February 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard is reopening the comment periods on two proposed rules before issuing final rules regarding Tank Vessel Response Plans for Hazardous Substances (USCG-1998-4354) and Marine Transportation-Related Facility Response Plans for Hazardous Substances (USCG-1999-5705). The Coast Guard previously published two notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRMs) proposing to require response plans for certain tank vessels operating on the navigable waters of the United States, as well as marine transportation-related facilities, that could reasonably be expected to cause substantial harm to the environment by discharging a hazardous substance. The proposed regulations were published to implement the requirements put into place by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, but were never published as final rules. Because of the lapse in time since the NPRM publications, the Coast Guard is reopening the comment period to allow for any additional or updated comments from the public before publishing the final rules.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on Lake Havasu, California in support of the Havasu Landing Regatta. This temporary safety zone is necessary to provide for the safety of the participants, crew, spectators, participating vessels, and other vessels and users of the waterway. Persons and vessels are prohibited from entering into, transiting through, or anchoring within this safety zone unless authorized by the Captain of the Port, or his designated representative.

This action proposes to amend the Class D and Class E airspace areas at Idaho Falls, ID, by changing the name of the airport to Idaho Falls Regional Airport, and adjusting the geographic coordinates of the airport. This action also would add additional Class E airspace necessary to accommodate aircraft using new Area Navigation (RNAV) Required Navigation Performance (RNP) standard instrument approach procedures at the airport. This action would enhance the safety and management of aircraft operations at the airport.

This action establishes Class E airspace at Martinsville, IN, to accommodate new Area Navigation (RNAV) Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAP) at Morgan Hospital Heliport, Martinsville, IN. The FAA is taking this action to enhance the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) operations at the heliport.

This proposed rule would implement section 2702 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 which directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue Medicaid regulations effective as of July 1, 2011 prohibiting Federal payments to States under section 1903 of the Social Security Act for any amounts expended for providing medical assistance for health care-acquired conditions. It would also authorize States to identify other provider-preventable conditions for which Medicaid payment would be prohibited.

This proposed rule would exempt the system of records (09-15- 0054, the National Practitioner Data Bank for Adverse Information on Physicians and Other Health Care Practitioners, HHS/HRSA/BHPr) for the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) from certain provisions of the Privacy Act. The exemption is necessary due to the recent expansion of the NPDB under section 1921 of the Social Security Act to include the investigative materials compiled for law enforcement purposes reported to the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB). The system of records for the HIPDB has an exemption from certain provisions of the Privacy Act. In order to maintain the exemption for the HIPDB investigative materials, which are now also available through the NPDB, it is necessary to expand the same privacy act exemptions for the HIPDB to the NPDB. This rule specifically seeks public comments on the proposed exemption.

The Postal Service is revising the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM[supreg]) 608.2.4 to require all mailpieces containing goods that enter the Customs Territory of the United States (CTUS), from outside the CTUS, to bear a customs declaration label. Additionally, the Postal Service updates the standards for items weighing 16 ounces or more when sent to, from, or between, and in some circumstances, within certain U.S. territories, possessions, and Freely Associated States.

EPA is proposing amendments to the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for Primary Lead Smelting to address the results of the residual risk and technology reviews conducted as required under sections 112(d)(6) and (f)(2) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). These proposed amendments include revisions to the emission limits for lead, the addition of a lead concentration in air standard, and the modification and addition of testing and monitoring and related notification, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements. We are also proposing to revise provisions addressing periods of startup, shutdown, and malfunction to ensure that they are consistent with a recent court decision. Finally, we are proposing revisions to the rule's applicability provision to make it consistent with the definition of the source category and proposing other minor technical changes to the standard. We are also responding to a petition for rulemaking filed on the standard with regard to lead as a surrogate and regulation of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and acid gases.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above that would supersede an existing AD. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated 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:

This document announces a public hearing to receive information and views on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) entitled ``National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: Revisions to the Vaccine Injury Table.'' Date and Time: The public hearing will be held on March 4, 2011, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Place: The public hearing will be held in Conference Room G in the Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857.

Modified Base (1% annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) are finalized for the communities listed below. These modified BFEs will be used to calculate flood insurance premium rates for new buildings and their contents.

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 proposed rule 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.

This document directs that a referendum be conducted among eligible Oregon and Washington pear growers to determine whether they favor continuance of the marketing order regulating the handling of pears grown in Oregon and Washington.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is amending its regulations that govern licensing requirements for the independent storage of spent nuclear fuel. These amendments include changes that enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the licensing process for spent nuclear fuel storage. Specifically, they extend and clarify the term limits for storage cask Certificates of Compliance (CoCs) and independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI) specific licenses. The amendments also provide consistency between the general and specific ISFSI license requirements, and allow general licensees subject to these regulations to implement changes authorized by an amended CoC to a cask loaded under the initial CoC or an earlier amended CoC (a ``previously loaded cask'').

