December 6, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing to amend rule 206(3)-3T under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, a temporary rule that establishes an alternative means for investment advisers who are registered with the Commission as broker-dealers to meet the requirements of section 206(3) of the Investment Advisers Act when they act in a principal capacity in transactions with certain of their advisory clients. The amendment would extend the date on which rule 206(3)-3T will sunset from December 31, 2010 to December 31, 2012.

NOAA Fisheries announces two inseason actions in the ocean salmon fisheries. Inseason action 12 modified the commercial fishery in the area from the U.S./Canada Border to Cape Falcon, Oregon. Inseason action 13 modified the commercial and recreational fisheries in the area from U.S./Canada Border to Cape Falcon, Oregon.

On January 5, 2010, EPA published a final rule determining that the Hickory-Morganton-Lenoir nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as the ``Hickory Area'') has attaining data for the 1997 fine particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). This action corrects a typographical error in the regulatory language in paragraph (f) of EPA's January 5, 2010, final rule.

EPA is proposing to approve a draft revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP), submitted by the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) to EPA on October 25, 2010, for parallel processing. The proposed SIP revision updates Alaska's Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program to reflect changes to the Federal PSD program relating to the permitting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. EPA is proposing in this action to approve those revisions if the final SIP revision submitted by Alaska to EPA is consistent with the draft SIP revision.

The Postal Service has filed a request for a semi-permanent waiver of periodic reporting rules concerning service performance for First-Class Mail Flats at the District level or, in the alternative, a rulemaking petition seeking deletion of this reporting requirement. This document addresses the Postal Service's filing and identifies related procedural steps, including a request for public comments.

The Copyright Royalty Judges announce a cost of living adjustment (``COLA'') of 1.2% in the royalty rates paid by satellite carriers under the satellite carrier compulsory license of the Copyright Act. The COLA is based on the change in the Consumer Price Index from October 2009 to October 2010.

This notice of waiver concerns two petitions for waiver submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX): A petition to waive the requirement that a waiver petition be submitted at least sixty days before the proposed effective date of the waiver, and a petition to waive the requirement that SpaceX only initiate reentry of its reentry vehicle, the Dragon Spacecraft (Dragon), by command. The first petition is unnecessary because, as explained below, SpaceX demonstrated good cause for its late filing. The FAA finds that waiving the requirement for SpaceX ground operators to initiate Dragon's reentry to Earth is in the public interest and will not jeopardize public health and safety, safety of property, and national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.

The Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) is issuing its final guidance on categorical exclusions. This guidance provides methods for substantiating categorical exclusions, clarifies the process for establishing categorical exclusions, outlines how agencies should engage the public when establishing and using categorical exclusions, describes how agencies can document the use of categorical exclusions, and recommends periodic agency review of existing categorical exclusions. A categorical exclusion is a category of actions that a Federal agency determines does not normally result in individually or cumulatively significant environmental effects. This guidance clarifies the rules for establishing, applying, and revising categorical exclusions. It applies to categorical exclusions established by Federal agencies in accordance with CEQ regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act. The guidance was developed to assist agencies in making their implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) more transparent and efficient.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (``Commission'' or ``CFTC'') is proposing rules to implement new statutory provisions enacted by Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. These proposed rules apply to the whistleblowers incentives and protection of section 748. The proposed rules establish a whistleblower program that enables the Commission to pay an award, under regulations prescribed by the Commission and subject to certain limitations, to eligible whistleblowers who voluntarily provide the Commission with original information about a violation of the Commodity Exchange Act that leads to the successful enforcement of a covered judicial or administrative action, or a related action. The proposed rules also provide public notice of section 748's prohibition on retaliation by employers against individuals that provide the Commission with information about potential violations.