February 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This rule amends Marketing Order No. 959 (order), which regulates the handling of onions grown in South Texas. The amendments are based on those proposed by the South Texas Onion Committee (committee), which is responsible for local administration of the order, and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). The amendments will authorize interest and late payment charges on assessments not paid within a prescribed time period and require that a continuance referendum be conducted every six years to determine grower support for the order. The amendments were approved by onion growers in a mail referendum conducted from September 10 through September 28, 2007. The amendments are intended to improve the operation and functioning of the South Texas onion marketing order program. Proposed amendments that failed in referendum and are not included in this final order include authority for supplemental assessment rates, marketing promotion and paid advertising authority, and tenure limitations for committee members.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (``Office'') proposes to amend the Trademark Rules of Practice to provide that the procedures for filing trademark correspondence by Express Mail or under a certificate of mailing or transmission do not apply to certain specified documents for which an electronic form is available in the Trademark Electronic Application System (``TEAS''). The purpose of the rule change is to promote electronic filing, increase efficiency, and improve the quality and integrity of critical data in the Office's automated systems.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of a supplemental new animal drug application (NADA) filed by Pfizer, Inc. The supplemental NADA provides for use of albendazole oral suspension in nonlactating goats for the treatment of liver flukes.

This document contains corrections to the final regulation which was published Thursday, February 7, 2008. The regulation pertains to the insurance of Florida Citrus Fruit.

This decision recommends adoption of proposals that would increase the maximum administrative assessment rate in the Appalachian, Florida and Southeast Federal milk marketing orders.

The Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District, has issued a temporary deviation from the regulation governing the operation of the S.R. 74 Bridge, across the AIWW mile 283.1 at Wrightsville Beach, NC, to accommodate the annual race.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is revising its existing health standards for asbestos exposure at metal and nonmetal mines, surface coal mines, and surface areas of underground coal mines. This final rule reduces the permissible exposure limits for airborne asbestos fibers and makes clarifying changes to the existing standards. Exposure to asbestos has been associated with lung cancer, mesothelioma, and other cancers, as well as asbestosis and other nonmalignant respiratory diseases. This final rule will help improve health protection for miners who work in an environment where asbestos is present and lower the risk that miners will suffer material impairment of health or functional capacity over their working lifetime.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) is amending its rules of practice to delegate authority to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission to issue orders requiring the use of certain procedures for access to sensitive unclassified information in adjudicatory proceedings. The NRC is also making available final procedures that would allow potential parties to NRC adjudications to gain access to Sensitive Unclassified Non-Safeguards Information (SUNSI) or Safeguards Information (SGI).

In this Final Rule, pursuant to sections 205 and 206 of the Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations to codify restrictions on affiliate transactions between franchised public utilities that have captive customers or that own or provide transmission service over jurisdictional transmission facilities, and their market-regulated power sales affiliates or non-utility affiliates. These restrictions will supplement other restrictions the Commission has in place to protect captive customers of franchised public utilities or transmission customers of franchised public utilities that own or provide transmission service over jurisdictional transmission facilities from inappropriate cross-subsidization of affiliates.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations pursuant to section 203 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) to provide for additional blanket authorizations under FPA section 203(a)(1). These blanket authorizations will facilitate investment in the electric utility industry and, at the same time, ensure that public utility customers are adequately protected from any adverse effects of such transactions.

EPA is withdrawing the January 30, 2008 (73 FR 5435), direct final rule approving revisions to the State of Illinois' rules for its Emission Reduction Market System (ERMS). In the direct final rule, EPA commented on statements in and implications of a memorandum from Robert Meyers, Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation, to EPA's Regional Administrators dated October 3, 2007. (The rule gave an incorrect date of October 7, 2007.) The memorandum addresses the status of new source review criteria for ozone nonattainment areas based on a decision by the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit in the case of South Coast Air Quality Management Dist. v. EPA, 472 F.3d 882 (DC Cir. 2006). In commenting upon the memorandum of Robert Meyers in the direct final rule of January 30, 2008, Region 5 unintentionally addressed an issue of national policy. As the issue is one of national policy, the implications of the Court ruling should only be addressed in national guidance and rulemaking. Notwithstanding our observations regarding the implications of the Robert Meyers memorandum, the rationale for proposing to approve the ERMS rule revisions did not rely on these observations, and so the soundness of EPA's proposal is not affected. Therefore, EPA is withdrawing the January 30, 2008, direct final rule, but announcing today that the associated proposed rule will stand as a proposed rule. (See 73 FR 5471). Comments on the proposed rule continue to be due on February 29, 2008. EPA will publish a revised final rule after considering any comments that it may receive. EPA will not institute a second comment period on this action.

The Department of Energy (DOE) today is issuing a direct final rule to update the DOE regulations which implement DOE's delegated authority under section 101(c) of the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA). Section 101(c) provides authority to the President of the United States (President) to require the allocation of, or priority performance under contracts or orders relating to, materials and equipment, services, or facilities, in order to maximize domestic energy supplies, if the President makes certain findings. The President's authority under section 101(c) was delegated to the Secretary of Commerce and the Secretary of Energy. This final rule makes a number of changes to conform to a 1991 amendment to the DPA which broadens the scope of authority in section 101(c). This final rule also makes conforming changes to Department of Energy Acquisition Regulation (DEAR).

The Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) is revising the regulation governing irrigation projects under its jurisdiction. The purpose of the revision is to provide consistent administration; establish the process for updating practices, policies, and procedures for the administration, operation, maintenance, and rehabilitation of irrigation projects; and provide uniform accounting and recordkeeping procedures. This regulation has also been rewritten in plain English as mandated by Executive Order 12866. It also addresses several issues that the prior regulation did not cover.

This proposed rule would revise and consolidate the criteria and processes for designating medically underserved populations (MUPs) and health professional shortage areas (HPSAs), designations that are used in a wide variety of Federal government programs. These revisions are intended to improve the way underserved areas and populations are designated, by incorporating up-to-date measures of health status and access barriers, eliminating inconsistencies and duplication of effort between the two existing processes. These revisions are intended to reduce the effort and data burden on States and communities by simplifying and automating the designation process as much as possible while maximizing the use of technology. No changes are proposed at this time with respect to the criteria for designating dental and mental health HPSAs. Podiatric, vision care, pharmacy, and veterinary care HPSAs, which are no longer in use, would be abolished under the rules proposed below. Additional background information will be available for review on the web site of the Health Resources and Services Administration: https://bhpr.hrsa.gov/shortage. The methodology is also described in a journal article recently published in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved entitled ``Designating Places and Populations as Medically Underserved: A Proposal for a New Approach'' (Ricketts et al, 2007).

This Notice sets forth the conditions under which a foreign air carrier may make an arrangement with a U.S. air carrier for a flight or series of flights, to be conducted with the foreign air carrier's aircraft and crew, for that U.S. certificated air carrier's- authorized services in foreign air transportation. This Notice also describes the regulatory steps involved for seeking Department approval for such an operation.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for Pacific cod by vessels catching Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA) for 24 hours. This action is necessary to fully use the A season allowance of the 2008 total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific cod apportioned to vessels catching Pacific cod for processing by the inshore component of the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for the A season allowance of the 2008 Pacific cod sideboard limits apportioned to non- American Fisheries Act (AFA) crab vessels catching Pacific cod for processing by the offshore component in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the A season allowance of the 2008 Pacific cod sideboard limits apportioned to non-AFA crab vessels catching Pacific cod for processing by the offshore component in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

This decision proposes to adopt on an interim final and emergency basis proposals that adjust the Class I pricing surface of the Appalachian, Southeast and Florida Federal milk marketing orders. In addition, this decision proposes to amend certain features of the diversion limit, touch-base standards and transportation credit provisions for the Appalachian and Southeast Federal milk marketing orders. Other proposals seeking to increase the maximum administrative assessment for the Appalachian, Florida and Southeast marketing orders is addressed in a separate decision. This decision requires determining if producers approve the issuance of the amended orders on an interim basis.

This action confirms the effective date of a direct final rule that establishes a Class E airspace area to support Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) Special Instrument Approach Procedures (IAPs) that serve the Northwest Medical Center in Oil City, PA.

The NCUA Board recently issued an ANPR regarding mergers, conversions from credit union charter, and account insurance termination that provided a 60-day comment period, 73 FR 5461 (Jan. 30, 2008). NCUA received several oral requests to extend the comment period and has decided to extend the comment period for an additional 30 days.

The FAA proposes to amend requirements concerning the registration of aircraft. This proposal is based on the need to increase and maintain the accuracy of aircraft registration information in the Civil Aviation Registry. The proposed procedures would ensure aircraft owners periodically provide information regarding changes in registration. These amendments would respond to the concerns of law enforcement and other government agencies and would provide more accurate, up-to-date aircraft registration information to all users of the Civil Aviation Registry database.

This rule increases the number of end-uses for which certain ``tools of trade'' may be exported temporarily to Sudan under a license exception. It also makes more types of commodities eligible under the category ``tools of trade'' for purposes of this license exception and authorizes reexports under this provision to the same extent as exports are authorized.

We are considering ways to quickly identify diseases and other serious medical conditions that obviously meet the definition of disability under the Social Security Act (the Act) and can be identified with minimal objective medical information. We are calling this method ``Compassionate Allowances.'' We held one public hearing already and plan to hold additional public hearings this year. This is the second hearing in the series. The purpose of this hearing is to obtain your views about the advisability and possible methods of identifying and implementing compassionate allowances for children and adults with cancers. Our first hearing, on December 4-5, 2007, dealt with rare diseases. We will address other kinds of medical conditions in later hearings.

This document contains proposed regulations that provide guidance relating to foreign base company sales income, as defined in section 954(d), in cases in which personal property sold by a controlled foreign corporation (CFC) is manufactured, produced, or constructed pursuant to a contract manufacturing arrangement or by one or more branches of the CFC. These regulations, in general, will affect CFCs and their United States shareholders. Certain portions of these proposed regulations restate changes to Sec. 1.954-3(a)(4) that were contained in former proposed regulations.