May 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard is establishing a security zone around any vessel being escorted by one or more Coast Guard, State, or local law enforcement assets on the navigable waters of the Captain of the Port Zone, Charleston, South Carolina. This action is necessary to ensure the safe transit of escorted vessels as well as the safety and security of personnel and port facilities. No vessel or person is allowed inside the security zone unless authorized by the Captain of the Port or a designated representative.

In this notice, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to revise the EQR Data Dictionary to clarify the definition of Contract Commencement date. If adopted, this proposal will make reporting this information less burdensome and more accessible.

This notice is being published in the Federal Register consistent with section 457(b)(2) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA). Section 457 of GEPA authorizes the U.S. Department of Education (the Department) to enter into a compliance agreement with a recipient that is failing to comply substantially with Federal program requirements, and for whom the Department determines that full compliance is not feasible until a future date. Section 457(b)(2) requires the Department to publish written findings leading to a compliance agreement, with a copy of the compliance agreement, in the Federal Register. If a recipient fails to comply with the terms and conditions of a compliance agreement, the Secretary may take any action authorized by law with respect to the recipient. On December 17, 2007, the Department entered into a three-year compliance agreement (the Agreement) with the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico) and the Puerto Rico Department of Education (PRDE) because PRDE was failing to comply substantially with numerous Federal education program requirements, and it was clear to the Department from all available information that PRDE would not be able to come into full compliance with applicable Federal requirements for the administration of Department programs until a future date. PRDE receives grant funds under a number of programs administered by the Department, including programs authorized under Titles I, II, and IV of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (ESEA), Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). As a result of program monitoring and audits, the Department has identified numerous program areas requiring corrective action by PRDE. Specifically, the Agreement applies to grant funds awarded to Puerto Rico and PRDE by the Department under Titles I, II, and IV of ESEA, Title IV of HEA, and IDEA. The purpose of the Agreement is to improve education for the students of Puerto Rico by bringing Puerto Rico and PRDE into full compliance with the Department's program requirements.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the General Services Administration will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a currently approved information collection requirement regarding contract administration, and quality assurance. The clearance currently expires on July 31, 2008. Public comments are particularly invited on: Whether this collection of information is necessary and whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate and based on valid assumptions and methodology; and ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has determined not to review an initial determination (``ID'') (Order No. 6) issued by the presiding administrative law judge (``ALJ'') granting a motion to file an amended complaint adding five additional respondents in the above-captioned investigation.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, May 22, 1995), this notice announces that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for extension, without change, of a currently approved information collection. RI 20-64, Letter Reply to Request for Information, is used by the Civil Service Retirement System to provide information about the amount of annuity payable after a survivor reduction, to explain the annuity reductions required to pay for the survivor benefit, and to give the beginning rate of survivor annuity. RI 20-64A, Former Spouse Survivor Annuity Election, is used by the Civil Service Retirement System to obtain a survivor benefits election from annuitants who are eligible to elect to provide survivor benefits for a former spouse. RI 20-64B, Information on Electing a Survivor Annuity for Your Former Spouse, is a pamphlet that provides important information to retirees under the Civil Service Retirement System who want to provide a survivor annuity for a former spouse. We estimate that 30 survivor elections on RI 20-64A will be processed per year and that of these eight will use RI 20-64 to ask for information about electing a smaller survivor benefit. Form RI 20-64A requires 45 minutes to complete for a burden of 23 hours. Form RI 20-64 requires 8 minutes to complete for a burden of 1 hour. The total burden is 24 hours. For copies of this proposal, contact Mary Beth Smith-Toomey on (202) 606-8358, FAX (202) 418-3251 or via E-mail to MaryBeth.Smith- Toomey@opm.gov. Please include a mailing address with your request.

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.

The Department of the Navy is amending its certifications and exemptions under the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (72 COLREGS), to reflect that the Deputy Assistant Judge Advocate General (Admiralty and Maritime Law) has determined that USS STOUT (DDG 55) is a vessel of the Navy which, due to its special construction and purpose, cannot fully comply with certain provisions of the 72 COLREGS without interfering with its special function as a naval ship. The intended effect of this rule is to warn mariners in waters where 72 COLREGS apply.

This Notice announces that effective June 27, 2008 only Form I-821, Application for Temporary Protected Status with a revision date of October 17, 2007, will be accepted for filing applications for Temporary Protected Status (TPS). The Form I-821, with the October 17, 2007, revision date can be found on the USCIS Web site at https:// www.uscis.gov. Accordingly, beginning on June 27, 2008, if you are a national of a country currently designated for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) (or an alien with no nationality who last habitually resided in a country currently designated for TPS), you must submit your application for initial registration or re-registration using the Form I-821 with the October 17, 2007, revision date. Individuals who have already filed for the most recent TPS registration or re- registration periods effective for their specific countries do not need to submit this revised Form I-821 until the next re-registration period for their country's TPS designation.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an Agency delivering the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Utilities Programs, hereinafter referred to as Rural Development and/or the Agency, intends to hold public scoping meetings and prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) in connection with potential impacts related to projects proposed by Hertford Renewable Energy, LLC (HRE), with headquarters in Winter Park, FL. The proposal consists of the construction of a 50 Megawatt (MW) biomass power plant. The proposed power plant would be located in Hertford County, North Carolina on Joe Holloman Road. HRE is requesting the Agency to provide financial assistance for the proposed action.

This is a correction to the May 2, 2008 (73 FR 24308), request for comments. This notice is necessary to correct the hour burden for the requirements in Sec. 250.301(a) in the burden table. The information collection request (ICR) concerns the paperwork requirements in the regulations under 30 CFR Part 250, Subpart C, ``Pollution Prevention and Control.''

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.