2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are advising the public of our determination that a corn line developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred International, designated as transformation event 98140, which has been genetically engineered for tolerance to glyphosate and acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicides, is no longer considered a regulated article under our regulations governing the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms. Our determination is based on our evaluation of data submitted by the Pioneer Hi-Bred International in its petition for a determination of nonregulated status, our analysis of other scientific data, and comments received from the public in response to a previous notice announcing the availability of the petition for nonregulated status and its associated environmental assessment. This notice also announces the availability of our written determination and finding of no significant impact.

On October 28, 2009, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA or Agency) proposed changes to its 8(a) Business Development (8(a) BD) and Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) programs as well as its size regulations. The rule proposes to make a number of changes to the regulations governing the 8(a) BD and SDB programs, and several changes to SBA's size regulations. Some of the changes involve technical issues. Other changes are more substantive and result from SBA's experience in implementing the current regulations. SBA requested comments on the various approaches for the proposed changes in the proposed rulemaking. The proposed rule provided a 60-day comment period closing on December 28, 2009.

EPA is making available for comment a policy paper entitled ``Revised Risk Assessment Methods for Workers, Children of Workers in Agricultural Fields, and Pesticides with No Food Uses,'' that describes how the Agency will assess pesticide risks not governed by the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. To provide comprehensive and consistent evaluation of potential risks of food use pesticides, non-food use pesticides, and related occupational exposures, EPA intends to apply risk assessment techniques developed in implementing the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 to any pesticide risk assessment, whether it falls under FQPA or not, as long as applying the risk assessment technique is consistent with good scientific practice and is not otherwise prohibited by law. Specifically, this will include using an additional safety/uncertainty factor to protect children, considering aggregate exposures to pesticides from multiple sources, and considering cumulative effects which may occur from exposure to multiple pesticides with a common mechanism of toxicity. Moreover, risks will be explicitly reported for individuals who had not been explicitly considered, specifically workers age 12-17 and children taken into agricultural fields. Taking this step at this time has important environmental justice ramifications. EPA anticipates that implementing this policy will increase protections, especially for agricultural workers and children of workers in agricultural fields.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to revise the designated critical habitat for the Santa Ana sucker (Catostomus santaanae). The areas identified in this proposed rule constitute a revision of the areas designated as critical habitat for the Santa Ana sucker on January 4, 2005. In the 2005 final rule, we designated 8,305 ac (3,361 ha) of critical habitat in Los Angeles County. Approximately 9,605 acres (ac) (3,887 hectares (ha)) of habitat in the Santa Ana River (San Bernardino, Riverside, and Orange Counties) and the San Gabriel River and Big Tujunga Creek (Los Angeles County) in southern California fall within the boundaries of the proposed revised critical habitat designation.

This final rule will implement the procedures that the Department of Health and Human Services will follow at the Administrative Law Judge and Medicare Appeals Council levels in deciding appeals brought by individuals who have enrolled in the Medicare prescription drug benefit program. In addition, it will implement the reopening procedures that will be followed at all levels of appeal.

NCUA is issuing proposed amendments to its rule governing corporate credit unions contained in part 704. The major revisions involve corporate credit union capital, investments, asset-liability management, governance, and credit union service organization (CUSO) activities. The amendments would establish a new capital scheme, including risk-based capital requirements; impose new prompt corrective action requirements; place various new limits on corporate investments; impose new asset-liability management controls; amend some corporate governance provisions; and limit a corporate CUSO to categories of services preapproved by NCUA. In addition, this proposal contains conforming amendments to part 702, Prompt Corrective Action (for natural person credit unions); part 703, Investments and Deposit Activities (for federal credit unions); part 747, Administrative Actions, Adjudicative Hearings, Rules of Practice and Procedure, and Investigations; and part 709, Involuntary Liquidation of Federal Credit Unions and Adjudication of Creditor Claims Involving Federally Insured Credit Unions. These amendments will strengthen individual corporates and the corporate credit union system as a whole.

Notice is hereby given that James T. Harvey, Ph.D., Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, 8272 Moss Landing Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039, has applied for an amendment to Scientific Research Permit No. 555-1870-00.

The inventions listed below are owned by an agency of the U.S. Government and are available for licensing in the U.S. in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 207 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results of federally-funded research and development. Foreign patent applications are filed on selected inventions to extend market coverage for companies and may also be available for licensing.

This notice finalizes the methodology for calculating the higher Federal matching funding that is made available under Section 5001 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), and provides the final calculation of the adjusted Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) rates for the third and fourth quarters of Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09). Section 5001 of the ARRA provides for temporary increases in the FMAP rates to provide fiscal relief to States and to protect and maintain State Medicaid and certain other assistance programs in a period of economic downturn. The increased FMAP rates apply during a recession adjustment period that is defined as the period beginning October 1, 2008 and ending December 31, 2010.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of discretionary Section 5309 Bus and Bus Facilities grant funds in support of the Department of Transportation's Livability Initiative (``Livability Bus Program''). The Livability Bus program will be funded using $150 million in unallocated Discretionary Bus and Bus Facilities Program funds, authorized by 49 U.S.C. 5309(b) of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users (SAFETEA-LU), Public Law 109-59, August 10, 2005. FTA may use additional Bus and Bus Facilities funding that becomes available for discretionary allocation to further support this initiative.

In response to requests from interested parties, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on circular welded non-alloy steel pipe (``CWP'') from the Republic of Korea (``Korea''). The period of review (``POR'') is November 1, 2007, through October 31, 2008. This review covers multiple exporters/producers, one of which is being individually reviewed as a mandatory respondent. We preliminarily determine the mandatory respondent made sales of the subject merchandise at prices below normal value (``NV''). We have assigned the remaining respondents the margin calculated for the mandatory respondent. If these preliminary results are adopted in our final results, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') to assess antidumping duties on all appropriate entries. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

On December 3, 2009, the National Science Foundation (NSF) issued a Record of Decision (ROD) approving the funding for the construction of the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) Project at the Preferred Mees site located within the Haleakala High Altitude Observatory on the Island of Maui, Hawai`i. The decision to fund the ATST is in response to a construction proposal submitted by the National Solar Observatory in 2004. The ATST is founded on one of NSF's fundamental missions, which is to support the scientific community's objectives to achieve unprecedented progress in solar observation. Although major adverse environmental impacts will result, the construction of the ATST at the Preferred Mees site represents an opportunity to implement a critical and unique astronomical resource that is expected to be useful and innovative for several decades to come. Increasing our understanding of the Sun and its ability to affect life on Earth will go a long way toward helping us predict certain