February 8, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This interim rule revises the NASA FAR Supplement (NFS) to implement the FAR Award Fee revision issued in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-46.

We, NMFS, are extending the date by which public comments are due concerning the proposed rule to list the Arctic (Phoca hispida hispida), Okhotsk (Phoca hispida ochotensis), Baltic (Phoca hispida botnica), and Ladoga (Phoca hispida ladogensis) subspecies of the ringed seal as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA). On December 10, 2010, we published a proposed rule to list these subspecies as threatened. As part of that proposal, we announced a public comment period to end on February 8, 2011. Today we extend the public comment period to March 25, 2011.

The Department of the Army is finalizing revisions to its regulation concerning radiation sources on Army land. The Army requires non-Army agencies (including their civilian contractors) to obtain an Army Radiation Permit (ARP) from the garrison commander to use, store, or possess ionizing radiation sources on an Army installation. For the purpose of this rule, ``ionizing radiation source'' means any source that, if held or owned by an Army organization, would require a specific Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) license or Army Radiation Authorization (ARA). The purpose of the ARP is to protect the public, civilian employees, and military personnel on an installation from potential exposure to radioactive sources. The U.S. Army Safety Office, which is the proponent for the Army Radiation Safety Program, is finalizing revisions to the regulation to reflect the NRC changes to licensing of Naturally-Occurring and Accelerator-Produced Radioactive Material (NARM). Executive Order 12866 Regulatory Planning and Review was followed to rewrite this rule.

This document amends U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations by removing the provisions pertaining to the Land Border Carrier Initiative Program (LBCIP). The LBCIP was established as a voluntary industry partnership program under which participating land and rail commercial carriers would agree to enhance the security of their facilities and conveyances to prevent controlled substances from being smuggled into the United States. Because CBP has developed a more comprehensive voluntary industry partnership program known as the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), CBP is terminating the LBCIP and will focus its partnership efforts on the further development of C-TPAT. C-TPAT builds upon the best practices of the LBCIP, while providing greater border and supply chain security with expanded benefits to approved participants.

The Coast Guard proposes to establish a permanent safety zone within the waters of Gravesend Bay, Brooklyn, New York. This proposed safety zone is necessary to provide for the protection of the maritime public and safety of navigation from recently discovered underwater explosive hazards in Gravesend Bay. This action is intended to restrict unauthorized persons and vessels from traveling through or conducting underwater activities within a portion of Gravesend Bay until recently discovered military munitions are rendered safe and removed from the area. Entry into this zone would be prohibited unless authorized by the Captain of the Port New York or the designated on-scene representative.

This proposed rule would establish regulations for hunting and trapping seasons, harvest limits, methods and means related to taking of wildlife for subsistence uses during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 regulatory years. The Federal Subsistence Board is on a schedule of completing the process of revising subsistence taking of wildlife regulations in even-numbered years and subsistence taking of fish and shellfish regulations in odd-numbered years; public proposal and review processes take place during the preceding year. The Board also addresses customary and traditional use determinations during the applicable cycle. When final, the resulting rulemaking will replace the existing subsistence wildlife taking regulations. This rule would also amend the general regulations on subsistence taking of fish and wildlife.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission or CFTC) is proposing regulations to implement new statutory provisions established under Title VII of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act). Section 731 of the Dodd-Frank Act added a new section 4s(i) to the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA), which requires the Commission to prescribe standards for swap dealers and major swap participants related to the timely and accurate confirmation, processing, netting, documentation, and valuation of swaps. The proposed rules would establish requirements for swap trading relationship documentation for swap dealers and major swap participants.

In January 2009, pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS issued three 5-year final regulations to govern the unintentional taking of marine mammals incidental to Navy training and associated activities conducted in the Hawaii Range Complex (HRC), the Southern California Range Complex (SOCAL Range Complex), and the Atlantic Fleet Active Sonar Training (AFAST) Study Area. These regulations, which allow for the issuance of ``Letters of Authorization'' (LOAs) for the incidental take of marine mammals during the specified activities and described timeframes, prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat, as well as requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking. These rules quantify the specific amounts of individual sound source use that will occur over the course of the 5-year rules, and indicate that marine mammal take may only be authorized in an LOA incidental to the source types and amounts described. Specifically, no language was initially included expressly allowing for deviation from those precise levels of source use if the total number of takes remain within the analyzed and authorized limits. Since the issuance of the 2009 rules, the Navy realized that their evolving training programs, which are linked to real world events, necessitate greater flexibility in the types and amounts of sound sources that they use. In response to this need, when the Navy requested incidental take authorizations for other areas (e.g., the Mariana Islands and the Northwest Training Range Complexes), NMFS included language explicitly allowing for greater flexibility. NMFS has, through this interim final rule, amended the HRC, SOCAL Range Complex, and AFAST regulations to explicitly allow for greater flexibility in the types and amount of sound sources that they use. NMFS has issued new LOAs for each of these actions, which supersede those issued in January 2011, and which authorize the Navy to take marine mammals incidental to their planned training in 2011, and reflect the greater flexibility addressed in this amendment. The take authorized in these LOAs does not exceed that analyzed and allowed by the original 2009 final rules.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to reclassify the wood bison (Bison bison athabascae) from endangered to threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). This proposed action is amended based on a review of the best available scientific and commercial data, which indicate that the endangered designation no longer correctly reflects the status of the wood bison. This proposal also constitutes our 12-month finding on the petition to reclassify this subspecies. We are seeking data and comments from the public on this proposed rule.

In this document, the Commission seeks to promote innovation and efficiency in spectrum use in the Experimental Radio Service (ERS). For many years, the ERS has provided fertile ground for testing innovative ideas that have led to new services and new devices for all sectors of the economy. The Commission proposes to leverage the power of experimental radio licensing to accelerate the rate at which these ideas transform from prototypes to consumer devices and services. Its goal is to inspire researchers to dream, discover and deliver the innovations that push the boundaries of the broadband ecosystem. The resulting advancements in devices and services available to the American public and greater spectrum efficiency over the long term will promote economic growth, global competitiveness, and a better way of life for all Americans.