November 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commission is revising its regulations to delegate authority to the Secretary of the Commission and to the Director of the Office of Enforcement to take specified actions in order to process certain Notices of Penalty issued by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation. These revisions are necessary to enable the Commission to process routine, non-controversial Notices of Penalty in a timely and efficient manner.

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: Following in-flight test deployments, several Air-Driven generators (ADGs) failed to come on- line. Investigation revealed that, as a result of a wiring anomaly that had not been detected during ADG manufacture, a short circuit was possible between certain internal wires and their metallic over-braided shields, which could result in the ADG not providing power when deployed. The unsafe condition is that failure of the ADG could lead to loss of several functions essential for safe flight. The proposed AD

The Federal Communications Commission is correcting a document that appeared in the Federal Register at 74 FR 56135, October 30, 2009. The date's section contained an incorrect Federal Register citation and date which should reflect the correct citation of a previously published document.

The Audio Division seeks comments on petitions filed by Munbilla Broadcasting Properties, Ltd. and Katherine Pyeatt, proposing the allotment of Channel 284A at Kingsland, Texas, as a first local service. The reference coordinates for Channel 284A at Kingsland are 30-40-03 NL and 98-28-29 WL.

NMFS is reallocating projected unused amounts of Pacific cod from catcher vessels using trawl gear, catcher vessels using pot gear, catcher vessels using hook and line gear, and vessels using jig to catcher/processors using pot gear and catcher/processors using hook- and-line gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). These actions are necessary to allow the 2009 total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific cod to be harvested.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the color additive regulations to provide for the safe use of astaxanthin dimethyldisuccinate as a color additive in the feed of salmonid fish to enhance the color of their flesh. This action is in response to a petition filed by DSM Nutritional Products, Inc.

This document contains corrections to final regulations (TD 9465) that were published in the Federal Register on Monday, September 28, 2009 (74 FR 49315) concerning the determination of the interest expense deduction of foreign corporations engaged in a trade or business within the United States. These final regulations conform the interest expense rules to recent U.S. Income Tax Treaty agreements and adopt other changes to improve compliance.

The Commission is adopting final rules related to the Freedom of Information Act. The final rules reflect several changes made in response to commenters' suggestions. They implement recent amendments clarifying the relationship of these rules to others, and make minor editorial and conforming changes.

The Commission grants a petition for rulemaking filed by Pappas Telecasting of Opelika, LP, licensee of station WLGA(TV), channel 47, Opelika, Alabama, requesting the substitution of channel 30 for its allotted channel 47 at Opelika and to make related changes to its technical parameters.

EPA is revoking tolerances for the insecticide methamidophos on cucumber, eggplant and melon. The regulatory actions finalized in this document are in follow-up to the Agency's reregistration program under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), and tolerance reassessment program under section 408(q) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (Agency) corrects its statement regarding the Regulatory Flexibility Act in proposed rules that appeared in the Federal Register of October 22, 2009. The correction clarifies that the proposed rules will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities because they will only affect Federal employees and members of the uniformed services.

NMFS proposes to adjust the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) fishery regulations to increase the General category maximum daily retention limit, allow the General category season to remain open until the January subquota is reached, and increase the Harpoon category daily incidental retention limit. The intent of this proposed rule is to enable more thorough utilization of the available U.S. BFT quota, while ending BFT overfishing, rebuilding the BFT stock by 2019, and minimizing bycatch and bycatch mortality to the extent practicable. NMFS solicits written comments and will hold public hearings to receive oral comments on these proposed actions.

NMFS issues a final rule to revise the criteria for rural residents to participate in the subsistence fishery for Pacific halibut in waters in and off Alaska. This action is necessary to allow subsistence halibut fishing opportunities for rural residents who reside in locations outside the legal boundaries of specified communities and who were prohibited from participating in the subsistence halibut fishery by previous regulations. This action is intended to allow these inadvertently-excluded rural residents to participate in the subsistence halibut fishery and to support the conservation and management provisions of the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982.

This final rule revises the November-December 2009 management measures for petrale sole taken in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the coasts of Washington, Oregon, and California.

EPA is issuing this final rule to revoke the existing obsolete tolerance exemption for residues of sperm oil conforming to 21 CFR 172.210. There have not been any active Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) pesticide product registrations containing this inert ingredient for many years. In addition, the sperm whale (from which sperm oil is derived) is a federally listed endangered species, and taking (or harming) this species is prohibited under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Therefore, since this exemption corresponds to uses no longer current or registered under FIFRA in the United States, EPA is revoking the existing tolerance exemption under 40 CFR 180.910 because it is no longer necessary.

