April 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect approval of a new animal drug application (NADA) filed by Intervet Inc. The NADA provides for use of approved, single-ingredient Type A medicated articles containing zilpaterol hydrochloride, monensin USP, tylosin phosphate, and melengestrol acetate in four-way combination Type B and Type C medicated feeds for heifers fed in confinement for slaughter.

The FAA is revising an earlier proposed airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 757-200 and 757-300 series airplanes. The original NPRM would have required installing a bonding jumper between a ground and the clamp on the tube of the forward and aft gray water composite drain masts. The original NPRM resulted from a report of charred insulation blankets and burned wires around the forward gray water composite drain mast found during an inspection of the forward cargo compartment on a Model 767-300F airplane. For certain airplanes, this action revises the original NPRM by adding a new inspection of existing aft bonding jumper assemblies that might be too short, repair if necessary, and replacement of the bonding jumper assembly with a new, longer bonding jumper assembly if necessary. We are proposing this supplemental NPRM to prevent a fire near a composite drain mast and possible disruption of the electrical power system due to a lightning strike on a composite drain mast, which could result in the loss of several functions essential for safe flight.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Cessna Aircraft Company (Cessna) Models 175 and 175A airplanes. This proposed AD would require you to check the airplane logbook to determine if the original engine mounting brackets have been replaced. If the original engine mounting brackets are still installed, this proposed AD would require you to repetitively inspect those brackets for cracks and replace any cracked engine mounting bracket. After replacing all four original engine mounting brackets, no further action would be required by this proposed AD. This proposed AD was prompted by a report that the engine became detached from the firewall during landing on one of the affected airplanes. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct cracks in the engine mounting brackets, which could result in failure of the engine mounting bracket. This failure could lead to the engine detaching from the firewall.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) proposes to reorganize and rewrite in plain language provisions applicable to burial benefits. These revisions are proposed as part of VA's rewrite and reorganization of all of its compensation and pension rules in a logical, claimant- focused, and user-friendly format. The intended effect of the proposed revisions is to assist claimants, beneficiaries, and VA personnel in locating and understanding these regulations regarding burial benefits.

EPA is proposing to approve a February 4, 2008, revision to the State Implementation Plan submitted by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources on behalf of the State of North Carolina for the purpose of revising the subarea motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) for volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides for the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point area. The Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point 1-hour ozone maintenance area (also referred to as the ``Triad Area'') is comprised of Davidson, Forsyth, and Guilford Counties and a portion of Davie County. The revisions to the subarea MVEBs are approvable because of an available safety margin for volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides for this Area. In the Final Rules Section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's SIP revision as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no adverse comments are received in response to this rule, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period on this document. Any parties interested in commenting on this document should do so at this time.

This action will establish Class D airspace at Georgetown, Texas. Establishment of an air traffic control tower at Georgetown Municipal Airport has made this action necessary for the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) aircraft operations at Georgetown Municipal Airport, Georgetown, TX.

EPA is finalizing amendments to the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for hazardous waste combustors, which EPA promulgated on October 12, 2005. The amendments to the October 2005 final rule clarify several compliance and monitoring provisions, and also correct several omissions and typographical errors in the final rule. We are finalizing the amendments to facilitate compliance and improve understanding of the final rule requirements. This rule does not address issues for which petitioners sought reconsideration. Nor does it address issues raised in EPA's comment solicitation of September 27, 2007.

This document contains a correction to final regulations (TD 9387) that were published in the Federal Register on Thursday, March 20, 2008 (73 FR 14934), providing guidance on the normalization requirements applicable to public utilities that benefit (or have benefited) from accelerated depreciation methods or from the investment tax credit permitted under pre-1991 law. These regulations permit a utility whose assets cease, whether by disposition, deregulation, or otherwise, to be public utility property with respect to the utility (deregulated public utility property) to return to its ratepayers the normalization reserve for excess deferred income taxes (EDFIT) with respect to those assets and, in certain circumstances, also permit the return of part or all of the reserve for accumulated deferred investment tax credits (ADITC) with respect to those assets.

