April 15, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's regulation on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans prescribes interest assumptions for valuing and paying certain benefits under terminating single-employer plans. This final rule amends the benefit payments regulation to adopt interest assumptions for plans with valuation dates in May 2010. Interest assumptions are also published on PBGC's Web site (https://www.pbgc.gov).

NMFS is opening directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 meters) length overall using hook-and- line or pot gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to fully use the 2010 total allowable catch (TAC) of Pacific cod specified for the BSAI.

In this document, the Federal Communication Commission's (Commission) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (PSHSB) seeks informal comment regarding what, if any, changes to the Commission's rules governing the Emergency Alert System (EAS) might be necessitated by the introduction of the Common Alerting Protocol (CAP), as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) deployment of its Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list the Wyoming pocket gopher (Thomomys clusius) as endangered or threatened and to designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended. After review of all available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the Wyoming pocket gopher as either endangered or threatened is not warranted at this time. We ask the public to continue to submit to us any new information that becomes available concerning the status of, or threats to, the Wyoming pocket gopher or its habitat.

NARA is amending several of its regulations; the amendments include a change to the naming convention for the regional archives, a new logo for NARA's regional records service office, and the addition of facility information for the locations of two NARA records centers. NARA is changing the naming convention for the regional archives, currently identified in the regulations by a geographic location following the name of the region (e.g. NARA-Northeast Region (Boston)). The Office of Regional Records Services has determined that the naming convention ``The National Archives at [metropolitan city name]'' will better identify to the public the services provided by NARA's regional archives located throughout the U.S. In conjunction with the new naming convention, the NARA headquarters office that administers NARA's regional records services, the Office of the Regional Records Services, has designed a new logo for the headquarters office; each of the regional archives will customize the logo by including their specific city name. The Federal Records Center Program of the Office of the Regional Records Services has also added two facilities to its list of locations. Because this rulemaking is a direct final rulemaking, the effective date will be the date of publication.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the reopening of the public comment period on our June 10, 2009, proposed revised designation of critical habitat for Navarretia fossalis (spreading navarretia). We also announce the availability of a draft economic analysis (DEA); revisions to proposed critical habitat, including proposed revisions to eight subunits based on the previous public comment period; and an amended required determinations section of the proposal. We are reopening the comment period for an additional 30 days to allow all interested parties an opportunity to comment on all of the above. If you submitted comments previously, you do not need to resubmit them because we have already incorporated them into the public record and will fully consider them in our final determination.

This final rule makes revisions to the regulations governing the Medicare Advantage (MA) program (Part C) and prescription drug benefit program (Part D) based on our continued experience in the administration of the Part C and D programs. The revisions strengthen various program participation and exit requirements; strengthen beneficiary protections; ensure that plan offerings to beneficiaries include meaningful differences; improve plan payment rules and processes; improve data collection for oversight and quality assessment, implement new policies and clarify existing program policy.

Pursuant to a proceeding for reconsideration, the EPA requests comment on a Clean Air Act (CAA) rule, the New Source Review (NSR) Aggregation Amendments, which was promulgated on January 15, 2009. The NSR Aggregation Amendments established a new interpretation of the existing NSR rules governing the modification of major sources by requiring sources and permitting authorities to combine emissions from nominally-separate activities at a major stationary source only when the activities are ``substantially related.'' This proposed reconsideration is in response to a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) received on January 30, 2009. EPA requests public comment on all issues included in NRDC's petition. In light of the legal and policy issues raised in the petition and in our own review of the rule, EPA's preferred option is to revoke the NSR Aggregation Amendments. EPA is also proposing to extend the effective date of the stay by an additional 6 months, and soliciting comment on a longer extension of the stay.