2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is amending its right-of- way regulations to update the linear right-of-way rent schedule in 43 CFR parts 2800 and 2880. The rent schedule covers most linear rights- of-way granted under Title V of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, as amended (FLPMA), and Section 28 of the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended (MLA). Those laws require the holder of a right-of-way grant to pay annually, in advance, the fair market value to occupy, use, or traverse public lands for facilities such as power lines, fiber optic lines, pipelines, roads, and ditches. Section 367 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (the Act) directs the Secretary of the Interior to update the per acre rent schedule found in 43 CFR 2806.20. The Act requires that the BLM revise the per acre rental fee zone value schedule by state, county, and type of linear right-of-way use to reflect current land values in each zone. The Act also requires the Secretary of Agriculture (Forest Service) to make the same revisions for rights-of-way on National Forest System (NFS) lands.

The Coast Guard amends its rules relating to standards for marine equipment and updates the incorporation in those rules of references to national and international safety standards. This rule is part of an ongoing effort for regulatory review and reform that increases the focus on results, decreases the focus on process, and expands compliance options for the regulated public.

The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of a meeting of RTCA Government/Industry Air Traffic Management Advisory Committee.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is providing notice of a revision in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 Tariff-Rate Quota (TRQ) allocation for imported refined sugar for the period August 13 through December 31, 2008. The USTR is re-allocating the portion of the increase in the refined sugar TRQ initially allocated to Mexico on August 13, 2008 to the global portion of the refined sugar TRQ, subject to certain conditions.

The public is invited to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with endangered species.

Notice is hereby given by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that an exemption to the land disposal restrictions under the 1984 Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) has been granted to AK Steel Corporation (AK Steel) of Middletown, Ohio, for two Class I injection wells located in Middletown, Ohio. As required by 40 CFR part 148, AK Steel has demonstrated, to a reasonable degree of certainty, that there will be no migration of hazardous constituents out of the injection zone or into an underground source of drinking water (USDW) for at least 10,000 years. This final decision allows the continued underground injection by AK Steel of a specific restricted waste, Waste Pickle Liquor, (code K062 under 40 CFR part 261), into two Class I hazardous waste injection wells specifically identified as Waste Disposal Wells No. 1 and No. 2, at the Middletown facility. This decision constitutes a final EPA action for which, except for the two parties who commented on the draft decision, there is no Administrative Appeal.

EPA is announcing the availability of the electronic Report on the Environment (eROE or ROE), an online site that provides access to the environmental and human health information contained in the EPA's 2008 Report on the Environment (EPA/600/R-07/045F), released May 20, 2008, and in the EPA's 2008 Report on the Environment: Highlights of National Trends, released September 24, 2008, in one location and in a searchable format. The ROE asks important questions about the condition of our nation's environment and human health over time and provides answers to those questions in the form of indicators. The site also includes the methodology, references, and sources of additional information behind the indicators that form the foundation of the reports. Indicators will be updated periodically on the ROE Web site so the most up-to-date information on environmental and human health condition is available to the public in a searchable format. The Web site was developed by EPA's National Center for Environmental Assessment, within the Office of Research and Development, and the Office of Environmental Information.

We have determined (1) A 5.8 percent cost-of-living increase in Social Security benefits under title II of the Social Security Act (the Act), effective for December 2008; (2) An increase in the Federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) monthly benefit amounts under title XVI of the Act for 2009 to $674 for an eligible individual, $1,011 for an eligible individual with an eligible spouse, and $338 for an essential person; (3) The student earned income exclusion to be $1,640 per month in 2009 but not more than $6,600 in all of 2009; (4) The dollar fee limit for services performed as a representative payee to be $37 per month ($72 per month in the case of a beneficiary who is disabled and has an alcoholism or drug addiction condition that leaves him or her incapable of managing benefits) in 2009; (5) The dollar limit on the administrative-cost assessment charged to attorneys representing claimants to be $83 in 2009; (6) The national average wage index for 2007 to be $40,405.48; (7) The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) contribution and benefit base to be $106,800 for remuneration paid in 2009 and self-employment income earned in taxable years beginning in 2009; (8) The monthly exempt amounts under the Social Security retirement earnings test for taxable years ending in calendar year 2009 to be $1,180 and $3,140; (9) The dollar amounts (``bend points'') used in the primary insurance amount benefit formula for workers who become eligible for benefits, or who die before becoming eligible, in 2009 to be $744 and $4,483; (10) The bend points used in the formula for computing maximum family benefits for workers who become eligible for benefits, or who die before becoming eligible, in 2009 to be $950, $1,372, and $1,789; (11) The amount of taxable earnings a person must have to be credited with a quarter of coverage in 2009 to be $1,090; (12) The ``old-law'' contribution and benefit base to be $79,200 for 2009; (13) The monthly amount deemed to constitute substantial gainful activity for statutorily blind individuals in 2009 to be $1,640, and the corresponding amount for non-blind disabled persons to be $980; (14) The earnings threshold establishing a month as a part of a trial work period to be $700 for 2009; and (15) Coverage thresholds for 2009 to be $1,700 for domestic workers and $1,500 for election workers.

The FAA proposes to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to all Boeing Model 737-600, -700, -700C, - 800, and -900 series airplanes. The existing AD currently requires reviewing the airplane maintenance records to determine whether an engine has been removed from the airplane since the airplane was manufactured. For airplanes on which an engine has been removed, the existing AD also requires an inspection of the aft engine mount to determine if the center link assembly is correctly installed, and follow-on actions if necessary. This proposed AD would require the same actions for airplanes on which the engine has not been previously removed. This proposed AD results from reports indicating that operators found that the center link assembly for the aft engine mount was reversed on several airplanes that had not had an engine removed since delivery. We are proposing this AD to prevent increased structural loads on the aft engine mount, which could result in failure of the aft engine mount and consequent separation of the engine from the airplane.

The public is invited to comment on the following applications to conduct certain activities with threatened and endangered species.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above that would supersede an existing AD. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as: