2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document disposes of the petitions for reconsideration filed in response to the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) final rule on charter service published on January 14, 2008. This notice also corrects the final rule by adding an authority citation, revises Appendix B and Appendix C, and corrects Appendix D, which should have appeared in the final rule as a matrix.

The EPA is approving revisions to Idaho's State Implementation Plan (SIP) relating to open burning and crop residue disposal requirements and visible emissions. The Director of the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (IDEQ) submitted a draft SIP revision to the EPA on April 15, 2008. The EPA proposed to approve this draft SIP revision on April 29, 2008, and stated that, if adopted by the State substantially unchanged from its current form, it would satisfy the requirements of the Clean Air Act (hereinafter the Act or CAA). 73 FR 23155. The Director of the IDEQ submitted a final SIP revision to the EPA on May 28, 2008. Based on EPA's review of this final SIP revision, EPA's analysis and review of the 2008 draft SIP revision (73 FR 23155), and comments received by the EPA during the public comment period on EPA's proposed approval of the draft SIP revision, the EPA is approving the final SIP revision submitted by the IDEQ on May 28, 2008, because it satisfies the requirements of the CAA. The Director of the IDEQ also submitted a SIP revision relating to open burning and crop residue disposal requirements on May 22, 2003, which the EPA approved on July 11, 2005 (70 FR 39658). In a ruling issued on January 30, 2007, and amended on May 29, 2007, that approval was remanded and vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in Safe Air for Everyone v. USEPA, 475 F.3d 1096, amended 488 F.3d 1088 (9th Cir 2007) (SAFE decision). In the EPA's April 29, 2008, proposal discussed above, the EPA re-proposed to approve the portion of the May 22, 2003, SIP revision that would not be changed by the draft SIP revision, if adopted, submitted on April 15, 2008. We are also finalizing our approval of this portion of the 2003 SIP revision because it satisfies the requirements of the Act and does not contravene the Court's SAFE decision.

The EPA is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This revision changes completion dates of delayed transit projects, provides interim deadlines for projects, maintains requirements for interim emission reduction offsets in the event a project becomes delayed, modifies the project substitution process, revises the list of required transit projects, and expands public participation in and oversight of the projects. The intended effect of this action is to substitute specific transit projects and 1,000 park and ride spaces to replace certain transit projects currently approved into the SIP, and approve modifications to the delay and substitution procedures for transit projects. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act.

We are reopening the comment period for our proposed rule that would amend the Animal Welfare Act regulations by adding minimum age requirements for the transport in commerce of animals. This action will allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pelagic shelf rockfish by catcher processors participating in the rockfish limited access fishery in the Central Regulatory Area of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2008 total allowable catch (TAC) of pelagic shelf rockfish allocated to catcher processors participating in the rockfish limited access fishery in the Central Regulatory Area of the GOA.

The agencies are publishing guidance regarding the supervisory review process for capital adequacy (Pillar 2) provided in the Basel II advanced approaches final rule, which was published in the Federal Register on December 7, 2007 (advanced approaches final rule). The supervisory review process described in this guidance outlines the agencies' standards for satisfying the qualification requirements provided in the advanced approaches final rule; addressing the limitations of the minimum risk-based capital requirements for credit risk and operational risk; ensuring that each institution has a rigorous process for assessing its overall capital adequacy in relation to its risk profile and a comprehensive strategy for maintaining appropriate capital levels; and encouraging each institution to improve its risk identification and measurement techniques. This supervisory guidance applies to any bank, savings association, or bank holding company \1\ implementing the advanced approaches final rule.

The Office of Justice Programs is publishing this proposed rule to amend its regulations that govern the operating policies of criminal intelligence systems that receive federal funding under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended (``Crime Control Act''). The regulations were issued pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 3789(g), which requires that ``criminal intelligence systems'' receiving Crime Control Act support must collect, maintain, and disseminate criminal intelligence information ``in conformance with policy standards which are prescribed by the Office of Justice Programs.'' The statute specifies that the policy standards must be written to assure that the funding and operation of the systems further the purpose of the funding provisions and assure that such systems ``are not utilized in violation of the privacy and constitutional rights of individuals.'' The existing regulations were last revised in 1993 and the purpose of the revisions proposed in this document is to clarify and update the regulations in light of the new, post-9/11 information sharing environment and investigative policies aimed at preventing terrorism.

