2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is announcing its intention to request a new information collection concerning its Web-based Public Health Information System.

Notice is hereby given that Dr. Terrie Williams, Long Marine Lab, Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California at Santa Cruz, 100 Shaffer Road, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, has requested a change to the application for an amendment to Scientific Research Permit No. 13602.

NMFS issues this temporary emergency rule to prohibit royal red shrimp fishing in a specific area of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) exclusive economic zone (EEZ), in response to a fishery interaction of the Gulf shrimp fishery with sub-surface oil byproducts from the Deepwater Horizon MC252 oil spill. This temporary emergency rule supersedes the temporary emergency rule published December 1, 2010 (75 FR 74648) and will remain in effect for 60 days. The intended effect of this temporary emergency rule is to assure seafood safety and consumer confidence in Gulf seafood.

We are modifying our regulations to establish a 12-month time limit for the withdrawal of old-age benefits applications, allow one withdrawal per lifetime, and limit the voluntary suspension of benefits for purposes of receiving delayed retirement credits to months for which you have not received a payment. We are making these changes to revise current policies that have the potential for misuse.

The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (``OFAC'') is publishing the names of three newly-designated individuals whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001, ``Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, or Support Terrorism.''

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, on behalf of the National Science and Technology Council's Sub-Committee on Standards, invites interested parties to provide their perspectives on the effectiveness of Federal agencies' participation in the development and implementation of standards and conformity assessment activities and programs. This information will help the Sub-Committee on Standards develop case studies that Federal agencies can consider in their future engagement in standards development and conformity assessment, particularly for multi-disciplinary technologies, or for technologies involving engagement from multiple Federal agencies.

With this notice, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) requests input, comment, and ideas from the public on a draft concept for next-generation citizen consultation, namely a government- wide software tool and process to elicit expert public participation (working title ``ExpertNet''). ExpertNet would tap the expertise of the public in a manageable and structured format. The goal of ExpertNet is to enable government officials to search for and communicate with citizens who have expertise on a topic, giving them the opportunity to participate in a public consultation relevant to their areas of interest and know-how, and pose questions to and interact with the public to receive useful, relevant, and manageable feedback. This Request for Information (RFI) will be active from December 8, 2010 to January 7, 2011. Respondents are invited to provide comments about or edits directly to the draft of the concept paper via an online discussion forum and wiki hosted by the White House Open Government Initiative and GSA and located at https://expertnet.wikispaces.com (the ``Wiki''). In addition, respondents who cannot access the Wiki are welcome to download a copy of the concept paper at https:// www.whitehouse.gov/open and e-mail comments to expertnet@ostp.gov.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has determined not to review the presiding administrative law judge's (``ALJ'') initial determination (``ID'') (Order No. 23) granting complainant's motion to amend the complaint and notice of investigation.

This final rule makes revisions to the current pesticide tolerance crop grouping regulations which allow establishment of tolerances for multiple related crops, based on data from a representative set of crops. The final rule creates a new crop group for oilseeds, expands existing crop groups by adding new commodities, establishes new crop subgroups, and revises the representative crops in some groups. EPA expects these revisions to promote greater use of crop groupings for tolerance-setting purposes and promote global harmonization of food safety standards. EPA anticipates that more lower-risk pesticides will be able to be utilized for registration on minor crops, including many fruits and vegetables, because of availability of crop grouping tolerances. EPA determines whether residues of a pesticide can be permitted once the required safety finding is made to establish a crop group tolerance. This is the second in a series of planned crop group updates expected to be promulgated over the next several years.

This notice makes available for review and public comment a petition submitted by Beyond Pesticides, and Food & Water Watch (hereafter referred to as ``the petitioners'') to the Environmental Protection Agency (hereafter referred to as ``EPA'' or ``the Agency''), asking EPA to use its authority under various statutes to regulate triclosan. Triclosan is an antimicrobial substance used in pesticide products, hand sanitizers, toothpaste, and other consumer products. The petitioners claim that the ``pervasive and widespread use'' of triclosan poses significant risks to human health and the environment. In addition, the petitioners claim that the agency failed to address the impacts posed by triclosan's degradation products on human health and the environment, failed to conduct separate assessments for triclosan residues in contaminated drinking water and food, and is complacent in seriously addressing concerns related to antibacterial resistance and endocrine disruption. EPA has established a public docket, which contains a copy of the petition and will contain all comments received in response to this notice. The docket may be accessed as described in this notice.

EPA is announcing a 45-day public comment period for the draft document titled, ``Lymphohematopoietic Cancers Induced by Chemicals and Other Agents: Overview and Implications for Risk Assessment'' (EPA/600/ R-10/095A). The draft document was prepared by the National Center for Environmental Assessment within EPA's Office of Research and Development. The draft document provides an overview of the types and mechanisms underlying the lymphohematopoietic cancers induced by chemical agents and radiation in humans, with a primary emphasis on leukemia and leukemia-inducing agents. In addition, the document also focuses on how mechanistic information on human leukemia-inducing agents can inform risk assessment. EPA is releasing this draft document solely for the purpose of pre- dissemination peer review under applicable information quality guidelines. This draft document has not been formally disseminated by EPA. It does not represent and should not be construed to represent any Agency policy or determination. All public comments received will be provided to the peer reviewers at the beginning of the review process.

HUD gives notice to the public that the City and County of San Francisco's Mayor's Office of Housing (MOH) as the Responsible Entity in accordance with 24 CFR 58.2, intends to prepare a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for redevelopment of the Alice Griffith Public Housing as part of its HOPE SF development program. Funding for the project may include HUD funds from programs subject to regulation by 24 CFR part 58; these include, but are not limited to, Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds under Title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 and Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME) grants under Title II of the Cranston- Gonzales National Affordable Housing Act of 1990 as amended, Project Based Section 8 Vouchers under the United States Housing Act of 1937, Section 8(o)(13) and Public Housing operating subsidies for mixed income developments authorized under the U.S. Housing Act of 1937, Section 35. This notice is in accordance with regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). Federal agencies having jurisdiction by law, special expertise, or other special interest should report their interests and indicate their readiness to aid in the EIS effort as a ``Cooperating Agency.'' A Draft EIS will be prepared for the proposed action described herein. Comments relating to the Draft EIS are requested and will be accepted by the contact person listed below. When the Draft EIS is completed, a notice will be sent to individuals and groups known to have an interest in the Draft EIS and particularly in the environmental impact issues identified therein. Any person or agency interested in receiving a notice and making comment on the Draft EIS should contact the person listed below within 30-days after publication of this notice. This EIS will be a NEPA document intended to satisfy requirements of Federal environmental statutes. In accordance with specific statutory authority and HUD's regulations at 24 CFR part 58 (Environmental Review Procedures for Entities Assuming HUD Environmental Responsibilities), HUD has provided for assumption of its NEPA authority and NEPA lead agency responsibility by the City and County of San Francisco.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

EPA is proposing to approve a July 29, 2010, request from the State of Illinois to exempt sources of Nitrogen Oxides (NOX) in the Illinois portions of the Chicago-Gary-Lake County, Illinois- Indiana and St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois 8-hour ozone nonattainment areas from Clean Air Act (CAA) requirements for NOX Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) for purposes of attaining the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The State's NOX RACT waiver request is based on the most recent three years of complete, quality-assured ozone monitoring data, which demonstrate that additional reduction of NOX emissions in the ozone nonattainment areas would not contribute to attainment of the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS in the two ozone nonattainment areas. In addition to waiving the NOX RACT requirement for the State of Illinois, final approval of the NOX RACT waiver would also suspend a requirement for EPA to promulgate a NOX RACT Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for the 8-hour ozone nonattainment areas.

This notice announces a public meeting of the Technical Advisory Panel on Medicare Trustee Reports (Panel). Notice of this meeting is given under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. 2, section 10(a)(1) and (a)(2)). The Panel will discuss the long- term rate of change in health spending and may make recommendations to the Medicare Trustees on how the Trustees might more accurately estimate health spending in the long run. The Panel's discussion is expected to be very technical in nature and will focus on the actuarial and economic assumptions and methods by which Trustees might more accurately measure health spending. Although panelists are not limited in the topics they may discuss, the Panel is not expected to discuss or recommend changes in current or future Medicare provider payment rates or coverage policy. Meeting Dates: December 13, 2010, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and December 14, 2010, 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. e.t.

