March 11, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

As a result of the determinations by the Department of Commerce (``Department'') and the International Trade Commission (``ITC'') that revocation of the antidumping duty order on magnesium metal from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States, the Department is publishing a notice of continuation of the antidumping duty order.

This is a proposed rule to amend PBGC's regulation on Benefits Payable in Terminated Single-Employer Plans. That regulation sets forth rules on PBGC's guarantee of pension plan benefits, including rules on the phase-in of the guarantee. The amendments implement section 403 of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, which provides that the phase-in period for the guarantee of benefits that are contingent upon the occurrence of an ``unpredictable contingent event,'' such as a plant shutdown, starts no earlier than the date of the shutdown or other unpredictable contingent event.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Mountaineer Commercial Scale Carbon Capture and Storage Project (DOE/EIS-0445D) for public review and comment, as well as the date, location and time for a public hearing. The draft environmental impact statement (EIS) analyzes the potential environmental impacts of a project proposed by American Electric Power (AEP) Service Corporation, which was selected by DOE to receive financial assistance under the Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) program. DOE's Proposed Action is to provide cost-shared funding to AEP under the CCPI. DOE proposes to provide up to $334 million of the project cost to support the construction and operation of AEP's Mountaineer Commercial Scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Project (Mountaineer CCS II Project). AEP's proposed project would construct a commercial-scale CCS system at its Mountaineer Power Plant (a 1,300- megawatt [MW] coal-fired power plant) and other AEP-owned properties in Mason County, West Virginia, near the town of New Haven. The project would capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the existing pulverized coal-fired power plant, transport the captured CO2 by pipeline to well locations, and inject it into deep saline geologic formations for permanent geologic storage.

On March 1, 2011, the United States Court of International Trade (CIT) sustained the Department of Commerce's (the Department's) results of redetermination as applied to PSC VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation (VSMPO-AVISMA) pursuant to the CIT's remand order in PSC VSMPO-Avisma Corp. v. United States, 724 F. Supp. 2d 1308 (CIT 2010) (AVISMA II). The Department is notifying the public that the final CIT judgment in this case is not in harmony with the Department's final determination and is amending the final results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on magnesium metal from the Russian Federation covering the period of review April 1, 2006, through March 31, 2007 with respect to VSMPO-AVISMA.

The proposed information collection requirement described below has been 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. Contractor's monthly application for distribution of insured mortgage proceeds for construction costs. Multifamily Hub Centers ensure that work is actually completed satisfactorily. The prevailing wages certification ensures compliance with prevailing wage rate.

In response to a request from an interested party, the Department of Commerce (``the Department'') is conducting an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on persulfates from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') covering the period July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010. This administrative review covers one producer/exporter of the subject merchandise, i.e., United Initiators (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (``United Initiators''). We preliminarily determine that United Initiators does not qualify for a separate rate because it did not respond to the Department's request for information; thus, as adverse facts available, we are assigning to United Initiators, as part of the PRC-wide entity, the PRC-wide rate. If these preliminary results are adopted in our final results of this review, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP'') to assess antidumping duties on all appropriate entries of subject merchandise exported by United Initiators during the period of review (``POR''). We invite interested parties to comment on these preliminary results.

NMFS announces that the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) proposes Amendment 2 to the Fishery Ecosystem Plan for Pelagic Fisheries of the Western Pacific Region (FEP). If approved by the Secretary of Commerce, this amendment would create a 30-nautical mile (nm) longline prohibited area around the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), and prohibit purse seine fishing within the entire U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) around the Mariana Archipelago, including Guam and the CNMI. The area closures are intended to prevent and minimize gear conflicts and resource competition among the various fishery sectors (troll, longline and purse seine) in the Mariana Archipelago. In addition, this action is intended to facilitate the conservation of important stocks such as bigeye, yellowfin, and skipjack tuna throughout their range in the Pacific Ocean.

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. International Trade Commission has determined not to review an initial determination (``ID'') (Order No. 20) of the presiding administrative law judge (``ALJ'') in the above-captioned investigation terminating the investigation in its entirety.

This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the final rule published on November 24, 2010, entitled ``Medicare Program: Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System and CY 2011 Payment Rates; Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment System and CY 2011 Payment Rates; Payments to Hospitals for Graduate Medical Education Costs; Physician Self-Referral Rules and Related Changes to Provider Agreement Regulations; Payment for Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Services Furnished in Rural Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals.''

