January 9, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document requests comments on a petition for rulemaking filed by L. Topaz Enterprises, Inc., requesting the allotment of Channels 274C3 and 284C3 at Elko, Nevada, as the community's fifth and sixth local aural transmission services. Channels 274C3 and 284C3 can be allotted at Elko, Nevada without a site restriction at coordinates 40-49-57 NL and 115-45-44 WL.

The Coast Guard is changing the operating regulations governing the Belleair Beach Bridge, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, mile 131.8, Clearwater, Florida. This rule will allow the bridge to open on signal, except that from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. this bridge will open on the hour and half-hour. This action is necessary for workers' safety and will assist in expediting the construction of the new bridge.

EPA is proposing to conditionally approve revisions to Michigan's State Implementation plan (SIP) to add the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) construction permit program under the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA). This program affects major stationary sources in Michigan that are subject to or potentially subject to the PSD construction permit program.

NMFS is rescinding the trawl closure in the Chiniak Gully Research Area. This action is necessary to allow vessels using trawl gear to participate in directed fishing for groundfish in the Chiniak Gully Research Area.

The Coast Guard proposes an amendment to the regulation for the operation of the Baring Cross Railroad Drawbridge across the Arkansas Waterway at Mile 119.6 at Little Rock, Arkansas. The revised regulation would accurately depict where the drawbridge operator is located and that the bridge, which is remotely operated, is equipped with a Photoelectric Boat Detection System.

This regulation establishes, increases, and removes tolerances for residues of difenoconazole and also establishes tolerances for combined residues of difenoconazole and its metabolite, CGA-205375, in or on various commodities. In addition, this regulation revokes tolerances for secondary residues in poultry, fat, meat, and meat byproducts. Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., requested these tolerances under the Federal, Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

Pursuant to section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Commission approves three Reliability Standards concerning Facilities Design, Connections and Maintenance that were developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission- certified Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) responsible for developing and enforcing mandatory Reliability Standards. Further, pursuant to section 215(d)(5), we direct the ERO to develop a modification to one of the three Reliability Standards that are being approved as mandatory and enforceable. The three FAC Reliability Standards, designated FAC-010-1, FAC-011-1 and FAC-014-1, require planning authorities and reliability coordinators to establish methodologies to determine system operating limits for the Bulk-Power System in the planning and operation horizons. The Commission also approves a regional difference for the Western Interconnection administered by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council which is incorporated into FAC-010-1 and FAC-011-1. In addition, the Commission accepts three new terms for the NERC Glossary of Terms Used in Reliability Standards, remands another proposed term, and directs the ERO to submit modifications to its proposed Violation Risk Factors consistent with our prior orders.

The Board proposes to amend Regulation Z, which implements the Truth in Lending Act and Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act. The goals of the amendments are to protect consumers in the mortgage market from unfair, abusive, or deceptive lending and servicing practices while preserving responsible lending and sustainable homeownership; ensure that advertisements for mortgage loans provide accurate and balanced information and do not contain misleading or deceptive representations; and provide consumers transaction-specific disclosures early enough to use while shopping for a mortgage. The proposed revisions would apply four protections to a newly-defined category of higher-priced mortgage loans secured by a consumer's principal dwelling, including a prohibition on a pattern or practice of lending based on the collateral without regard to consumers' ability to repay their obligations from income, or from other sources besides the collateral. The proposed revisions would apply three new protections to mortgage loans secured by a consumer's principal dwelling regardless of loan price, including a prohibition on a creditor paying a mortgage broker more than the consumer had agreed the broker would receive. The Board also proposes to require that advertisements provide accurate and balanced information, in a clear and conspicuous manner, about rates, monthly payments, and other loan features; and to ban several deceptive or misleading advertising practices, including representations that a rate or payment is ``fixed'' when it can change. Finally, the proposal would require creditors to provide consumers with transaction-specific mortgage loan disclosures before they pay any fee except a reasonable fee for reviewing credit history.

This rule makes several technical amendments to the Department of Justice regulations that provide whistleblower protection for Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) employees.

NMFS is adjusting the 2008 total allowable catch (TAC) amounts for the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) Pacific cod fishery. This action is necessary because NMFS has determined this TAC is incorrectly specified. This action will ensure the GOA Pacific cod TAC does not exceed the appropriate amount based on the best available scientific information for Pacific cod in the GOA. This action is consistent with the goals and objectives of the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska Management Area (FMP).

The EPA recently finalized changes to the data handling conventions and computations necessary for determining when the annual and 24-hour national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particles (generally referring to particles less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers ([mu]m) in diameter, PM2.5) are met. These changes were made in support of revisions to the NAAQS for particulate matter (PM) that were finalized in the same rulemaking. After publication, EPA discovered an inadvertent omission in the rule text explaining the procedures for calculating the key statistic (98th percentile) involved with determining compliance with the 24-hour PM2.5 standard in locations where extra samples of PM2.5 in ambient air were taken above the specified sampling frequency. If the error in the regulatory text is left unchanged, the resulting statistic for calculating compliance with the 24-hour PM2.5 standard would be biased low at some samplers, leading to potentially incorrect determinations that an area was attaining the NAAQS. In this direct final action, EPA is correcting this error. The correction involves the replacement of the currently used statistical formula and instructions with a simpler look-up table approach which is easier for readers to understand and which retains the intended numerical consistency with EPA's historic practice.