The FAA proposes to abandon its separation requirements at launch sites for storing liquid oxygen, nitrogen tetroxide, hydrogen peroxide in concentrations equal to or below 91 percent, and refined petroleum-1 (RP-1) unless they are within an intraline distance of another incompatible energetic liquid, or will be co-located on a launch vehicle. The FAA's current separation requirements for storing these energetic liquids unnecessarily duplicate the requirements of other regulatory regimes. The FAA also proposes to reduce the separation distances required for division 1.1 explosives and liquid propellants with trinitrotoluene (TNT) equivalents of less than or equal to 450 pounds. The revised separation requirements reflect protection against fragment hazards, the main hazard at these quantities. The FAA would impose a new formula for determining distances to public areas containing a member of the public in the open. Finally, the FAA would reduce the separation distances for division 1.3 explosives as well. The proposed rule would increase flexibility for launch site operators in site planning for the storage and handling of explosives.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (``CPSC,'' ``Commission,'' or ``we'') is proposing to amend its child-resistant packaging requirements to exempt powder formulations of two oral prescription drugs, colesevelam hydrochloride and sevelamer carbonate. Colesevelam hydrochloride, currently marketed as Welchol[supreg], is available in a new powder formulation and is indicated to reduce elevated LDL cholesterol levels and improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Sevelamer carbonate, currently marketed as Renvela[supreg], is available as a new powder formulation and is indicated for the control of elevated serum phosphorus in chronic kidney disease patients on dialysis. The proposed rule would exempt these prescription drug products on the basis that child-resistant packaging is not needed to protect young children from serious injury or illness from powder formulations of colesevelam hydrochloride and sevelamer carbonate because the products are not acutely toxic, lack adverse human experience associated with acute ingestion, and in powder form, are not likely to be ingested in large quantities by children under 5 years of age.

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 proposed rule 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.

This action proposes to modify Class E airspace at Poplar Municipal Airport, Poplar, MT. The airport was moved 1.5 nautical miles (NM) to the northeast. Controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate aircraft using new Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) standard instrument approach procedures at Poplar Municipal Airport, Poplar, MT. The FAA is proposing this action to enhance the safety and management of aircraft operations at Poplar Municipal Airport, Poplar, MT. This will also correct the airport name from Poplar Airport.

The purpose of this notice is to solicit comments on whether changes are needed to USAID's rules on Source, Origin, and Nationality (S/O/N). This solicitation is in furtherance of a USAID initiative to review and if necessary, revise these rules in order to reduce the burden of procurement processes for USAID and contractors and grantees implementing USAID-funded development assistance activities and programs. In particular, USAID wishes to simplify Agency S/O/N procedures as implemented in our regulations and align them more closely with statutory procurement authorities.

The Surface Transportation Board (STB or Board) has instituted a proceeding to clarify, update, and seek public comments on proposed changes to its existing regulations and procedures regarding the use of railroad rights-of-way for railbanking and interim trail use under the National Trails System Act (Trails Act).

This document advises the public that FMCSA has placed in the public docket three additional documents concerning hours of service (HOS) for commercial motor vehicle drivers. This notice also makes clerical corrections to both the preamble and the regulatory text of FMCSA's notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on HOS requirements, which was published in the Federal Register on December 29, 2010. Finally, the notice extends the public comment period for the NPRM from February 28, 2011 to March 4, 2011.

In this document, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau adopts as a final rule, with some changes, a proposed revision of its distilled spirits plant regulations. The revision modernizes the requirements for operating distilled spirits plants and includes a number of organizational changes to improve the layout of the regulatory texts. These changes make the regulations easier to apply, thereby facilitating compliance by distilled spirits plant proprietors and allowing those proprietors to operate in a more efficient manner. The revision also incorporates plain language principles in order to improve the clarity and readability of the regulatory texts.

NMFS proposes regulations to implement Amendment 37 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (FMP). If approved, these regulations would amend the Bering Sea/ Aleutian Islands Crab Rationalization Program by establishing a process for eligible contract signatories to request that NMFS exempt holders of West-designated individual fishing quota (IFQ) and individual processor quota (IPQ) in the Western Aleutian Islands golden king crab fishery from the West regional delivery requirements. Federal regulations require West-designated golden king crab IFQ to be delivered to a processor in the West region of the Aleutian Islands with an exact amount of unused West-designated IPQ. However, processing capacity may not be available each season. Amendment 37 is necessary to prevent disruption to the Western Aleutian Islands golden king crab fishery, while providing for the sustained participation of municipalities in the region. This proposed action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMP, and other applicable law.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is hosting a public meeting to discuss and solicit input on environmental justice considerations related to several upcoming regulatory efforts. These regulatory efforts include the long-term revisions to the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) and the third Regulatory Determinations from the drinking water Contaminant Candidate List 3. EPA recently announced its intentions to develop drinking water regulatory actions for perchlorate and carcinogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs). While the Agency is in the very preliminary stages of developing the regulatory efforts for perchlorate and carcinogenic VOCs, EPA plans to discuss these actions at this meeting. Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations and policies. EPA is holding this meeting to provide information to communities and an opportunity for communities to provide input on the LCR, Regulatory Determinations 3, perchlorate, and carcinogenic VOCs rulemaking efforts. Date and Location: The public meeting will be held in Washington, DC on Thursday, March 3, 2011, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Participants will be notified of the specific meeting room upon confirmation of registration. Teleconferencing will be available for individuals unable to attend the meeting in person.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary special local regulation on certain navigable waters of Half Moon Bay in support of the Mavericks Surf Competition. This special local regulation is necessary to ensure the safety of participants and spectators during the event. Entry into this zone is prohibited unless authorized by the Captain of the Port San Francisco, CA.