November 14, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is re-opening the comment period of a proposed rule that the Agency published on September 15, 2008. The proposed rule solicited public comment on the Agency's proposal to remove from the Code of Federal Regulations a rule that EPA promulgated in 1996 making provisions of the federal antidegradation policy directly applicable for all waters of the United States within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. EPA is re-opening the comment period for the proposed rule to ensure all parties have adequate opportunity to express their views to the Agency prior to taking final action on the proposed rule. The original comment period for the proposed rule closed on October 15, 2008. In a separate action published in today's final rule section of the Federal Register, EPA is withdrawing a direct final rule that EPA also published on September 15, 2008, removing the federal regulation that made provisions of EPA's antidegradation policy directly applicable to waters in Pennsylvania.

NMFS announces its intent to issue Exempted Fishing Permits (EFPs), Scientific Research Permits (SRPs), Display Permits, Letters of Acknowledgment (LOAs), and Chartering Permits for the collection of Atlantic Highly Migratory Species (HMS) in 2009. In general, EFPs and related permits would authorize collections of a limited number of tunas, swordfish, billfishes, and sharks from Federal waters in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico for the purposes of scientific data collection and public display. Chartering permits allow the collection of HMS in the high seas or in the Exclusive Economic Zone of other nations. Generally, these permits will be valid from the date of issuance through December 31, 2009, unless otherwise specified, subject to the terms and conditions of individual permits.

ACCSH Work Groups will meet December 2-3, 2008, and ACCSH will meet December 4-5, 2008, in Washington, DC.

The proposed information collection requirement described below has been 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. Each year Congress appropriates funds to approximately 3,200 Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) for modernization, development, financing, and management improvements. The funds are allocated based on a complex formula. The forms in this collection are used to appropriately disburse and utilize the funds provided to PHAs. Additionally, these forms provide the information necessary to approve a financing transaction in addition to any Mixed-Finance and Capital Fund Financing transactions. Respondents include the approximately 3,200 PHA receiving Capital Funds and other PHAs wishing to pursue financing.

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.

The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) is giving notice of a joint meeting, followed by separate and concurrently held meetings of the Census Advisory Committees (CACs) on the African American Population, the American Indian and Alaska Native Populations, the Asian Population, the Hispanic Population, and the Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander Populations. The Committees will address issues related to the 2010 Census, including the Integrated Communications Campaign, 2010 Partnerships, and other decennial activities. The five Census Advisory Committees on Race and Ethnicity will meet in plenary and concurrent sessions on December 10- 12. Last-minute changes to the schedule are possible, which could prevent advance notification.

On September 18, 2008, the Commission published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking to amend its rules, guidance and acceptable practices concerning trading off the centralized market, including the addition of guidance on contract market block trading rules and exchanges of futures for commodities or derivatives positions. Comments on the proposal originally were due on November 17, 2008. The Commission is extending the comment period in order to give interested persons additional time to comment on the proposed amendments.

The Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) is providing notification of final criteria and guidelines for American Indian Areas (AIAs) for the 2010 Census. Criteria are those rules and conditions that must be met when defining a geographic entity; guidelines are procedures and measures suggested by the Census Bureau to enhance the utility of statistical geographic areas for presentation and analysis of statistical data. AIAs are geographic entities within the United States defined for the collection, tabulation, and presentation of decennial census data for federally and/or state-recognized American Indian tribes. AIAs will be used to collect, tabulate, and present data for the 2010 Census, period estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS), and potentially other Census Bureau statistical data. More specifically, for the 2010 Census, AIAs consist of the following types of geographic entities: American Indian reservations (AIRs). Off-reservation trust lands (ORTLs). Oklahoma tribal statistical areas (OTSAs). Tribal-designated statistical areas (TDSAs). State-designated tribal statistical areas (SDTSAs). Tribal census tracts (tribal tracts). Tribal block groups. Tribal subdivisions on AIRs, ORTLs, and OTSAs. Census designated places (CDPs) on AIRs, ORTLs, and OTSAs. The geographic entities listed above include both legal and statistical geographic entities (see ``Definitions of Key Terms'' section). The Census Bureau is not proposing any new types of AIAs for the 2010 Census. In these final criteria, the Census Bureau announces the following changes for the 2010 Census: Change the term ``State-Designated American Indian Statistical Areas'' (SDAISAs) to ``State-Designated Tribal Statistical Areas'' or SDTSAs. Clarify the definition and purpose of OTSAs. In addition, because all former AIRs in Oklahoma were delineated as OTSAs for Census 2000, the Census Bureau is providing notification that no new OTSAs may be delineated for the 2010 Census, and to the extent possible, OTSA boundaries for the 2010 Census should be consistent with those defined for Census 2000. The Census Bureau also seeks to avoid defining joint use area OTSAs for the 2010 Census. Clarify the definition, purpose, and the criteria and guidelines for TDSAs and SDTSAs. Identify tribal tracts and tribal block groups as separate statistical geographic entities distinct from, and in addition to, ``standard'' county-based census tracts and block groups. The Census Bureau has three geographic partnership programs through which it collects updates to the inventory, boundaries, and attributes of AIAs for the 2010 Census: The annual Boundary and Annexation Survey (BAS), the State Reservation Program, and the Tribal Statistical Areas Program (TSAP). Both the BAS and the State Reservation Program provide the process for reviewing and updating those AIAs that are legal geographic entities: AIRs and ORTLs under the governmental authority of federally recognized American Indian tribes, tribal subdivisions within these federally recognized AIRs and ORTLs, and AIRs for state- recognized American Indian tribes. The TSAP provides the process for reviewing and updating those AIAs that are statistical geographic entities: OTSAs, tribal subdivisions within OTSAs, TDSAs, SDTSAs, tribal tracts, tribal block groups, and CDPs. Each of these programs is discussed in more detail within the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this Federal Register Notice. This Notice announces the Census Bureau's final criteria and guidelines for AIAs for the 2010 Census. In addition, this Notice contains a summary of comments received in response to the April 1, 2008, Federal Register (73 FR 17303), as well as the Census Bureau's responses to these comments. The Census Bureau has considered all comments received regarding the new criteria and guidelines and will enact the proposed criteria and guidelines, unaltered from those presented in the Federal Register (73 FR 17303). For information regarding similar programs for Alaska Native Areas (ANAs), please refer to the Federal Register Notice titled ``Alaska Native Areas (ANAs) for the 2010 CensusFinal Criteria and Guidelines''.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing approved collection. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

EPA expressed environmental concerns about wildfire analysis, potential unauthorized public vehicle use, and water quality impacts from grazing. EPA recommends that the final EIS include assurances that appropriate subsequent treatments will be conducted to maintain the decreases in fire risk. Also, the final EIS should consider increasing riparian plantings and enclosures and modifying project design elements for road closure/decommissioning enforcement and monitoring. Rating EC2.

This notice informs the public that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is currently revising the 2006 National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) and, as part of a comprehensive national review process, solicits public comment on issues or language in this draft document that need to be updated during this triennial review cycle.

EPA previously announced the opportunity for public hearing and written comment on the California Air Resources Board's request for an authorization of its regulations for fleets that operate nonroad, diesel fueled equipment with engines 25 horsepower (hp) and greater and that require such fleets to meet fleet average emissions standards for oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter, or, alternatively, to comply with best available control technology requirements for the vehicles in those fleets. This previous announcement occurred on October 7, 2008, at 72 FR 58385. By this notice EPA is announcing an extension of the written comment period from November 28, 2008 to December 19, 2008.

The Federal Communications Commission (Commission or FCC), as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on the following information collection extension, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13. An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid control number. No person shall be subject to any penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) that does not display a valid control number. Comments are requested concerning (a) Whether the proposed collection of information extension is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Commission's burden estimate; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Secretariat 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 concerning past performance information. A request for public comments was published in the Federal Register at 73 FR 45427, August 5, 2008. No comments were received. Public comments are particularly invited on: Whether this collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of functions of the FAR, 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; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, through the use of appropriate technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

In this document, the Commission announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, the information collection associated with the Commission's Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, Do-Not-Call Registry, Report and Order (DNC Report and Order). This notice is consistent with the DNC Report and Order, which stated that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of the rule.

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulations on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans and Allocation of Assets in Single-Employer Plans prescribe interest assumptions for valuing and paying benefits under terminating single-employer plans. This final rule amends the regulations to adopt interest assumptions for plans with valuation dates in December 2008. Interest assumptions are also published on the PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

The Commission grants a petition for rulemaking filed by Central Wyoming College, permittee of post- transition station KPTW-DT, to substitute DTV channel *8 for post- transition DTV channel *6 at Casper, Wyoming.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announces the availability of the Revised Recovery Plan for the Sihek or Guam Micronesian Kingfisher (Halcyon cinnamomina cinnamomina). This subspecies, which was found only on the island of Guam, was federally listed as endangered in 1984.