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District (USACE) announces its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess the potential environmental impacts associated with the construction and operation of a project proposed by the Mississippi State Port Authority (MSPA). As part of the NEPA process, the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA) will be a cooperating agency in the preparation of the EIS. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has expressed interest in acting as a cooperating agency in the preparation of the EIS. The proposed project as described in the application filed on March 17, 2010, proposed filling approximately 700 acres of open-water benthic habitat. Since submittal of the application, the proposed project footprint has been modified by the MSPA to reduce the overall potential fill required for implementation and to not include any impacts to the Gulfport Harbor Federal Navigation Channel or Turning Basin. The currently proposed project involves filling of up to 400 acres of open-water bottom in the Mississippi Sound, the construction of wharfs, bulkheads, terminal facilities, container storage areas, intermodal container transfer facilities, dredging and dredged material disposal and infrastructure, and construction of a breakwater of approximately 4,000 linear feet. The proposed expanded port facility will be elevated 25 feet above sea level to provide protection against future tropical storm surge events. The EIS will evaluate the potential impacts of the proposed project, connected actions, and alternatives. The EIS will also assist the USACE in deciding whether to issue a Department of the Army permit. The purpose of this Notice of Intent (NOI) is to inform and educate the public of the proposed project; invite public participation in the EIS process; announce the plans for a public scoping meeting; solicit public comments for consideration in establishing the scope and content of the EIS; and provide notice of potential impacts to open-water benthic habitats.

Notice is hereby given that a complaint was filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission on February 9, 2011, under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. 1337, on behalf of Sony Corporation of Tokyo, Japan. The complaint alleges violations of section 337 based upon the importation into the United States, the sale for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain display devices, including digital televisions and monitors by reason of infringement of certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 5,731,847 (``the `847 patent''); U.S. Patent No. 5,583,577 (``the `577 patent''); U.S. Patent No. 6,661,472 (``the `472 patent'') and U.S. Patent No. RE 40,468 (``the `468 patent''). The complaint further alleges that an industry in the United States exists as required by subsection (a)(2) of section 337. The complainant requests that the Commission institute an investigation and, after the investigation, issue an exclusion order and a cease and desist order.

NMFS proposes a regulatory amendment that would limit access of Federally permitted pot and hook-and-line catcher/processors (C/P) to the Pacific cod fishery in State of Alaska waters adjacent to the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). The affected fishery is commonly known as the ``parallel'' fishery. The parallel fishery occurs off the coast of Alaska, within 3 nautical miles of shore and is managed by the State of Alaska concurrent with the Federal pot and hook-and-line fishery for Pacific cod in the BSAI. This proposed rule would limit access to the parallel fishery for Pacific cod in three ways. First, it would require that an owner of a Federally permitted pot or hook-and-line C/P vessel used to catch Pacific cod in the State of Alaska parallel fishery be issued the same endorsements on their Federal fisheries permit (FFP) or license limitation program (LLP) license as currently are required for catching Pacific cod in the Federal waters of the BSAI. Second, an operator of any Federally permitted pot or hook-and-line C/P vessel used to catch Pacific cod in the parallel fishery would also be required to comply with the same seasonal closures of Pacific cod that apply in the Federal fishery. Third, an owner of a pot or hook-and-line C/P vessel who surrenders an FFP would not be reissued a new FFP within the 3-year term of the permit. These three measures are necessary to limit some C/Ps from catching a greater amount of Pacific cod in the parallel fishery than have been allocated to their sector from the BSAI Total Allowable Catch. Maintaining Pacific cod catch amounts within sector allocations would also reduce the potential for shortened Pacific cod seasons for C/Ps in the Federal fishery. These three measures also would improve the coverage of NMFS catch accounting and monitoring requirements on vessels participating in the parallel fishery. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Fisheries Management Plan for Groundfish of the Bering Sea and Aleutians Islands Management Area, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, and other applicable laws.

This final rule revises the annual number of allowable incidental interactions that may occur between the Hawaii-based shallow-set pelagic longline fishery and loggerhead sea turtles. The U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii issued an Order that directs NMFS to revise the annual interaction limit for loggerhead turtles from 46 to 17. The intent of this final rule is to ensure that the regulations promulgate the revised limit as required by the Court Order.

The Coast Guard is withdrawing its notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) concerning the establishment of remote drawbridge operating procedures for the Canadian National Railway Bridge across the Fox River at Mile 55.72 at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. After careful consideration of the comments from all parties it was determined to be in the best interest of navigation to withdraw the NPRM.

The North Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie (MBS) Resource Advisory Committee (RAC) will meet in Sedro Woolley, Washington on April 13, 2011. The committee is meeting to review and rank 2012 Title II RAC proposals.