April 22, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), initiate 5- year reviews of three endangered species (least terninterior population, Illinois cave amphipod, and Minnesota dwarf trout lily) and four threatened species (Lake Erie water snake, Lakeside daisy, Leedy's roseroot and northern wild monkshood) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We request any new information on these species that may have a bearing on their classification as endangered or threatened. Based on the results of these 5-year reviews, we will make a finding on whether these species are properly classified under the Act.

The SBA is issuing this notice to advise the public of a Federal Regulatory Fairness Hearing in St. Louis, MO. The hearing is open to the public; however, advance notice of attendance is requested.

Notice is hereby given that NMFS has received 15 scientific research permit application requests relating to Pacific salmon. The proposed research is intended to increase knowledge of species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) and to help guide management and conservation efforts.

Notice is hereby given that Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 1255 West 8th Street, Juneau, AK, 99811 (Doug Larsen, Responsible Party) has been issued a permit to collect, receive, import/export, and conduct scientific research on marine mammal specimens.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing that a proposed collection of information has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing that a collection of information entitled ``Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards'' has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

EPA is proposing amendments to the Standards of Performance for Nonmetallic Mineral Processing Plant(s) (NMPP). These proposed amendments include proposed revisions to the emission limits for NMPP affected facilities which commence construction, modification, or reconstruction after today's date (referred to as ``future'' affected facilities in this preamble). These proposed amendments for NMPP also include additional testing and monitoring requirements for future affected facilities; exemption of affected facilities that process wet material from this proposed rule; changes to simplify the notification requirements for all affected facilities; and changes to definitions and various clarifications. EPA is also proposing an amendment to the Standards of Performance for Calciners and Dryers in Mineral Industries to address applicability of this proposed rule to thermal sand reclamation processes at metal foundries.

In this action, EPA is amending a final rule it issued under Section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) related to the transport of nitrogen oxides (NOX). On April 21, 2004, we issued a final rule (Phase II NOX SIP Call Rule) that required the State of Georgia (Georgia) to submit revisions to its State Implementation Plan (SIP) to include provisions that prohibit specified amounts of NOX emissionsone of the precursors to ozone (smog) pollutionfor the purposes of reducing NOX and ozone transport across State boundaries in the eastern half of the United States. This rule became effective on June 21, 2004. Subsequently, the Georgia Coalition for Sound Environmental Policy (GCSEP or Petitioners) filed a Petition for Reconsideration requesting that EPA reconsider the applicability of the NOX SIP Call Rule to Georgia. In response to this Petition, and based upon review of additional available information, EPA proposed to remove Georgia from the NOX SIP Call Rule. (June 8, 2007). Specifically, EPA proposed to rescind the applicability of the requirements of the Phase II NOX SIP Call Rule to Georgia, only. Six parties commented on the proposed rule. No requests were made to hold a public hearing. After considering these comments, EPA is issuing a final rule as proposed.

In accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA) and the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (FACA), the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Front Range Resource Advisory Council (RAC), will meet as indicated below.

The IC Clearance Official, Regulatory Information Management Services, Office of Management invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promulgating an amendment to its rulemaking action taken on November 27, 1998, which removed Part 211.2 of Title 6 of the New York Code of Rules and Regulations (NYCRR) from the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the State of New York. Part 211.2 is a general prohibition against air pollution. As stated in the November 27, 1998 notice, EPA intended to remove all such general duty provisions from the New York SIP, which do not reasonably relate to the attainment and maintenance of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), and other air quality goals of the Clean Air Act. General duty provisions in Title 6 of the NYCRR include those pertaining to nuisance odors. In this action, EPA is amending its previous rulemaking to include a mistakenly omitted citation to Part 200.1(d) of Title 6 of the NYCRR. Part 200.1(d) provides the definition of ``air contaminant or air pollutant,'' which includes the word ``odor.'' It has recently been brought to EPA's attention that the word ``odor'' in the definition of ``air contaminant or air pollutant'' was erroneously retained in the SIP. By amending the previous rulemaking, EPA is removing the word ``odor'' from the federally-approved definition of ``air contaminant or air pollutant,'' because the definition as currently written, in part, does not have a reasonable connection to the NAAQS and related air quality goals of the Clean Air Act. The intended effect of this amendment is to make the previous rulemaking on New York SIP submittals for national primary and secondary ambient air quality standards consistent with the requirements of the Clean Air Act.

We invite the public to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered species.

This order modifies and establishes a 20-year term for two Public Land Orders and two Secretarial Orders, which withdrew public lands and reserved them for use of the Federal Aviation Administration in the maintenance of air navigation facilities. The lands, which aggregate approximately 193 acres, are still needed for the purpose for which they were withdrawn. The lands will remain withdrawn from surface entry and mining but not from mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral material sales.

This amendment proposes superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation (Sikorsky) Model S- 61A, D, E, L, N, NM, R, and V helicopters. The existing AD currently requires determining whether the main rotor shaft (MRS) was used in repetitive external lift (REL) operations. The existing AD also requires a nondestructive inspection (NDI) for cracks, replacing any unairworthy MRS with an airworthy MRS, appropriately marking the MRS, making a logbook entry, and establishing retirement lives for each REL MRS. This proposed AD would contain some of the same requirements but would determine new retirement lives for each MRS. The REL retirement life would be based on hours time-in-service (TIS) or lift cycles, whichever occurs first. The Non-REL retirement life would be reduced and would only be based on hours TIS. This proposed AD would also require the operator to remove from service any MRS with oversized dowel pin bores. Also, certain restricted category models that were inadvertently omitted in the current AD would be added to the applicability. This proposed AD is prompted by the manufacturer's reevaluation of the retirement life for the MRS based on torque, ground-air-ground (GAG) cycle, and fatigue testing. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent MRS structural failure, loss of power to the main rotor, and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter.

This proposed rule invites comments on revising the requirements regarding off-grade raisins under the Federal marketing order for California raisins (order). The order regulates the handling of raisins produced from grapes grown in California and is administered locally by the Raisin Administrative Committee (Committee). This proposed rule would revise the requirement that notification handlers must provide to the inspection service and the Committee when they perform certain functions on off-grade raisins be in writing, thereby allowing them to use other means of communication, including e-mail. This proposed rule would also remove the requirement that handlers submit reports to the Committee regarding transfers of off-grade and other failing raisins. This action would bring the order's administrative rules and regulations in line with current industry practices.