August 6, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

This document contains a correction to final regulations (TD 9415), that were published in the Federal Register on Monday, July 14, 2008 (73 FR 40171). The final regulations relates to income that is associated with a residual interest in a Real Estate Mortgage Investment Conduit (REMIC) and that is allocated through certain entities to foreign persons who have invested in those entities.

NASA proposes to revise the NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) to update procedures for compliance with Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 4.13, Personal Identity Verification of Contractor Personnel. FAR 4.13 requires that agencies include their implementing guidance of FIPS 201 and OMB guidance M-05-24 in solicitations and contracts that require the contractor to have routine physical access to Federally-controlled facilities and/or access to Federally- controlled information systems. NASA further proposes to designate The Assistant Administrator, Office of Security and Program Protection as the official with overall responsibility for verifying contractor employee personal identity.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of dodine in or on bananas and peanuts. Agriphar S.A. c/o Ceres International LLC requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of the Bacillus thuringiensis Vip3Aa proteins in or on the food and feed commodities of corn; corn, field; corn, sweet; corn, pop; and cotton; cotton, undelinted seed; cotton, refined oil; cotton, meal; cotton, hay; cotton, hulls; cotton, forage; and cotton, gin byproducts, when used as plant-incorporated protectants in those food and feed commodities. Syngenta Seeds, Inc. submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended by the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA), requesting an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of Bacillus thuringiensis Vip3Aa proteins in or on corn; corn, field; corn, sweet; corn, pop; and cotton, undelinted seed; cotton, refined oil; cotton, meal; cotton, hay; cotton, hulls; cotton, forage; and cotton, gin byproducts, when applied or used as plant- incorporated protectants.

Since the amendments of October 1988, the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) has required payment of an annual maintenance fee to keep pesticide registrations in effect. The fee due last January 15 has gone unpaid for 221 registrations. Section 4(i)(5)(G) of FIFRA provides that the Administrator may cancel these registrations by order and without a hearing; orders to cancel all 221 of these registrations have been issued within the past few days.

The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) proposes to amend its rules relating to arbitrators' inactive status, removal, appointment, referral and obligation to provide FMCS with information. The proposed rules also address the appointment of arbitrators where a party has failed to pay fees in previous cases. In addition, the proposed rules raise the annual listing fee for arbitrators on the FMCS Roster. The changes will promote more efficient and effective procedures involving arbitrator retention and arbitration services. The increased cost of listing arbitrator biographical data more accurately reflects FMCS' costs of maintaining and administering this information.

This action amends Class E airspace at Black River Falls, WI. Additional controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate aircraft using new Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) at Black River Falls Area Airport. This action will enhance the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) aircraft operations at Black River Falls Area Airport, Black River Falls, WI.

Under the authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), withdraw our 1993 proposed reclassification of the Hawaiian hawk or io (Buteo solitarius) from endangered to threatened, and propose to remove the Hawaiian hawk from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife (List). These actions are based on a thorough review of the best available scientific data, which indicates that range-wide population estimates have been stable for at least 20 years, and the species has recovered and is not likely to become an endangered species in the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. The proposed rule, if made final, would remove the Hawaiian hawk from the List, thereby removing all protections provided by the Act.