This document cancels a public hearing on proposed rulemaking relating to employment tax adjustments and employment tax refund claims.

We are amending the Karnal bunt regulations to remove certain areas or fields in Baylor, Knox, Throckmorton, and Young Counties, TX, from the list of regulated areas based on our determination that those fields or areas meet our criteria for release from regulation. This action is necessary to relieve restrictions that are no longer necessary.

This provides notice of the Federal Subsistence Board's in- season management actions to protect caribou populations in Unit 9D and female deer populations in the Northeast Chichagof Controlled Use Area and Unit 4. These actions provide an exception to the Subsistence Management Regulations for Public Lands in Alaska, published in the Federal Register on December 27, 2007. Those regulations established seasons, harvest limits, methods, and means relating to the taking of wildlife for subsistence uses during the 2007-08 regulatory year.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above that would supersede an existing AD. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as:

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Boeing Model 747 airplanes and Model 767 airplanes. This proposed AD would require revising the airplane flight manual to advise the flightcrew to use certain procedures during descent in certain icing conditions. This proposed AD results from reports of several in- flight engine flameouts, including multiple dual engine flameout events and one total power loss event, in ice-crystal icing conditions. We are proposing this AD to ensure that the flightcrew has the proper procedures to follow in certain icing conditions. These certain icing conditions could cause a multiple engine flameout during flight without the ability of the engines to be relit, and consequent forced landing of the airplane.

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain McDonnell Douglas Model MD-11 and MD-11F airplanes. This proposed AD would require revising the airplane flight manual to advise the flightcrew to use certain procedures during descent in certain icing conditions. This proposed AD results from reports of several in- flight engine flameouts, including multiple dual engine flameout events, in ice-crystal icing conditions. We are proposing this AD to ensure that the flightcrew has the proper procedures to follow in certain icing conditions. These certain icing conditions could cause a multiple engine flameout during flight without the ability of the engines to be relit, and consequent forced landing of the airplane.

This final rule revises the regulations in 41 CFR part 60-250 implementing the nondiscrimination and affirmative action provisions of the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended (``Section 4212'' or ``VEVRAA''). The regulations in part 60- 250 implement the nondiscrimination and affirmative action provisions of VEVRAA prior to their amendment in 2002 by the Jobs for Veterans Act (``JVA''), and apply to contracts entered into before December 1, 2003. Today's final rule revises the mandatory job listing provision in the part 60-250 regulations to provide that listing employment openings with the state workforce agency job bank or with the local employment service delivery system where the opening occurs will satisfy the mandatory job listing requirements under the part 60-250 regulations. The effect of this final rule is to conform the mandatory job listing provision in the part 60-250 regulations to the parallel provision in the regulations of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (``OFCCP'') implementing the JVA amendments to VEVRAA in 41 CFR part 60-300. Today's final rule also clarifies that the regulations in part 60-250 apply to any contract or subcontract of at least $25,000 entered into before December 1, 2003, and that the regulations in part 60-300, not the part 60-250 regulations, apply to such a contract or subcontract if it is modified on or after December 1, 2003 and the contract or subcontract as modified is for $100,000 or more.

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and commercial and industrial equipment, and requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to administer an energy conservation program for these products. In this notice, DOE is proposing amended energy conservation standards for packaged terminal air conditioners (PTACs) and packaged terminal heat pumps (PTHPs) and is announcing a public meeting.

NMFS withdraws the reduction of the commercial trip limit for golden tilefish in the South Atlantic to 300 lb (136 kg) per trip in or from the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) that was published in the Federal Register on March 28, 2008. Based on updated information, NMFS has determined that the threshold level for implementation of the trip limit will not have been reached by April 6 as originally projected.

This final rule adopts uniform standards for medication history, formulary and benefits, and fill status notification (RxFill) for the Medicare Part D electronic prescribing (e-prescribing) drug program as required by section 1860D-4(e)(4)(D) of the Social Security Act (the Act). In addition, we are adopting the National Provider Identifier (NPI) as a standard for identifying health care providers in e-prescribing transactions. It also finalizes the June 23, 2006 interim final rule with comment period that identified the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP) Prescriber/Pharmacist Interface SCRIPT standard, Implementation Guide, Version 8.1 (``NCPDP SCRIPT 8.1'') as a backward compatible update of the NCPDP SCRIPT 5.0 (``NCPDP SCRIPT 5.0''), until April 1, 2009. This final rule also retires NCPDP SCRIPT 5.0 and adopts the newer version, NCPDP SCRIPT 8.1, as the adopted standard. Finally, except as otherwise set forth herein, we are implementing our compliance date of 1 year after the publication of these final uniform standards. This is the second set in a continuing process of issuing e-prescribing final standards for the Medicare Part D program,

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is withdrawing a direct final rule that published in the Federal Register of December 4, 2007 (72 FR 68064), to amend certain regulations as the first phase of an incremental approach to modernize or clarify some of the current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) regulations for finished pharmaceuticals, as well as harmonize some of the CGMP requirements with those of other foreign regulators and other FDA regulations. The comment period closed February 19, 2008. FDA is withdrawing the direct final rule because the agency received significant adverse comments. FDA will consider the comments received under our usual procedures for notice and comment in connection with the notice of proposed rulemaking that was published in the Federal Register of December 4, 2007, as a companion to the direct final rule (72 FR 68113).

EPA is proposing to conditionally approve State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the State of Florida on February 3, 2006. The proposed revisions modify Florida's Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permitting regulations in the SIP to address changes to the federal New Source Review (NSR) regulations, which were promulgated by EPA on December 31, 2002, and reconsidered with minor changes on November 7, 2003 (collectively, these two final actions are referred to as the ``2002 NSR Reform Rules''). The proposed revisions include provisions for baseline emissions calculations, an actual-to- projected-actual methodology for calculating emissions changes, options for plantwide applicability limits, and recordkeeping and reporting requirements. As part of the conditional approval, Florida will have twelve months from the date of EPA's final conditional approval of the SIP revisions in which to revise its PSD recordkeeping requirements and several definitions in order to be consistent with existing federal law. In addition to and in conjunction with the proposed conditional approval of Florida's PSD permitting program SIP revisions, EPA is proposing to approve Florida's concurrent February 3, 2006, request to make the State's PSD permitting program applicable to electric power plants which are also subject to the Florida Electrical Power Plant Siting Act (PPSA). This proposed approval follows the receipt of adverse comments on, and EPA's subsequent withdrawal of, EPA's May 25, 2007, direct final rule granting full approval to Florida to implement its PSD permitting program for sources subject to the PPSA.

This action implements 2008 specifications and management measures for Atlantic mackerel, squid, and butterfish (MSB) and modifies existing management measures. Specifically, it clarifies gear requirements for the Loligo squid fishery, standardizes procedures for closing the Atlantic mackerel (mackerel) and butterfish fisheries, modifies incidental possession limits for mackerel and butterfish, and establishes a butterfish possession limit. These specifications and management measures promote the utilization and conservation of the MSB resource.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) issued by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. This AD requires inserting changes into the airworthiness limitations of the FAA-approved maintenance program. We are issuing this AD to require actions to correct the unsafe condition on these products.

This action revises Class E airspace at Bettles, AK to provide adequate controlled airspace to contain aircraft executing Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs). Two Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) are being developed for the Bettles Airport. Additionally, two SIAPs and a textual departure procedure (DP) are being amended. This action revises existing Class E airspace upward from the surface and from 700 feet (ft.) and 1,200 ft. above the surface at the Bettles Airport, Bettles, AK.

This action revises Class E airspace at New Stuyahok, AK to provide adequate controlled airspace to contain aircraft executing Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs). Two new Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) are being developed for the New Stuyahok Airport. This action revises existing Class E airspace upward from 700 feet (ft.) and 1,200 ft. above the surface at New Stuyahok Airport, New Stuyahok, AK.