June 28, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is announcing that the comment period on the proposed rule amendments for the Standards of Performance for Petroleum Refineries, published on May 14, 2007, is being extended until August 27, 2007.

NMFS proposes a regulation to implement the annual harvest guideline for Pacific sardine in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Pacific coast for the fishing season of January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2007. This harvest guideline has been calculated according to the regulations implementing the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and establishes allowable harvest levels for Pacific sardine off the Pacific coast.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is publishing its proposed List of Fisheries (LOF) for 2008, as required by the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). The proposed LOF for 2008 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.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region II is issuing a notice of intent to delete the Mannheim Avenue Dump Superfund Site (Site) located in Galloway Township, New Jersey from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this notice of intent. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is found at Appendix B of 40 CFR part 300, which is the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). The EPA and the State of New Jersey, through the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, have determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA, including operation and maintenance and five-year reviews, have been completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under Superfund. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' Section of today's Federal Register, we are publishing a direct final notice of deletion of the Mannheim Avenue Dump Superfund Site without prior notice of intent to delete because we view this as a noncontroversial revision and anticipate no adverse comment. We have explained our reasons for this deletion in the preamble to the direct final deletion. If we receive no adverse comment(s) on this notice of intent to delete or the direct final notice of deletion, we will not take further action on this notice of intent to delete. If we receive adverse comment(s), we will withdraw the direct final notice of deletion and it will not take effect. We will, as appropriate, address all public comments in a subsequent final deletion notice based on this notice of intent to delete. We will not institute a second comment period on this notice of intent to delete. Any parties interested in commenting must do so at this time. For additional information, see the direct final notice of deletion which is located in the Rules section of this Federal Register.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or we) proposes to amend the regulations for the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (refuge) that pertain to existing programs for migratory game bird hunting, upland game hunting, big game hunting, and sport fishing. These changes would take effect with the 2007-2008 season and would implement the recently completed Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the refuge. This amendment would replace current refuge regulations found at 50 CFR 32.32 (Illinois), place the proposed regulations at 50 CFR 32.42 (Minnesota) to match the State listing with the location of the refuge headquarters, and cross reference those regulations in 50 CFR 32.34 (Iowa) and 32.69 (Wisconsin).

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated 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:

This document corrects the docket number to a proposed rule published in the Federal Register of Thursday, June 14, 2007, regarding Requirements for Amateur Rocket Activities.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone for the Westport PAL Fireworks in Westport, CT. The safety zone is necessary to protect the life and property of the maritime community from the hazards posed by the fireworks display. Entry into or movement within this safety zone during the enforcement period is prohibited without approval of the Captain of the Port, Long Island Sound.

The Department of Health and Human Services (``HHS'' or the ``Department'') adopted, by an interim final rule, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance at 2 CFR part 180 on nonprocurement debarment and suspension including some provisions specific to HHS. Public comment on this action was solicited in a Federal Register notice dated March 1, 2007. No comments were received; therefore, the Department makes no changes to its interim final rule and it remains in effect as of March 1, 2007. Pursuant to the requirements in OMB guidance, HHS makes final the following regulatory actions: Removes its existing regulation on nonprocurement debarment at 45 CFR part 76, establishes a new part 376 in title 2 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) adopting OMB's guidance and adding provisions specific to HHS, and revises the reference in 45 CFR 74.13 to reflect the new citation to 2 CFR part 376.

The EPA is providing notice that it has responded to 4 petitions for reconsideration of a final rule published in the Federal Register on April 28, 2006. The rule promulgated Federal implementation plans (FIPs) for the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and responded to a petition from North Carolina that was submitted under section 126 of the Clean Air Act (CAIR FIPs-Section 126 Rule). Subsequent to publishing the rule, EPA received 4 petitions for reconsideration from ARRIPA (dated June 26, 2006), Colver Power Project (dated June 27, 2006), the State of North Carolina (dated June 26, 2006), and Southern Environmental Law Center (on behalf of Southern Environmental Law Center, Sierra Club, and Environment North Carolina) (dated June 27, 2006). The EPA considered the petitions and supporting information along with information contained in the rulemaking docket (Docket No. EPA-OAR-HQ-2004-0076) in reaching a decision on the petitions. EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson denied the petitions for reconsideration in separate letters to the petitioners dated February 27, 2007 to ARRIPA and to Colver Power Project and dated May 7, 2007 to Southern Environmental Law Center and to the State of North Carolina. The letters explain EPA's reasons for the denials.

The Department of Labor's Employment Standards Administration/ Wage and Hour Division undertook a review of the Family and Medical Leave Act (``FMLA'' or the ``Act'') and its regulations, and published a Request for Information (``RFI'') in the Federal Register on December 1, 2006 (71 FR 69504). The RFI asked the public to assist the Department by furnishing information about their experiences with the Act and comments on the effectiveness of the FMLA regulations. More than 15,000 comments were submitted in response to the RFI. The following report summarizes comments the Department received from its RFI.