The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 requires the development and implementation of railroad safety risk reduction programs. Risk reduction is a comprehensive, system-oriented approach to safety that determines an operation's level of risk by identifying and analyzing applicable hazards and develops plans to mitigate that risk. Each Risk Reduction Program (RRP) is statutorily required to be supported by a risk analysis and a Risk Reduction Program Plan (RRPP), which must include a Technology Implementation Plan and a Fatigue Management Plan. This ANPRM solicits public comment on a potential rulemaking that would require each Class I railroad, each railroad with an inadequate safety record, and each passenger railroad to submit an RRPP to FRA for its review and approval. Each of those railroads would ultimately be required to implement its approved RRP.

It is the policy of the Commission to publish settlements which it provisionally accepts under the Consumer Product Safety Act in the Federal Register in accordance with the terms of 16 CFR 1118.20(e).\1\ Published below is a provisionally-accepted Settlement Agreement with Winter Bee, Inc., containing a civil penalty of $200,000.00, to be suspended except for $40,000.00, to be paid over a period of 20 months as specified in the Order.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) previously published a notice requesting comments on a proposed change to missing parts practice in nonprovisional applications. The USPTO has considered the comments and is implementing a pilot program (Extended Missing Parts Pilot Program) in which an applicant can request a twelve-month time period to pay certain fees and to reply to a Notice to File Missing Parts of Nonprovisional Application. Under the Extended Missing Parts Pilot Program, applicant must file a nonprovisional application within twelve months of the filing date of a provisional application and directly claim the benefit of the provisional application, as well as submit a certification and request to participate in the Extended Missing Parts Pilot Program with the nonprovisional application. In addition, applicant must not file a nonpublication request. Applicant will be given a twelve-month period to decide whether the nonprovisional application should be completed by paying the search fee, the examination fee, any excess claim fees, and the surcharge ($130.00 for non-small entity or $65.00 for small entity) for the late submission of the search fee and examination fee within that twelve-month period. The nonprovisional application will be published under the existing eighteen-month publication provisions. Therefore, applicant should also submit the basic filing fee, an executed oath or declaration, and application papers that are in condition for publication, on filing of the application with the request to participate in the pilot. If the basic filing fee, an executed oath declaration, and/or application papers that are in condition for publication are not submitted with the application and the request to participate in the pilot, applicant will need to submit these items within a two-month (extendable) time period. In view of the comments, the USPTO is cautiously moving forward by implementing the proposed procedure as a pilot program. Specifically, the pilot program will require applicant to submit a certification and request to participate in the pilot program, rather than automatically applying the procedure to all applicants. The USPTO is providing a certification and request form that includes educational information regarding domestic benefit claims, foreign filings, patent term adjustment (PTA) effects, the need for a complete disclosure of the invention, potential increase in fees, and the benefits of submitting a complete set of claims. In addition, the USPTO is implementing a number of educational initiatives to assist independent inventors and other applicants. The Extended Missing Parts Pilot Program will benefit applicants by permitting additional time to determine if patent protection should be soughtat a relatively low costand by permitting applicants to focus efforts on commercialization during this period. The Extended Missing Parts Pilot Program will benefit the USPTO and the public by adding publications to the body of prior art, and by removing from the USPTO's workload those nonprovisional applications for which applicants later decide not to pursue examination. Applicants are advised that the extended missing parts period does not affect the twelve-month priority period provided by the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property. Thus, any foreign filings must still be made within twelve months of the filing date of the provisional application if applicant wishes to rely on the provisional application in the foreign-filed application or if protection is desired in a country requiring filing within twelve months of the earliest application for which rights are left outstanding in order to be entitled to priority.

Reference the Notice of Intent published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, November 16, 2010, Volume 75, number 220, pages 69983-5. This notice contains corrections and clarifications to this November 16, 2010 notice, extends the public comment period and identifies additional locations for the GLMRIS public scoping meetings. The corrections are typographical errors found in the ``Scoping and Involvement'' section of the November 16, 2010 notice (75 FR 69983). Among the clarifications is information related to the timeframe of on- line registration for those wanting to make an oral comment at a public meeting, as well as the benefit of registering on-line. The registration process is found in the ``Scoping and Involvement'' section of the November 16, 2010 notice (75 FR 69983). For convenience, the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of the November 16, 2010 notice (75 FR 69983) has been reprinted with corrections, clarifications, and new text announcing the locations where USACE will host scoping meetings and the extension of the public scoping period.