM10 national ambient air quality standard, and, based on this attainment finding, EPA is determining that certain Clean Air Act requirements are not applicable for so long as the Miami area shows continued attainment of the standard based on current, publicly available, quality-assured monitoring data. EPA is taking this action consistent with obligations under the Clean Air Act to act on State redesignations. Lastly, EPA is correcting two errors in previous rulemakings that involved the designations of PM10 areas within the State of Arizona.

The FAA proposes to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to all Airbus Model A330-200, A330-300, A340-200, and A340-300 series airplanes; and Model A340-541 and A340- 642 airplanes. The existing AD currently requires operators to revise the Airworthiness Limitations section (ALS) of the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness (ICA) to incorporate new information. This information includes, for all affected airplanes, decreased life limit values for certain components; and for Model A330-200 and -300 series airplanes, new inspections, compliance times, and new repetitive intervals to detect fatigue cracking, accidental damage, or corrosion in certain structures. This proposed AD would revise the ALS, for all affected airplanes, by adding new Airworthiness Limitations Items (ALIs) to incorporate service life limits for certain items and inspections to detect fatigue cracking, accidental damage or corrosion in certain structures, in accordance with the revised ALS of the ICA. This proposed AD results from the issuance of new and more restrictive service life limits and structural inspections based on fatigue testing and in-service findings. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking, accidental damage, or corrosion in principal structural elements, and to prevent failure of certain life-limited parts, which could result in reduced structural integrity of the airplane.

This proposed rule would amend the Department of Justice (Department) regulations addressing jurisdiction and venue in removal proceedings. The amendment is necessary due to the increasing number of removal hearings being conducted by telephone and video conference. The proposed rule establishes that venue shall lie at the place of the hearing as identified on the charging document or initial hearing notice, unless an immigration judge has granted a change of venue to a different location. The hearing location is the same whether or not the immigration judge or a party to the proceeding appears at the hearing location in person or participates in the hearing by telephone or video conference. The proposed rule also establishes that removal proceedings shall be deemed to be completed at the location of the final hearing, regardless of whether all parties are physically present at that location. The Department also proposes to amend the regulations to state expressly that, when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) files a charging document, jurisdiction vests with the Office of the Chief Immigration Judge (OCIJ) within the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

Modified Base (1 % annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) are finalized for the communities listed below. These modified BFEs will be used to calculate flood insurance premium rates for new buildings and their contents.

Base (1% annual chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and modified BFEs are made final for the communities listed below. The BFEs and modified BFEs are the basis for the floodplain management measures that each community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of being already in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Technical information or comments are requested on the proposed Base (1% annual chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and proposed BFEs modifications for the communities listed below. The BFEs are the basis for the floodplain management measures that the community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of being already in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is publishing this final rule to amend the Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations (CWCR) to expedite the collection of information concerning the inspection status of plant sites that produce unscheduled discrete organic chemicals (UDOCs) subject to the declaration requirements of the CWCR, to clarify the scope of the CWCR records review and recordkeeping requirements, and to update the maximum civil penalty that may be imposed for violations of the CWCR restrictions on imports of Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 chemicals. The CWCR include requirements to declare certain activities, involving scheduled chemicals and UDOCs, and to provide access for on-site verification by international inspectors of certain declared facilities in the United States. Specifically, this final rule amends the CWCR by revising the annual declaration requirements for UDOCs to allow a ``declared'' plant site currently subject to inspection, which anticipates that its production of UDOCs during the current calendar year will be below the inspection threshold level indicated in the CWCR, to submit a Change in Inspection Status Form to BIS by December 15th of the current calendar year. In addition, any such UDOC plant site containing at least one plant that anticipates producing an individual PSF chemical (i.e., a UDOC containing the elements phosphorus, sulfur or fluorine) in quantities that exceed the declaration threshold for such chemicals will have the option of submitting its Annual Declaration on Past Activities, in lieu of a Change in Inspection Status Form, by December 15th of the current calendar year. Otherwise, the CWCR require that the Annual Declaration on Past Activities be submitted by February 28th of the following year. The information provided to BIS, as a result of this change, will ensure that the plant site is not subject to inspection during the first 90 days of the next calendar year (i.e., the year after the UDOC activities took place), which is the period when the United States compiles its annual declaration on past activities for submission to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). In addition, this information will strengthen the verification regime of the CWC by allowing the OPCW to schedule inspections, on a year-round basis, of those UDOC facilities in the United States that meet or exceed the inspection threshold level indicated in the CWCR. This rule also amends the CWCR by revising the records review provisions to clarify that a facility must provide the OPCW Inspection Team with access to all supporting materials and documentation used by the facility to prepare declarations and to otherwise comply with the CWCR, including records related to activities that have taken place at the facility since the beginning of the previous calendar year (i.e., up to and including the date of the inspection), even if the facility has not submitted its current year Annual Declaration on Past Activities to BIS at the time the inspection takes place. In addition, this rule revises the CWCR records review and recordkeeping requirements to clarify that the types of records that are subject to these requirements include all supporting materials and documentation associated with the movement into, around, and from the facility of declared chemicals and their feedstock or any product chemicals formed from such chemicals and feedstock. The purpose of this clarification is to ensure that the CWCR records review and recordkeeping requirements fully conform with the inspection aims described in the inspection provisions of the CWCR, which include verifying the absence of Schedule 1 chemicals and the non-diversion of Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 chemicals. This rule amends the enforcement provisions of the CWCR to increase the maximum civil penalty that may be imposed for violations of the CWCR restrictions on imports of CWC Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 chemicals from $11,000 to $50,000 to reflect amendments to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) made by the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, which was enacted on March 9, 2006. Finally, this rule updates the list of countries that currently are States Parties to the CWC by adding the Central African Republic and Comoros, which recently became States Parties, and by replacing the listing for Serbia and Montenegro with a separate listing for each country.