This document contains final regulations providing guidance regarding the generation-skipping transfer (GST) tax consequences of the severance of a trust in a manner that is effective under state law, but that does not meet the requirements of a qualified severance under section 2642(a)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (Code). These final regulations also provide guidance regarding the GST tax consequences of a qualified severance of a trust with an inclusion ratio between zero and one into more than two resulting trusts. These final regulations also provide special funding rules applicable to the non-pro rata division of certain assets between or among resulting trusts. The regulations will affect trusts that are subject to the GST tax.

This document contains final regulations providing guidance regarding the mortality tables to be used in determining present value or making any computation for purposes of applying certain pension funding requirements. These regulations affect sponsors, administrators, participants, and beneficiaries of certain retirement plans.

The FAA is superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for RRD Dart 528, 529, 532, 535, 542, and 552 Series turboprop engines. That AD currently requires a dimensional inspection of the intermediate pressure turbine (IPT) disk or an ultrasonic inspection of the seal arm contact between the high pressure turbine (HPT) and the IPT disk seal arm and reworking or replacing the IPT disk if worn beyond acceptable limits. This AD continues to require those actions. This AD results from us including an incorrect engine model and omitting an engine model from the applicability of the existing AD. We are issuing this AD to prevent HPT disk failure, which can result in an uncontained engine failure and damage to the airplane.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to revise designated critical habitat for marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus marmoratus) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). On May 24, 1996, we designated 3,887,800 ac (ac) (1,573,340 hectares (ha)) as critical habitat for the marbled murrelet in Washington, Oregon, and California. We are proposing to revise currently designated critical habitat for the marbled murrelet by removing approximately 254,070 ac (102,820 ha) in northern California and Oregon from the 1996 designation, based on new information indicating that these areas do not meet the definition of critical habitat. This action, if adopted in its entirety, would result in a revised designation of approximately 3,633,800 ac (1,470,550 ha) as critical habitat for the marbled murrelet. In this rule, we are further proposing, under the Act, a taxonomic revision of the scientific name of the marbled murrelet from Brachyramphus marmoratus marmoratus to Brachyramphus marmoratus.

PHMSA proposes to amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations to maintain alignment with international standards by incorporating various amendments, including changes to proper shipping names, hazard classes, packing groups, special provisions, packaging authorizations, air transport quantity limitations, and vessel stowage requirements. These revisions are necessary to harmonize the Hazardous Materials Regulations with recent changes to the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, the International Civil Aviation Organization's Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air, and the United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. The proposals include amendments and clarifications addressing the safe transportation of batteries and battery-powered devices. Consistent with recent changes to the International Civil Aviation Organization's Technical Instructions, PHMSA is proposing to clarify the prohibition against transporting electrical devices, including batteries and battery-powered devices that are likely to create sparks or generate a dangerous amount of heat. PHMSA also is proposing to modify and enhance requirements for the packaging and handling of batteries and battery-powered devices, particularly in air commerce, to emphasize the safety precautions that are necessary to prevent incidents during transportation. PHMSA developed these proposals in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration in order to enhance the safe transportation of batteries and battery-powered devices.

This regulation establishes tolerances for combined residues of pyraclostrobin and its desmethoxy metabolite in or on the following commodities: Borage, seed; castor oil plant, seed; chinese tallowtree, seed; crambe, seed; cuphea, seed; echium, seed; euphorbia, seed; evening primrose, seed; flax, seed; gold of pleasure, seed; hare's ear mustard, seed; jojoba, seed; lesquerella, seed; lunaria, seed; meadowfoam, seed; milkweed, seed; mustard, seed; niger seed, seed; oil radish, seed; poppy, seed; rapeseed, seed; rose hip, seed; safflower, seed; sesame, seed; stokes aster, seed; sweet rocket, seed; tallowwood, seed; tea oil plant, seed; and vernonia, seed. It also increases the existing tolerance for residues of pyraclostrobin and its desmethoxy metabolite in or on sunflower. BASF Corporation requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

EPA is finalizing approval of revisions to the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District (VCAPCD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions were proposed in the Federal Register on May 9, 2008 and concern oxides of nitrogen (NOX ) emissions from stationary internal combustion engines. We are approving a local rule that regulates these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).

