October 6, 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

To comply with the Department of Homeland Security regulation requiring sponsoring employers to file petitions for all aliens for whom R-1 nonimmigrant status is sought. This rule establishes the requirement that consular officers ensure that R-1 visa applicants have obtained an approved U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Form I- 129 petition from the Department of Homeland Security before issuance of a visa.

EPA is proposing to determine that the Hickory-Morganton- Lenoir, North Carolina, (hereafter referred to as ``Hickory, North Carolina'') nonattainment area for the 1997 fine particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) has attained the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. This proposed determination is based upon three years of complete quality assured, quality controlled, and certified ambient air monitoring data showing that this area has monitored attainment of the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS for the years of 2006-2008. In addition, monitoring data thus far available, but not yet certified, in the EPA Air Quality System (AQS) database for 2009 show that this area continues to meet the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. If this proposed determination is made final, the requirement for the State of North Carolina to submit an attainment demonstration and associated reasonably available control measures (RACM), a reasonable further progress (RFP) plan, contingency measures, and other planning State Implementation Plans (SIPs) related to attainment of the standard for the Hickory, North Carolina, PM2.5 nonattainment area, shall be suspended. This requirement would remain suspended as long as this area continues to meet the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) published in the Federal Register of September 4, 2009, a document correcting the titles of certain SBA officials. Some sections were inadvertently amended and another contained an error. This document corrects those amendments.

The Coast Guard is issuing a correction to an earlier document that published on September 25, 2009, in order to correct the date of the Washington, DC, public meeting. Our earlier notice listed 2 different dates for the same meeting; the correct date is October 28, 2009.

This document contains corrections to final regulations that were published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, September 8, 2009, providing guidance on employer comparable contributions to Health Savings Accounts under the Internal Revenue Code (Code) as amended by the Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006. The final regulations also provide guidance relating to the manner and method of reporting and paying excise tax.

NMFS is closing the commercial sandbar shark research fishery. This action is necessary because NMFS estimated that landings in this fishery have exceeded 80 percent of the available quota.

We are revising some of the criteria in the Listing of Impairments (the listings) that we use to evaluate claims involving malignant neoplastic diseases (cancer) \1\ under titles II and XVI of the Social Security Act (Act). The revisions reflect our adjudicative experience, advances in medical knowledge, diagnosis, and treatment, and public comments we received in response to a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM).

On September 15, 1997, EPA adopted new source performance standards (NSPS) and emissions guidelines (EG) for hospital/medical/ infectious waste incinerators (HMIWI). The NSPS and EG were established under Sections 111 and 129 of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). In a response to a suit filed by the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council (Sierra Club), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the Court) remanded the HMIWI regulations on March 2, 1999, for further explanation of EPA's reasoning in determining the minimum regulatory ``floors'' for new and existing HMIWI. The HMIWI regulations were not vacated and were fully implemented by September 2002. On February 6, 2007, we published our proposed response to the Court's remand. Following recent court decisions and receipt of public comments regarding the proposal, we re- assessed our response to the remand, and on December 1, 2008, we published another proposed response and solicited public comments. This action promulgates our response to the Court's remand and also satisfies the CAA Section 129(a)(5) requirement to conduct a review of the standards every 5 years.