The EPA is announcing 2 public hearings to be held for the proposed rule ``Prevention of Significant Deterioration and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule'' which published in the Federal Register on October 27, 2009. The hearings will be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2009, in Arlington, VA, and on Thursday, November 19, 2009, in Rosemont, IL.

This Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) revises or rescinds portions of the interpretive guidance included in the section of the Staff Accounting Bulletin Series titled ``Topic 12: Oil and Gas Producing Activities'' (Topic 12) and revises a technical reference in ``Topic 3: Senior Securities'' (Topic 3). This update is intended to make the relevant interpretive guidance consistent with current authoritative accounting and auditing guidance and Commission rules and regulations. The principal changes involve revision or removal of material due to recent Commission rulemaking. Specifically, the staff is updating the Series in order to bring existing guidance into conformity with the contents of Financial Reporting Release No. 78 (Release No. 33-8995), Modernization of Oil and Gas Reporting, issued December 31, 2008 (FR-78), and, in the case of the technical amendment to SAB Topic 3, Financial Reporting Release No. 79 (Release Nos. 33- 9026; 34-59775), Technical Amendments to Rules, Forms, Schedules and Codification of Financial Reporting Policies (FR-79), issued April 15, 2009. This SAB also updates related interpretive responses and examples in Topic 12. The staff expects registrants to apply the updated guidance in this SAB related to Topic 12 on a prospective basis in conjunction with the application of FR-78 and retroactively for the technical amendment to Topic 3 in conjunction with the effective date of FR-79. FR-78 is effective for registration statements filed on or after January 1, 2010, and for annual reports on Forms 10-K and 20-F for fiscal years ending on or after December 31, 2009. FR-79 is effective as of April 23, 2009.

The Audio Division, on its own motion, substitutes Channel 276A for vacant Channel 276C3 at Crandon, Wisconsin to enable Station WGLX-FM to increase it current service area and eliminate the substandard spacing to the Crandon, Wisconsin allotment. A staff engineering analysis indicates that Channel 276A can be allotted to Crandon consistent with the minimum distance separation requirements of the Commission's rules at reference coordinates 45-34-18 NL and 88-53- 54 WL.

EPA is finalizing approval of revisions to the California Air Resources Board portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions were proposed in the Federal Register on June 26, 2009 and concern volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from consumer products. We are approving State rules that regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).

The Federal Communications Commission amends its rules to allocate spectrum and adopt service rules and procedures to govern the use of Vehicle-Mounted Earth Stations (VMES) in the Ku-band. These allocation, technical and licensing rules permit the domestic, U.S. licensing of VMES as a primary application of the Fixed-Satellite Service (FSS) in the relevant conventional and extended Ku-band frequencies.

NMFS issues a final rule that implements the Fishery Management Plan for Fish Resources of the Arctic Management Area (Arctic FMP) and Amendment 29 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (Crab FMP). The Arctic FMP and Amendment 29 to the Crab FMP establish sustainable management of commercial fishing in the Arctic Management Area and move the northern boundary of the Crab FMP out of the Arctic Management Area south to Bering Strait. This action is necessary to establish a management framework for commercial fishing and to provide consistent management of fish resources in the Arctic Management Area before the potential onset of unregulated commercial fishing in the area. 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.

As part of its ongoing efforts to further the statutory goals of the Railway Labor Act, the National Mediation Board (NMB or Board) is proposing to amend its Railway Labor Act rules to provide that, in representation disputes, a majority of valid ballots cast will determine the craft or class representative. The NMB believes that this change to its election procedures will provide a more reliable measure/ indicator of employee sentiment in representation disputes and provide employees with clear choices in representation matters.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. 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:

This rule increases the assessment rate established for the California Walnut Board (Board) for the 2009-10 and subsequent marketing years from $0.0131 to $0.0177 per kernelweight pound of assessable walnuts. This rule also changes reporting and recordkeeping regulations in conformance with amendments made on March 3, 2008, to the marketing order that regulates the handling of walnuts grown in California. The Board locally administers the marketing order. Assessments upon walnut handlers are used by the Board to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the program. The marketing year begins September 1 and ends August 31. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

These special conditions are issued for Airbus Model A340 airplanes. These airplanes, manufactured by Airbus, will have novel or unusual design features associated with seats with inflatable lap