NMFS is reallocating the projected unused amount of the 2008 incidental catch allowance (ICA) of Atka mackerel to the B season allowance of Atka mackerel for the Amendment 80 cooperative in the Eastern Aleutian District and the Bering Sea subarea of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to allow the 2008 total allowable catch of Atka mackerel to be fully harvested.

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 Subscriber Carrier Selection Changes Provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, Policies and Rules Concerning Unauthorized Changes of Consumers' Long Distance Carriers, Fourth Report and Order (2007 Fourth Report and Order). This notice is consistent with the 2007 Fourth Report and Order, which stated that the Commission would publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the effective date of the rule.

EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern oxides of nitrogen (NOX ) emissions from gaseous- and liquid-fueled internal combustion engines. We are approving a local rule that regulates these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act). We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow with a final action.

The Commission requests comments on a channel substitution proposed by Georgia Public Telecommunications (``GPTC''), the permittee of noncommercial educational station WJSP-DT, DTV channel *23, Columbus, Georgia. GPTC requests the substitution of DTV channel *11 for channel *23 at Columbus.

The Commission requests comments on a channel substitution proposed by Guenter Marksteiner, the permittee of station WHDT-DT, post-transition DTV channel 44, Stuart, Florida. Mr. Marksteiner requests the substitution of DTV channel 42 for channel 44 at Stuart.

This notice advises the public that FMCSA is placing in the public docket four additional documents concerning hours of service (HOS) for commercial motor vehicle drivers. FMCSA published an interim final rule (IFR) on this issue on December 17, 2007. The Agency now dockets the supplemental documents.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone for the Astoria Regatta Assoc. Display to be held on the waters of the Columbia River in the vicinity of Astoria's waterfront in Astoria, Oregon. The safety zone will restrict vessels from entering the designated area during the fireworks display. This temporary rule is needed to provide for the safety of life on navigable waters during the event.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone for the Red Bull Flugtag to be held on the waters of the Willamette River in the vicinity of McCall's Waterfront Park in Portland, Oregon. The safety zone will restrict vessels from entering the designated area during the marine event. This temporary rule is needed to provide for the safety of participants in the event.

The General Services Administration (GSA) is proposing to amend the General Services Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) to update the text addressing foreign acquisition. This rule is a result of the General Services Administration Acquisition Manual (GSAM) Rewrite initiative undertaken by GSA to revise the GSAM to maintain consistency with the FAR, and to implement streamlined and innovative acquisition procedures that contractors, offerors and GSA contracting personnel can utilize when entering into and administering contractual relationships. The GSAM incorporates the General Services Administration Acquisition Regulation (GSAR) as well as internal agency acquisition policy. GSA will rewrite each part of the GSAR and GSAM, and as each part is rewritten, will publish it in the Federal Register. This part is a continuance in a series of revisions. It covers the rewrite of GSAR Part 525, Foreign Acquisition.

This rule proposes to change the rules and procedures concerning the standards of representation and professional conduct for attorneys and other practitioners who appear before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), which includes the immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals (Board), and to clarify who is authorized to represent and appear on behalf of individuals in proceedings before the Board and the immigration judges. Current regulations set forth who may represent individuals in proceedings before EOIR and also set forth the rules and procedures for imposing disciplinary sanctions against attorneys or other practitioners who engage in criminal, unethical, frivolous, or unprofessional conduct before EOIR. The proposed revisions would increase the number of grounds for discipline and improve the clarity and uniformity of the existing rules while incorporating miscellaneous technical and procedural changes. The changes proposed herein are based upon the Attorney General's recent initiative for improving the adjudicatory processes for the immigration judges and the Board, as well as EOIR's operational experience in administering the disciplinary program since the current process was established in 2000.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) issued by the aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as: