December 27, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This document corrects a technical error that appeared in the November 17, 2010 Federal Register entitled ``Medicare Program; Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update for Calendar Year 2011; Changes in Certification Requirements for Home Health Agencies and Hospices'' final rule (75 FR 70372).

NMFS implements final quotas for the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fisheries for 2011, 2012, and 2013. Regulations governing these fisheries require NMFS to publish the final quota specifications for the 2011-2013 fishing years. The intent of this action is to establish allowable harvest levels of Atlantic surfclams and ocean quahogs from the Exclusive Economic Zone to prevent overfishing and to allow harvesting of optimum yield (OY).

The Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended, commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), allows the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to authorize states to operate their hazardous waste management programs in lieu of the federal program. South Dakota has applied to EPA for final authorization of the changes to its hazardous waste program under RCRA. EPA has determined that these changes satisfy all requirements needed to qualify for final authorization, and is proposing to authorize the State's changes through this proposed final action.

EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the Nebraska State Implementation Plan (SIP), which were recently submitted by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ). These revisions include proposed changes to Nebraska's Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program, submitted by NDEQ to EPA on November 19, 2010; and proposed changes to Nebraska's greenhouse gas (GHG) construction permit related regulations, submitted by NDEQ to EPA on October 19, 2010 (that NDEQ requested parallel processing for on September 30, 2010). The proposed SIP revision (Chapters 1, 2, 5, 14, 15, 17 and 19 of Title 129 of the Nebraska Administrative Code) to Nebraska's Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program includes Nebraska's adoption of portions of EPA's 2002 new source review (NSR) rule, which we call the NSR Reform Rule, and which we issued by notice dated December 31, 2002, 67 FR 80186. The proposed SIP revision also provides the state of Nebraska with authority to regulate GHG emissions under the PSD program and incorporates the GHG emission thresholds established in EPA's ``PSD and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Final Rule,'' which EPA issued by notice dated June 3, 2010, 75 FR 31514. EPA is proposing approval of both submittals and is proposing approval of the GHG portion of the proposed SIP revision through a parallel processing action. In the alternative, EPA is soliciting comments from the public on whether it should initially only approve Nebraska's October 19, 2010 submittal with respect to the revisions to the GHG construction permit regulations, and address Nebraska's November 19, 2010 submittal related to NSR Reform in a subsequent final action.

EPA is promulgating this interim final rule to defer until August 31, 2011 the reporting deadline for year 2010 data elements that are inputs to emission equations under the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule. In response to EPA's July 7, 2010 proposed confidentiality determinations for data required under the reporting rule, EPA received several comments raising concerns that warrant further consideration before EPA issues final confidentiality determinations for data elements that are inputs to emission equations for direct emitters. To allow time for EPA to consider these comments and other information concerning these data elements before they are reported to EPA, EPA is deferring direct emitter reporting of the data elements in the inputs to emission equations data category until August 31, 2011, while concurrently publishing both a proposed notice and comment rulemaking to defer the reporting date for these inputs and a call for information to assist EPA in its deliberations on this matter.

This document corrects a typographical error in the address for submitting e-mail comments that appeared in a proposed rule, ``Export Control Modernization: Strategic Trade Authorization License Exception,'' published on December 9, 2010.

We are approving an amendment to the North Dakota regulatory program (the ``North Dakota program'') under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (``SMCRA'' or ``the Act''). North Dakota proposes revisions to rules and statutes that will allow the revegetation responsibility period to be reduced from ten years to five years for lands eligible for remining. North Dakota intends to revise its program to be consistent with the corresponding Federal regulations and to improve operational efficiency.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) is proposing to revise and republish its regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The purposes for the revision are to update the regulations to be consistent with amendments to FOIA that were signed into law on December 31, 2007 and October 28, 2009, to revise DOT's fee schedule and other charges, and to make provisions clearer and easier to locate. The regulations are being republished in their entirety because of numerous changes to the organization and headings.

In this final rule, NESDIS establishes a new schedule of fees for the sale of its data, information, and related products and services to users. NESDIS is revising the fee schedule to ensure that the fees accurately reflect the costs of providing access to the environmental data, information, and related products and services. NESDIS is authorized under 15 U.S.C. 1534 to assess fees, up to fair market value, for access to environmental data, information, and products derived from, collected, and/or archived by NOAA. Other than depreciation, costs to upgrade computer hardware and software systems will not be included in the fees charged to users.

The Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District has issued a temporary deviation from the regulations governing the operation of the Sassafras River (Route 213) Bridge, mile 10.0, in Georgetown, MD. The deviation is necessary to facilitate mechanical repairs and gate replacement. This deviation allows the drawbridge to remain in the closed to navigation position.

We are amending the brucellosis regulations to reduce the amount of testing required to maintain Class Free status for States that have been Class Free for 5 or more years and have no Brucella abortus in wildlife. We are also removing the provision for automatic reclassification of any Class Free State or area to a lower status if two or more herds are found to have brucellosis within a 2-year period or if a single brucellosis-affected herd is not depopulated within 60 days. Further, we are reducing the age at which cattle are included in herd blood tests. We are also adding a requirement that any Class Free State or area with Brucella abortus in wildlife must develop and implement a brucellosis management plan approved by the Administrator in order to maintain Class Free status. Finally, we are providing an alternative testing protocol for maintaining the certified brucellosis- free status of dairy herds, which will give producers more flexibility for the herd certification process. These changes are necessary to refocus resources to control and prevent the spread of brucellosis and to protect and maintain the economic viability of the domestic livestock industry.

The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has submitted a petition (Petition) requesting approval of NERC's interpretation of Requirement R1 of Commission-approved Reliability Standard PRC-005-1 (Transmission and Generation Protection System Maintenance and Testing). The Commission proposes to accept the NERC proposed interpretation of Requirement R1 of Reliability Standard PRC- 005-1, and proposes to direct NERC to develop modifications to the PRC- 005-1 Reliability Standard, as discussed below, through its Reliability Standards development process to address gaps in the Protection System maintenance and testing standard, highlighted by the proposed interpretation.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is providing notification that the agency will not identify additional fisheries to observe on the Annual Determination (AD) for 2011, pursuant to its authority under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Through an AD, NMFS identifies fisheries operating in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific Ocean that will be required to take observers upon NMFS' request. The purpose of observing identified fisheries is to learn more about sea turtle interactions in a given fishery, evaluate existing measures to prevent or reduce prohibited sea turtle takes, and to determine whether additional measures to implement the prohibition against sea turtle takes may be necessary. Fisheries identified in the 2010 AD (see Table 1) remain on the AD and are therefore required to carry observers upon NMFS' request, until 2014.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the South American cactus moth regulations by adding the entire State of Louisiana to the list of quarantined areas. The interim rule restricted the interstate movement of regulated articles from areas in the State of Louisiana. This interim rule was necessary to prevent the artificial spread of the South American cactus moth to noninfested areas of the United States.

The States of Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, South Dakota, and Washington have requested that we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, delegate permitting for falconry to the State, as provided under the regulations at 50 CFR 21.29. We have reviewed regulations and supporting materials provided by the States and have concluded that their regulations comply with the Federal regulations. We change the falconry regulations accordingly. We also correct or clarify several small errors in the regulations and move one section to make the regulations more consistent.