This document dismisses a counterproposal, including the allotment of Channel 288C3 at Kinsley, Kansas, and a petition for reconsideration directed to the Report and Order in this proceeding, pursuant to Chisholm's Request for Withdrawal. Although the Federal Register Summary added Channel 288C3 at Kinsley, it was never implemented. Nevertheless, we are formally removing Channel 288C3 at Kinsley, Kansas from the FM Table of Allotments because there is no longer any expression of interest in it.

In response to a Petition for Rule Making filed by WKJF Radio, Inc., licensee of Station WJZQ, Channel 225C, Cadillac, Michigan, this document deletes the Channel 227A allotment at Glen Arbor, Michigan, in order to permit WKJF Radio, Inc. to modify the Station WJZQ facilities as set forth in its pending application (File BMLH-20020517AAG). With this action, the proceeding is terminated.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 747 airplanes. This AD requires repetitive tests to detect hot air leaking from the trim air diffuser ducts or sidewall riser duct assemblies (collectively referred to in this AD as ``TADDs''), related investigative actions, and corrective actions if necessary. This AD also provides an optional terminating action for the repetitive tests. This AD results from reports of sealant deteriorating on the outside of the center wing fuel tank and analysis that sealant may deteriorate inside the tank due to excess heat from leaking TADDs. We are issuing this AD to prevent leakage of fuel or fuel vapors into areas where ignition sources may be present, which could result in a fire or explosion.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus Model A300-600 airplanes. This AD requires an inspection to determine if certain spoiler actuators having certain part numbers are installed, and eventual replacement of all affected actuators. This AD results from failure of a distribution block, which was detected during fatigue qualification tests of certain spoiler actuators. We are issuing this AD to prevent failure of the distribution block, which could result in leakage of the hydraulic fluid that supplies those actuators. This failure could cause failure of one of the three spoiler actuators and the associated hydraulic circuits, which could result in loss of those hydraulic circuits and consequent reduced controllability of the airplane.

Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to determine that HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b are unacceptable for use in the foam sector under the Significant New Alternatives Policy (SNAP) program under section 612 of the Clean Air Act. The SNAP program reviews alternatives to Class I and Class II ozone depleting substances and approves use of alternatives which do not present a substantially greater risk to public health and the environment than the substance they replace or than other available substitutes. In prior rulemakings, the Agency listed HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b as unacceptable substitutes in several foam end uses; here, EPA is amending a determination for one category of end-uses and taking the following actions for remaining applications. First, EPA is finding HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b unacceptable as substitutes for HCFC-141b in commercial refrigeration, sandwich panels, and slabstock and ``other'' rigid polyurethane foams and removing narrowed use limits previously established in those applications. Second, EPA is finding HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b unacceptable as substitutes for CFCs in all foam end-uses. Third, the Agency is establishing a grandfathering period to allow existing users of HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b in pour foam applications, including commercial refrigeration, sandwich panels, and slabstock and ``other'' rigid polyurethane foams other than foam for marine applications, until March 1, 2008 to implement alternatives; existing users of HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b foam blowing agents in the manufacture of foam for marine applications (e.g., flotation foam) will be allowed to continue use of these blowing agents until September 1, 2009. Fourth, the Agency is grandfathering existing users of HCFC-22 and HCFC-142b in extruded polystyrene (XPS) foam and in all other foam end uses until January 1, 2010 in order to allow time for those users to complete their transition to alternatives.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or (CFTC) is granting an exemption to firms designated by the Taiwan Futures Exchange (TAIFEX) from the application of certain of the Commission's foreign futures and option regulations based upon substituted compliance with certain comparable regulatory and self-regulatory requirements of a foreign regulatory authority consistent with conditions specified by the Commission, as set forth herein. This Order is issued pursuant to Commission Regulation 30.10, which permits persons to file a petition with the Commission for exemption from the application of certain of the Regulations set forth in Part 30 and authorizes the Commission to grant such an exemption if such action would not be otherwise contrary to the public interest or to the purposes of the provision from which exemption is sought.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the regulations by adding the Cities of Roanoke and Salem and the Counties of Craig, Giles, and Roanoke in Virginia to the list of generally infested areas based on the detection of infestations of gypsy moth in those areas. As a result of the interim rule, the interstate movement of regulated articles from those areas is restricted. The interim rule was necessary to prevent the spread of gypsy moth to noninfested areas of the United States.

This order responds to four requests for clarification or, in the alternative, rehearing of the interim rule which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued on January 9, 2007. The Commission issued the interim rule in response to the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacating and remanding the standards of conduct rule, Order No. 2004, as applicable to interstate natural gas pipelines, in National Fuel Gas Supply Corporation v. FERC, 468 F.3d 831 (D.C. Cir. 2006). In this order, the Commission grants clarification that the standards of conduct for natural gas transmission providers under the interim rule apply only to natural gas transmission providers that are affiliated with a marketing or brokering entity that conducts transportation transactions on such natural gas transmission provider's pipeline. The Commission also grants clarification that the definition for a marketing or brokering entity for a natural gas transmission provider is identical to the definition under the pre-Order No. 2004 standards of conduct. With regards to the other issues for which clarification or rehearing is sought, the Commission will defer consideration of these matters in this proceeding and address them contemporaneously with the rulemaking proceeding in Docket No. RM07-1- 000.

DoD has adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement the United States-Bahrain Free Trade Agreement and the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement with respect to Guatemala. The Free Trade Agreements waive the applicability of the Buy American Act for some foreign supplies and construction materials and specify procurement procedures designed to ensure fairness.

DoD is making technical amendments to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to update references within the DFARS text.

DoD is proposing to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to remove text addressing DoD procedures for closeout of contract files. The text proposed for removal will be relocated to the DFARS companion resource, Procedures, Guidance, and Information.

This recommended decision invites written exceptions on proposed amendments to Marketing Order No. 984, which regulates the handling of walnuts grown in California (Order). The amendments were proposed by the Walnut Marketing Board (Board), which is responsible for local administration of the order. The amendments included in this recommended decision would: Change the marketing year; include ``pack'' as a handler function; restructure the Board and revise nomination procedures; rename the Board and add authority to change Board composition; modify Board meeting and voting procedures; add authority for marketing promotion and paid advertising; add authority to accept voluntary financial contributions and to carry over excess assessment funds; broaden the scope of the quality control provisions and add the authority to recommend different regulations for different market destinations; add authority for the Board to appoint more than one inspection service; replace outdated order language with current industry terminology; and other related amendments. The Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposed three additional amendments: To establish tenure limitations for Board members, to require that continuance referenda be conducted on a periodic basis to ascertain producer support for the order, and to make any changes to the order as may be necessary to conform with any amendment that may result from the hearing. The proposed amendments are intended to improve the operation and functioning of the marketing order program.