December 12, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) is proposing to add a system of records notice to its inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

EPA has reviewed its pesticide regulations contained in 40 CFR Parts 150-180, and is making technical changes in a number of areas. These technical changes will correct errors and cross-references, improve presentation and format, and conform the regulations to current CFR practice. These changes have no substantive impact on any requirements. As such, notice and public comment procedures are unnecesary, and EPA finds that this constitutes good cause under the Administrative Procedure Act.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing the availability of a final document entitled, ``Integrated Science Assessment for Oxides of Nitrogen and SulfurEcological Criteria,'' and the supplementary annexes (EPA/600/R-08/082F). The document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of Research and Development as part of the review of the secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for oxides of nitrogen and sulfur. EPA's secondary NAAQS are based on ecological and welfare effects.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing the withdrawal of a certain advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) and proposed rules (NPRMs) that published in the Federal Register more than 5 years ago. These proposals are no longer considered viable candidates for final action at this time.

Pursuant to 36 CFR 51.23, public notice is hereby given that the National Park Service proposes to extend the following expiring concession contracts for a period of up to 1 year, or until such time as a new contract is executed, whichever occurs sooner.

Section 106 of the Department of Housing and Urban Development Reform Act of 1989 (the HUD Reform Act) requires HUD to publish quarterly Federal Register notices of all regulatory waivers that HUD has approved. Each notice covers the quarterly period since the previous Federal Register notice. The purpose of this notice is to comply with the requirements of section 106 of the HUD Reform Act. This notice contains a list of regulatory waivers granted by HUD during the period beginning on July 1, 2008, and ending on September 30, 2008.

This notice is published in accordance with Section 9(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 (Pub. L. 92-463). Following consultation with the General Services Administration, notice is hereby given that the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) is renewing the charter for the California Bay-Delta Public Advisory Committee (Committee). The purpose of the Committee is to provide advice and recommendations to the Secretary on implementation of the CALFED Bay- Delta Program (Program) as described in the Programmatic Record of Decision which outlines the long-term comprehensive solution for addressing the problems affecting the San Francisco Bay-Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary, Public Law 108-361, and other applicable law. Specific responsibilities of the Committee include: (1) Making recommendations on annual priorities and coordination of Program actions to achieve balanced implementation of the Program elements; (2) providing recommendations on effective integration of Program elements to provide continuous, balanced improvement of each of the Program objectives (ecosystem restoration, water quality, levee system integrity, and water supply reliability); (3) evaluating implementation of Program actions, including assessment of Program area performance; (4) reviewing and making recommendations on Program Plans and Annual Reports describing implementation of Program elements as set forth in the ROD to the Secretary; (5) recommending Program actions taking into account recommendations from the Committee's subcommittees; and (6) liaison between the Committee's subcommittees, the State and Federal agencies, the Secretary and the Governor. The Committee consists of 20 to 30 members who are appointed by the Secretary, in consultation with the Governor.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), are amending our regulations concerning stream buffer zones, stream-channel diversions, siltation structures, impoundments, excess spoil, and coal mine waste. Among other things, this rule requires that surface coal mining operations be designed to minimize the creation of excess spoil and the adverse environmental impacts of fills constructed to dispose of excess spoil and coal mine waste. We have revised the stream buffer zone rule to more closely reflect the underlying provisions of the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA), to adopt related permit application requirements, to require that disturbance of perennial and intermittent streams and their buffer zones generally be avoided unless it is not reasonably possible to do so, to identify exceptions to the requirement to maintain an undisturbed buffer zone for perennial and intermittent streams, and to clarify the relationship between SMCRA and the Clean Water Act.

This Notice identifies unutilized, underutilized, excess, and surplus Federal property reviewed by HUD for suitability for possible use to assist the homeless.

The USDA Forest Service will prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to disclose environmental effects on a proposed action to manage fuels and vegetation and produce forest products in the Little Eagle Creek, and Eagle Creek Paddy subwatersheds. The Snow Basin Vegetation Management Project is located on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, Whitman Ranger District, Pine Office, Baker County, Oregon. The legal location is T.7S, R.44E, all sections, and T.8S, R44E, most sections. The project area encompasses two subwatersheds located north and northwest of Halfway and Richland, Oregon, consisting of approximately 27,680 acres of National Forest System (NFS) lands, 281 acres of Baker County inholdings, and 2,107 acres of private deeded inholdings. The proposed action would use commercial harvest of timber, noncommercial thinning, aspen restoration and prescribed fire on approximately 17,200 acres. No new permanent road construction would occur, but temporary roads would be constructed, existing permanent roads would be reconstructed as warranted, and one existing bridge would be reconstructed. No Inventoried Roadless Areas (IRAs) or potential wilderness areas are affected by this project. Additional details of the proposed action are noted below in the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Section.

In this rulemaking, OSHA is amending its standards to add language clarifying that the personal protective equipment (PPE) and training requirements impose a compliance duty to each and every employee covered by the standards and that noncompliance may expose the employer to liability on a per-employee basis. The amendments consist of new paragraphs added to the introductory sections of the listed Parts and changes to the language of some existing respirator and training requirements. This action, which is in accord with OSHA's longstanding position, is being taken in response to recent decisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission indicating that differences in wording among the various PPE and training provisions in OSHA safety and health standards affect the Agency's ability to treat an employer's failure to provide PPE or training to each covered employee as a separate violation. The amendments add no new compliance obligations. Employers are not required to provide any new type of PPE or training, to provide PPE or training to any employee not already covered by the existing requirements, or to provide PPE or training in a different manner than that already required. The amendments simply clarify that the standards apply to each employee.

The Department of Commerce publishes this proposed rule to request public comment on modifications to the Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis (SIMA) System. These modifications are proposed to extend the current SIMA system until March 21, 2013. This extension would continue the Department's ability to track steel imports and make them publicly available in advance of the full trade data release.