December 16, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

DoD is making technical amendments to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to set forth references to supplementary information and procedures pertaining to specific categories of DoD acquisitions.

The Commander, Eighth Coast Guard District, has issued a temporary deviation from the regulation governing the operation of the SR 39 (Judge Seeber/Claiborne Avenue) vertical lift bridge across the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal, mile 0.9, (Gulf Intracoastal Waterway mile 6.7 East of Harvey Lock), at New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. This deviation is necessary to adjust the counterweight wire ropes on the bridge. This deviation allows the bridge to remain closed for two (2) 72-hour time periods within a two-week period.

Comments are requested on the proposed Base (1% annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and proposed BFE modifications for the communities listed in the table below. The purpose of this notice is to seek general information and comment regarding the proposed regulatory flood elevations for the reach described by the downstream and upstream locations in the table below. The BFEs and modified BFEs are a part of the floodplain management measures that the community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of having in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In addition, these elevations, once finalized, will be used by insurance agents and others to calculate appropriate flood insurance premium rates for new buildings and the contents in those buildings.

Base (1% annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and modified BFEs are made final for the communities listed below. The BFEs and modified BFEs are the basis for the floodplain management measures that each community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of being already in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Comments are requested on the proposed Base (1% annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and proposed BFE modifications for the communities listed in the table below. The purpose of this notice is to seek general information and comment regarding the proposed regulatory flood elevations for the reach described by the downstream and upstream locations in the table below. The BFEs and modified BFEs are a part of the floodplain management measures that the community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of having in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In addition, these elevations, once finalized, will be used by insurance agents and others to calculate appropriate flood insurance premium rates for new buildings and the contents in those buildings.

Effective July 21, 2011, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) amends the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) by increasing the threshold for exempt consumer credit transactions from $25,000 to $50,000. In addition, the Dodd-Frank Act provides that, on or after December 31, 2011, this threshold must be adjusted annually by any annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Accordingly, the Board is proposing to make corresponding amendments to Regulation Z, which implements TILA, and to the accompanying staff commentary. Because the Dodd-Frank Act also increases the Consumer Leasing Act's threshold for exempt consumer leases from $25,000 to $50,000, the Board is proposing similar amendments to Regulation M elsewhere in today's Federal Register.

This interim rule lists communities where modification of the Base (1% annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) is appropriate because of new scientific or technical data. New flood insurance premium rates will be calculated from the modified BFEs for new buildings and their contents.

This interim rule lists communities where modification of the Base (1% annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) is appropriate because of new scientific or technical data. New flood insurance premium rates will be calculated from the modified BFEs for new buildings and their contents.

We are adopting as a final rule, with several changes, an interim rule that amended the regulations to add areas in Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Ohio, and Virginia to the list of generally infested areas based on the detection of infestations of gypsy moth in those areas. This document corrects errors in the listing of generally infested areas in Maine in the interim rule. The interim rule was necessary to prevent the artificial spread of the gypsy moth to noninfested areas of the United States.

We are superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) issued 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:

EPA is approving a request submitted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) on May 7, 2010, to revise the Minnesota State Implementation Plan (SIP) for particulate matter less than 10 microns (PM10). The approval revises the Minnesota SIP by updating information for the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES) Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant located in St. Paul, Minnesota. The revision reflects changes at the facility which include the decommissioning of six multiple hearth incinerators and associated equipment and the addition of three fluidized bed incinerators and associated equipment. These revisions are included in a joint Title I/Title V document for the MCES Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant, which replaces the document currently approved in the SIP for the facility. These revisions will result in reducing the PM10 emissions in the St. Paul area, and strengthen the existing PM10 SIP.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD requires adding two new indicator lights on a certain panel to inform the captain and first officer of a low pressure condition in the left and right override/jettison pumps of the center wing tanks. This AD also requires replacing the left and right override/jettison switches on the M154 fuel control module on the P4 panel with improved switches and doing the associated wiring changes. This AD also requires, for certain airplanes, installation of a mounting bracket for the new indicator lights. This AD also requires a revision to the maintenance program to incorporate airworthiness limitation No. 28-AWL-22. This AD also requires a revision to the airplane flight manual to advise the flightcrew what to do in the event that the pump low pressure light on the flight engineer's panel does not illuminate when the pump is selected off. This AD was prompted by fuel system reviews conducted by the manufacturer. We are issuing this AD to prevent uncommanded operation of the override/jettison pumps of the center wing tanks, and failure to manually shut off the override/ jettison pumps at the correct time, either of which could lead to an ignition source inside the center wing tank. This condition, in combination with flammable fuel vapors, could result in a center fuel tank explosion and consequent loss of the airplane.

On May 27, 2010, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) to amend the test procedures for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers. That proposed rulemaking serves as the basis for today's action. DOE is issuing a final rule regarding Appendix A1 and Appendix B1, and an interim final rule for Appendix A and Appendix B. The final rule amends the current procedures, incorporating changes that will take effect 30 days after the final rule publication date. These changes will be mandatory for product testing to demonstrate compliance with the current energy standards and for representations starting 180 days after publication. These changes, which will not affect measured energy use, include test procedures to account for refrigerator-freezers equipped with variable anti-sweat heater controls, establishing test procedures for refrigerator-freezers equipped with more than two compartments, making minor adjustments to eliminate any potential ambiguity regarding how to conduct tests, and clarifying certain reporting requirements. The interim final rule establishes amended test procedures for refrigerators, refrigerator-freezers, and freezers that would be required for measuring energy consumption once DOE promulgates new energy conservation standards for these products. These new standards are currently under development in a separate rulemaking activity and will apply to newly manufactured products starting in 2014. Today's action also discusses the treatment of combination wine storage-freezer products that were the subject of a recent test procedure waiver, energy use measurement round-off, and additional topics raised by stakeholders during the rulemaking's comment period. While the amended test procedures will be based largely on the test methodology used in the existing test procedures, they also include significant revisions with respect to the measurement of compartment temperatures and compartment volumes. These measurements will provide a more comprehensive accounting of energy usage by these products. The amended test procedure will modify the long-time automatic defrost test procedure to capture all energy use associated with the defrost cycle, establish a test procedure for products with a single compressor and multiple evaporators with active defrost cycles, incorporate into the energy use metric the energy use associated with icemaking for products with automatic icemakers, and clarify requirements on temperature control settings during testing.