January 29, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Western Area Power Administration (Western) intends to construct the Trinity Public Utilities District (PUD) Direct Interconnection Project (Project) in Trinity County, California. Consumers in the Trinity PUD service area routinely experience nearly 20,000 consumer hours per year in outages, according to the Trinity PUD. In the winter, many of the outages last three to four days before power can be restored. Western's Project would improve power system reliability in the area by providing a direct interconnection between Trinity PUD and Western's transmission system at the Trinity Power Plant. Western proposes to remove about 5.3 miles of existing 12- kilovolt (kV) distribution line, and construct, operate, and maintain about 16 miles of new 60-kV transmission line, a three-way switching structure and associated equipment, and a new switchyard. The Project would connect to Trinity PUD's system at its Lewiston Substation and at the new Weaverville Switchyard. Western is the lead Federal agency, and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) are cooperating agencies that participated in the preparation of the environmental impact statement (EIS). Full implementation of the decision to construct this Project is contingent upon obtaining all applicable permits and approvals.

This notice provides a list of the special permits PHMSA granted in calendar year 2007.

This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Paducah. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register.

The FHWA has forwarded the information collection request described in this notice to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval of a new information collection. We published a Federal Register Notice with a 60-day public comment period on this information collection on September 27, 2007. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The public is invited to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered species.

The Federal Trade Commission announces the revised thresholds for interlocking directorates required by the 1990 amendment of Section 8 of the Clayton Act. Section 8 prohibits, with certain exceptions, one person from serving as a director or officer of two competing corporations if two thresholds are met. Competitor corporations are covered by Section 8 if each one has capital, surplus, and undivided profits aggregating more than $10,000,000, with the exception that no corporation is covered if the competitive sales of either corporation are less than $1,000,000. Section 8(a)(5) requires the Federal Trade Commission to revise those thresholds annually, based on the change in gross national product. The new thresholds, which take effect immediately, are $25,319,000 for Section 8(a)(1), and $2,531,900 for Section 8(a)(2)(A).

The Arizona Game and Fish Department (Applicant), has applied to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) for an enhancement of survival permit (TE-174351-0) pursuant to Section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act (Act), as amended. The requested permit, which is for a period of 5 years, would authorize incidental take of the Page springsnail, Pyrgulopsis morrisoni, in the event it is listed, as a result of conservation actions, on-going fish hatchery operations, and the issuance of certificates of inclusion to other landowners. We invite public comment.

The Coast Guard is changing the drawbridge operating regulations that govern the S.R. 1172 Bridge, at AIWW mile 337.9, Sunset Beach, NC. This final rule will allow the bridge to open on the hour on signal for pleasure vessels from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. year round. The reason for this change would be to improve the schedule for both roadway and waterway users.

The Coast Guard seeks applications for membership in the Area Maritime Security Committee, South Texas. The Committee assists the Captain of the Port, Corpus Christi, in developing, renewing, and updating the Area Maritime Security plan for their area of responsibility.

This notice sets forth the changes to the Domestic Mail Classification Schedule to be implemented as a result of the Decision of the Governors of the United States Postal Service on the Opinion and Recommended Decision of the Postal Regulatory Commission Approving Negotiated Service Agreement with Bank of America Corporation, Docket No. MC2007-1.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has submitted the proposed collection of information listed below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). On September 18, 2007, the BLM published a notice in the Federal Register (72 FR 53261) requesting comments on the collection. The comment period closed on November 19, 2007. The BLM received no comments. You may obtain copies of the proposed collection of information and related explanatory material by contacting the BLM Information Collection Clearance Officer at the telephone number listed below.

This notice provides interim guidance to insurers, policyholders, state insurance regulators and the public concerning recent statutory amendments to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107-297, 116 Stat. 2322) (the ``Act''). Those amendments revise the definition of an ``act of terrorism'' covered by the Act, and make certain other changes. This notice addresses the changes to mandatory availability (''make available'') and disclosure requirements.

The EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Maine, that includes four separate 8-hour ozone maintenance plans. The Clean Air Act requires that areas that are designated attainment for the 8-hour ozone standard, and also had been previously designated either nonattainment or maintenance for the 1-hour ozone standard, develop a plan showing how the state will maintain the ozone standard for the area. Maine's maintenance plans include an emissions inventory, a plan for how the state will demonstrate and track progress of continued maintenance of the standard, a commitment to continue ozone monitoring, and a contingency plan that will ensure that any violation of the 8-hour ozone standard is promptly addressed. The intended effect of this action is to propose approval of these four maintenance plans. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act.

The EPA is approving Michigan's oxides of nitrogen (NOX) rules which satisfy the requirements of EPA's NOX SIP Call Phase II Rule (the Phase II Rule). We are approving these regulations based on Michigan's demonstration that they will result in the achievement of the Phase II budget through source compliance with rules affecting stationary internal combustion (IC) engines which are identified in the NOX plan submittal. Limiting NOX emissions from IC engines will enable the State to meet the Phase II incremental difference of 1,033 tons during the ozone season, thereby improving air quality and protecting the health of Michigan citizens.

In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to amend its financial forms, statements, and reports for electric utilities and licensees, contained in FERC Form Nos. 1, 1-F, and 3-Q. The proposed revisions are the result of comments received in response to the Commission's Notice of Inquiry (NOI) seeking comment on whether revisions to these forms are needed. Based on the comments received, the Commission proposes certain revisions to Forms Nos. 1, 1-F, and 3-Q and seeks comment on other suggestions for changes. These revisions are proposed to ensure that the Commission and the public have sufficient information to assess the justness and reasonableness of public utility rates. The revisions will enhance the forms' usefulness by updating them to better reflect current electric industry markets and provide cost information useful to the Commission and the utilities' customers.