October 1, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM) is announcing that the information collection requests for 30 CFR 732 Procedures and Criteria for Approval or Disapproval of State Program Submissions; and 30 CFR 874General Reclamation Requirements, have been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The information collection requests describe the nature of the information collections and their expected burden and cost.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, notice is hereby given that the Forest Service, Bitterroot National Forest will prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement to disclose the environmental consequences of the proposed travel management planning. The proposed action would provide approximately 2,487 miles of wheeled motorized recreation opportunities on the Bitterroot National Forest while maintaining 1,030,405 acres of non-motorized areas. The proposed action would also provide approximately 341 miles of open snowmobile routes and 608,031 acres open to snowmobile use.

Section 8(c)(1) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (USHA) requires the Secretary to publish FMRs periodically, but not less than annually, adjusted to be effective on October 1 of each year. The primary uses of FMRs are to determine payment standard amounts for the Housing Choice Voucher program, to determine initial renewal rents for some expiring project-based section 8 contracts, to determine initial rents for housing assistance payment (HAP) contracts in the Moderate Rehabilitation Single Room Occupancy program (Mod Rehab), and to serve as a rent ceiling in the HOME rental assistance program. Today's notice provides final FY2008 FMRs for all areas that reflect the estimated 40th and 50th percentile rent levels trended to April 1, 2008. The FY2008 FMRs are based on 2000 Census data updated with more current survey data. For the first time, HUD is using data from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS). HUD is largely replacing the accumulated 2001-through-2005 FMR update factors from various sources with data from ACS's first full implementation year, 2005. HUD uses ACS data in different ways according to how many two- bedroom, standard-quality and recent-mover sample cases are available in the FMR area or in its Core-Based Statistical Area (CBSA), as described in detail later in this notice. Random digit dialing (RDD) surveys, as well as some limited private surveys, performed between 2001 and 2005 may also be used under certain conditions. Revised 2005 FMRs based on 2000 Census and 2005 ACS data have been updated with Consumer Price Index (CPI) data through the end of 2006 and then trended to April 2008, the midpoint of FY2008. FY2008 FMRs are the first to be able to take advantage of the full-implementation ACS, a major new Census survey that is being conducted annually. The ACS will replace the Decennial Census ``long-form'' sample survey that is the source of Decennial Census rent information. The ACS will permit more accurate FMR estimates each year than were possible using the Decennial Census trending techniques of previous FMR estimates.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to include jurisdiction over discrete sources of radium- 226, accelerator-produced radioactive materials, and discrete sources of naturally occurring radioactive material, as required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct), which was signed into law on August 8, 2005. The EPAct expanded the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 definition of Byproduct material to include any discrete source of radium-226, any material made radioactive by use of a particle accelerator, and any discrete source of naturally occurring radioactive material, other than source material, that the Commission, in consultation with other Federal officials named in the EPAct, determines would pose a similar threat to the public health and safety or the common defense and security as a discrete source of radium-226, that are extracted or converted after extraction for use for a commercial, medical, or research activity. In so doing, these materials were placed under the NRC's regulatory authority. The EPAct also mandated that the Commission, after consultation with the States and other stakeholders, issue final regulations establishing requirements that the Commission determines necessary under the EPAct. This rulemaking effort has been undertaken in response to that mandate and includes significant contributions from many States that have regulated the naturally occurring and accelerator-produced radioactive material, the Organization of Agreement States, Inc., the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, Inc. (CRCPD), and other stakeholders. In addition, this final rule was informed and guided by the CRCPD's applicable Suggested State Regulations for the Control of Radiation. Licensees, individuals, and other entities who are engaged in activities involving the newly defined byproduct material in both Agreement States and non-Agreement States and United States Territories will be affected by this rulemaking.