April 2, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council has submitted Amendment 62 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands Management Area (BSAI FMP) and Amendment 62 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska (GOA FMP). If approved, Amendments 62/62 would revise the BSAI FMP description of the Catcher Vessel Operational Area (CVOA) and remove the obsolete sunset date for inshore/offshore sector allocations of pollock and Pacific cod in the GOA FMP. This action is necessary to amend outdated FMP text so that both FMPs are consistent with the American Fisheries Act (AFA) and other applicable law. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMPs, and other applicable laws.

This document delays the effective date by 30 days for the final rule exempting portions of the Partner Vetting System from one or more provisions of the Privacy Act, as published in the Federal Register on January 2, 2009 and delayed on February 2, 2009.

This document contains corrections to final regulations (TD 9394) that were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, April 29, 2008 (73 FR 23069) regarding when a partnership may consider certain deductions and losses of a foreign partner to reduce or eliminate the partnership's obligation to pay withholding tax under section 1446 on effectively connected taxable income allocable under section 704 to such partner. The regulations will affect partnerships engaged in a trade or business in the United States that have one or more foreign partners.

This document supplements the Coast Guard's May 2008 proposal to amend the existing special anchorage area at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, at the junction of the Raritan River and Arthur Kill. The proposed amendment is necessary to facilitate safe navigation and provide for a safe and secure anchorage for vessels of not more than 65 feet in length. This supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking provides updated coordinates for the proposed amendment and revises the proposed use limitations.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipient claims are established and collected against households that receive more benefits than they are entitled to receive. This rulemaking corrects and clarifies provisions of the final rule on recipient claims published at 65 FR 41752, July 6, 2000. The purposes of this proposed rulemaking are to remove a definition and several provisions that were made obsolete by the final rule; correct the typographical errors; correct the omission of the requirement that a copy of the claims management plan be submitted to the FNS Regional Office for informational purposes; reinforce current practices and requirements in the areas of fair hearings, fees, due dates, delinquent claims, retention, claim referrals, negligence and fraud; make conforming changes needed as a result of a subsequent rulemaking pertaining to a sponsor's responsibility for overissuances of an alien household; and to remove an overpayment exception that is no longer applicable to the program.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service or USFWS) identify the Western Great Lakes (WGL) Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of the gray wolf (Canis lupus). The geographic extent of this DPS includes all of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan; the eastern half of North Dakota and South Dakota; the northern half of Iowa; the northern portions of Illinois and Indiana; and the northwestern portion of Ohio. We also revise the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife established under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act) by removing gray wolves within the WGL DPS. We are taking these actions because available data indicate that this DPS no longer meets the definitions of threatened or endangered under the Act. The threats have been reduced or eliminated, as evidenced by a population that is stable or increasing in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and greatly exceeds the numerical recovery criteria established in its recovery plan. Completed State wolf management plans will provide adequate protection and management of the WGL DPS after this revision of the listing. This final rule removes this DPS from the lists of Threatened and Endangered Wildlife, removes the currently designated critical habitat for the gray wolf in Minnesota and Michigan, and removes the current special regulations for gray wolves in Minnesota.