May 28, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This regulation establishes tolerances for combined residues of hexythiazox in or on corn, field, grain; corn, field, stover; and corn, field, forage. Gowan Company requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The Commission asks whether the eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) obligation to provide monthly digital television (DTV) transition notices to low-income subscribers should be expanded to require the provision of such notices to all subscribers, and whether multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) should be required to provide on-air DTV transition education on their systems.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 72 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (FMP) to NMFS for review. If approved, Amendment 72 would revise the FMP to state that the Council will annually review information on the discard of shallow-water flatfish in Gulf of Alaska (GOA) groundfish fisheries. After review of this annual information, the Council may recommend revisions to retention and utilization requirements if the discard rate for shallow-water flatfish falls above or below a specified threshold. This action is necessary to support the Council's initiatives to monitor and reduce bycatch in the GOA groundfish fisheries. The intended effect of this action is to conserve and manage the groundfish resource in the GOA in accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean within a 250 yard radius of Ambrose Light (LLNR 720) located at position 40[deg]27[min]00[sec] N, 073[deg]48[min]00[sec] W, approximately 8.35 nautical miles east of Sandy Hook, NJ. This safety zone is necessary to provide for the safety of life, property and the environment on navigable waters of the United States from the hazards associated with the damaged structure and during survey and debris removal at the charted location of Ambrose Light that was recently damaged. This safety zone is intended to keep vessels a safe distance from Ambrose Light during the survey and debris removal operations.

The Coast Guard proposes to establish moving and fixed safety zones around all vessels carrying Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) cargo in the waters of the Caribbean Sea and Bahia de Ponce, Puerto Rico. This action will protect the public from the inherent dangers of this highly volatile material by requiring vessel traffic to maintain a safe distance from LNG vessels operating near shore.

The Commander, Eleventh Coast Guard District, has issued a temporary deviation from the regulation governing the operation of the Rio Vista Drawbridge across the Sacramento River, mile 12.8, at Rio Vista, CA. The deviation is necessary to allow the bridge owner, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), to conduct required maintenance of the drawspan. This deviation allows for a 4-hour notice for openings during nighttime.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of fluopicolide in or on vegetable, root, subgroup 1A, except sugar beet and carrot; vegetable, leaves of root and tuber, group 2; vegetable, bulb, group 3-07; and Brassica, head and stem, subgroup 5A. Interregional Research Project Number 4 (IR-4) requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA). In connection with a request for new uses of the active ingredient, fluopicolide, the Agency has also evaluated the toxicity and exposure databases for 2,6-dichlorobenzamide (BAM) which is a common metabolite/ degradate of dichlobenil and fluopicolide. Further characterization of fluopicolide and its metabolite BAM, will be discussed herein of this document.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is issuing a proposed rule to change the annual schedule of nonappropriated fund (NAF) Federal Wage System wage surveys from a fiscal year cycle to a calendar year cycle. The purpose of this change is to move certain wage surveys to a different time of year and thus optimize the data collection process for those areas. In addition, this change would more evenly distribute the workload for the agency responsible for conducting NAF surveys.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the initiation of a status review for the northern Mexican gartersnake (Thamnophis eques megalops). Through this action, we encourage all interested parties to provide us information regarding the status of, and any potential threat to, the northern Mexican gartersnake.

The Farm Credit Administration (FCA or Agency) issues this final rule to amend its regulation governing financing of processing and marketing operations by Farm Credit System (Farm Credit, FCS, or System) institutions under titles I and II of the Farm Credit Act of 1971, as amended (Act). The final rule revises the criteria used to determine the eligibility of legal entities for financing as processing and marketing operations. This revision will enable FCS institutions to better meet the changing needs of their eligible borrowers. The rule further requires System institutions to develop policies and procedures for ensuring that the revised eligibility criteria are met and to include information on all processing and marketing loans in their Reports of Condition and Performance filed with the FCA. The final rule also makes a non-substantive technical correction to the regulation defining the term ``person''.

This rule confirms as final a January 2007 interim final rule which implements two provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006 (NDAA FY06). First, Section 715 of the NDAA FY06 extends the time frame certain dependents of active duty service members (ADSM) who die while on active duty for more than 30 days shall receive TRICARE medical benefits at active duty dependent payment rates. Second, Section 592 of the NDAA FY06 modifies the requirement for those intermediaries who provide adoption placements. Additionally, this final rule makes an administrative clarification to the following two eligibility provisions: those placed in the legal custody of a member or former member; and those placed in the home of a member or former member in anticipation of adoption. This clarification makes a distinction between the two groups and specifies that for placement into legal custody by court order, the court order must be for a period of 12 consecutive months.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is amending its regulations governing the Survivors' and Dependents' Educational Assistance (DEA) program to implement statutory provisions in the Veterans Benefits and Health Care Improvement Act of 2000, the Veterans' Survivor Benefits Improvements Act of 2001, the Veterans Education and Benefits Expansion Act of 2001, the Veterans Benefits Act of 2002, and the Veterans Benefits Act of 2003. As a result of these statutory provisions, certain eligible children may choose the beginning date of their period of eligibility and eligible children who serve on active duty or in the National Guard may receive extensions to the ending date of their period of eligibility. These statutory provisions also allow VA to consider certain qualifying beneficiaries' original claims as having been filed retroactively to their eligibility dates. In addition, they allow certain eligible DEA beneficiaries to be paid for preparatory courses for tests required or used for admission to an institution of higher education or a graduate school. Further, these provisions permit eligible children to receive benefits for such preparatory courses even if the courses are taken before their 18th birthday. This document implements these provisions of law by amending pertinent regulations.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (hereinafter the Service or we) proposes to establish annual hunting regulations for certain migratory game birds for the 2008-09 hunting season. We annually prescribe outside limits (frameworks) within which States may select hunting seasons. This proposed rule provides the regulatory schedule, describes the proposed regulatory alternatives for the 2008-09 duck hunting seasons, requests proposals from Indian tribes that wish to establish special migratory game bird hunting regulations on Federal Indian reservations and ceded lands, and requests proposals for the 2009 spring/summer migratory bird subsistence season in Alaska. Migratory game bird hunting seasons provide hunting opportunities for recreation and sustenance; aid Federal, State, and tribal governments in the management of migratory game birds; and permit harvests at levels compatible with migratory game bird population status and habitat conditions.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for yellowfin sole by vessels participating in the Amendment 80 limited access fishery in Bycatch Limitation Zone 1 (Zone 1) of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2008 bycatch allowance of red king crab in Zone 1 specified for the trawl yellowfin sole fishery category by vessels participating in the Amendment 80 limited access fishery in the BSAI.