January 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This Notice announces the establishment of FRA's emergency relief docket (ERD) for calendar year 2009. The designated ERD for calendar year 2009 is docket number FRA-2009-0009.

Under the provisions of 30 U.S.C. 188(d) and (e), and 43 CFR 3108.2-3(a) and (b)(1), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) received a petition for reinstatement from Whiting Oil and Gas Corporation for Noncompetitive oil and gas lease WYW158866 for land in Uinta County, Wyoming. The petition was filed on time and was accompanied by all the rentals due since the date the lease terminated under the law.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) announces that it is extending the solicitation period for applications for the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) replacement digital television translator projects. NTIA will accept applications for these projects until Monday, May 18, 2009.

The Legal Services Corporation (``Corporation'') is required by law to establish maximum income levels for individuals eligible for legal assistance. This document updates the specified income levels to reflect the annual amendments to the Federal Poverty Guidelines as issued by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The Board is amending regulations concerning the procedures for filing documents with the Agency electronically. The revisions provide that when the document being filed electronically is required to be served on another party to the proceeding, the other party shall be served by electronic mail (e- mail), if possible. If electronic service is not possible, the other party shall be notified by telephone of the substance of the transmitted document and a copy of the document shall be served personally, or by registered mail, certified mail, regular mail, or private delivery service, or, with the consent of the other party, by facsimile transmission.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is issuing this notice to advise the public of the availability of a Partially Revised Draft Tier 1 EIS for the Placer Parkway Corridor Preservation Project, a proposed transportation corridor in western Placer and eastern Sutter Counties, California. Specifically, the action being considered and evaluated is to select and preserve a 500- to 1,000-foot-wide corridor in the project study area, within which the future four- or six-lane Placer Parkway may be constructed. Placer Parkway is intended to reduce anticipated congestion on both the local and regional transportation system and to advance economic development goals in south Sutter County and southwestern Placer County. Five corridor build alternatives and a no-build alternative are evaluated in the Draft Tier 1 EIS. Although the Parkway would be designed and construction-level impacts analyzed during Tier 2, for the purpose of the Draft Tier 1 EIS, several assumptions have been made about potential design and configuration concepts. These assumptions would be subject to further development and refinement, and specific decisions about design of the roadway would be made during the Tier 2 process. The Parkway would be a high-speed, limited access roadway. Conceptually, interchanges would be located at SR 70/99 (at one-half mile north of Riego Road or at Sankey Road), one or two locations to be determined in southern Sutter County, Fiddyment Road, Foothills Boulevard, and SR 65 at Whitney Ranch Parkway. Access would be restricted for the 7-mile segment between Pleasant Grove Road and Fiddyment Road. The Draft Tier 1 EIS assumes no interchanges in this segment. Revisions to the Draft Tier 1 EIS and Additional Analyses in the Partially Revised Draft Tier 1 EIS: The Partially Revised Draft Tier 1 EIS serves as a supplement to the Draft Tier 1 EIS issued in June 2007, to reflect additional analyses developed since the publication of the prior draft. The Partially Revised Draft Tier 1 EIS provides revisions to the Draft Tier 1 EIS, including updates to farmland classification data and greenhouse gas emissions. It also includes additional analyses of growth inducement, secondary and indirect impacts and cumulative impacts based on hypothetical future scenarios prepared for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Public Review and Comment Period: Comments regarding the Partially Revised Draft Tier 1 EIS shall be accepted beginning on January 30, 2009 and must be submitted in writing by 5 p.m. on March 15, 2009 to Placer County Transportation Planning Agency (PCTPA) via regular mail to PCTPA, Attention: Celia McAdam, Executive Director, 299 Nevada St., Auburn, California 95603, or via e-mail to pctpa@pctpa.net.

The Department of the Treasury is issuing an interim rule implementing the Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program administered by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (Fund). The mission of the CDFI Fund is to increase the capacity of financial institutions to provide capital, credit and financial services in underserved markets. Its long-term vision is an America in which all people have access to affordable credit, capital and financial services. The purpose of the BEA Program is to provide an incentive to insured depository institutions to increase their activities in the form of loans, investments, services, and technical assistance, within Distressed Communities and provide financial assistance to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) through grants, stock purchases, loans, deposits, and other forms of financial and technical assistance. This interim rule: amends and simplifies select application requirements, and adds the requirement that BEA award funds be used for BEA Qualified Activities.

In accordance with the memorandum of January 20, 2009, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled ``Regulatory Review,'' published in the Federal Register on January 26, 2009, the Department is delaying the effective date and opening for public comment, the rule published on December 29, 2008. This rule regulates the sustainable free use, commercial harvest, and sale of special forest products and forest botanical products from National Forest System lands. The December rule was originally set to take effect January 28, 2009.

HHS gives notice of a decision to designate a class of employees at the Metallurgical Laboratory in Chicago, Illinois, as an addition to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. On January 16, 2009, the Secretary of HHS designated the following class of employees as an addition to the SEC:

HHS gives notice of a decision to designate a class of employees at the Mallinckrodt Chemical Co., Destrehan Street Plant in St. Louis, Missouri, as an addition to the Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. On January 16, 2009, the Secretary of HHS designated the following class of employees as an addition to the SEC:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA Rural Development administers rural utilities programs through the Rural Utilities Service. The USDA Rural Development invites comments on the following information collections for which the Agency intends to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).