April 4, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is extending the comment period on the proposed rule addressing Pattern of Violations (POV). This extension gives commenters additional time to review and comment on the proposed rule.

On March 14, 2011, NMFS published a proposed rule to modify Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) base quotas for all domestic fishing categories; establish BFT quota specifications for the 2011 fishing year; reinstate pelagic longline target catch requirements for retaining BFT in the Northeast Distant Gear Restricted Area (NED); amend the Atlantic tunas possession at sea and landing regulations to allow removal of Atlantic tunas tail lobes; and clarify the transfer at sea regulations for Atlantic tunas. This action was necessary to implement recommendations of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), as required by the Atlantic Tunas Convention Act (ATCA), and to achieve domestic management objectives under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). On March 21, 2011, NMFS published a correction notice that extended the comment period for this action until April 28, 2011, allowing a 45-day comment period, rescheduled the Gloucester, MA, public hearing that was originally scheduled for March 21, 2011, to April 1, 2011, and announced that additional public hearings would be scheduled in a future notice. In this document NMFS is announcing additional public hearings in Fairhaven, MA, and Portland, ME, in order to provide greater opportunity for public comment on the proposed rule.

This document contains final regulations related to the validity and priority of the Federal tax lien against certain persons under section 6323 of the Internal Revenue Code (the Code). The final regulations update the corresponding Treasury Regulations to reflect changes in the law and in IRS practice.

NMFS closes the northern Florida west coast subzone to the commercial harvest of king mackerel in or from the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This closure is necessary to protect the Gulf king mackerel resource.

NCUA is amending its Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) Compliance and Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) regulations involving the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) to make minor, non- substantive technical amendments. These technical amendments update citations in these NCUA regulations to conform to the reorganization of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, Department of Treasury (FinCEN) BSA regulations.

On October 6, 2009, EPA promulgated its response to the remand of the new source performance standards and emissions guidelines for hospital/medical/infectious waste incinerators by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and satisfied the Clean Air Act section 129(a)(5) requirement to conduct a review of the standards every 5 years. This action promulgates amendments to the new source performance standards and emissions guidelines, correcting inadvertent drafting errors in the nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide emissions limits for large hospital/medical/ infectious waste incinerators in the new source performance standards, which did not correspond to our description of our standard-setting process, correcting erroneous cross-references in the reporting and recordkeeping requirements in the new source performance standards, clarifying that compliance with the emission guidelines must be expeditious if a compliance extension is granted, correcting the inadvertent omission of delegation of authority provisions in the emission guidelines, correcting errors in the units' description for several emissions limits in the emission guidelines and new source performance standards, and removing extraneous text from the hydrogen chloride emissions limit for large hospital/medical/infectious waste incinerators in the emission guidelines.

We are amending the live animal export regulations by removing the list of designated ports of embarkation and their associated export inspection facilities. As a result of this rulemaking, those ports and facilities will be listed on the Internet rather than in the regulations, thus enabling us to amend the list, when necessary, in a timelier manner than we have been able to heretofore and allowing us greater flexibility in regulating animal exports.

The U.S. Coast Guard is extending the stationary and moving emergency safety zones established on the waters of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers surrounding the M/V DAVY CROCKETT. The Coast Guard is also reducing the size of the stationary emergency safety zone surrounding the M/V DAVY CROCKETT at approximately river mile 117 on the Columbia River. The safety zones are necessary to help ensure the safety of the response workers and maritime public from the hazards associated with deleterious state of and ongoing response operations involving the M/V DAVY CROCKETT. All persons and vessels are prohibited from entering or remaining in the safety zones unless authorized by the Captain of the Port, Columbia River or his designated representative.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This proposed AD would require repetitive inspections of the upper and lower main wing spar cap angles for cracks and/or corrosion and installing inspection access panels. This AD would also require replacing the wing spar cap angles if moderate or severe corrosion is found and applying corrosion inhibitor. This proposed AD was prompted by reports of intergranular exfoliation and corrosion of the upper and/or lower wing main spar cap angles found on the affected airplanes. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct cracks, intergranular exfoliation and corrosion in the wing main spar cap angles, which could result in reduced strength of the wing spar and the load carrying capacity of the wing. This could lead to wing failure and consequent loss of control.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone in the Corpus Christi, Texas for North American Tri-Hull Championship scheduled to take place during the Texas International Boat Show. The North American Tri-Hull Championship will consist of a series of power boat races for approximately 8-12 vessels that are 18-feet long. The temporary safety zone is necessary for the safety of race participants, spectators and the general public.

The Coast Guard is establishing three temporary safety zones for the Charleston Race Week in Charleston, South Carolina. The races will take place on April 14, 2011 through April 17, 2011. The temporary safety zones are necessary for the safety of race participants, participant vessels, and the general public during the races.

This action will amend Class E airspace at Taylor Airport, Taylor, AZ, to accommodate aircraft using the CAMBO One Departure, and the Area Navigation (RNAV) standard instrument approach procedures at Taylor Airport. This will improve the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport. This action also corrects the airport names to Taylor Airport, and Show Low Regional Airport, respectively. Additionally, the geographic coordinates for Taylor Airport will be adjusted.

The Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration published a document in the Federal Register on January 20, 2011 (76 FR 3485), defining required scale tests. That document incorrectly defined limited seasonal basis in Sec. 201.72(a) (9 CFR 201.72(a)). This document corrects the final regulation by revising this section.

This document seeks comment on a range of specific proposals and issues with the objective of promoting greater use of spectrum over unserved and underserved Tribal lands.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) is revising the rules of practice in patent cases to implement a procedure under which applicants may request prioritized examination at the time of filing of an application upon payment of appropriate fees and compliance with certain requirements. In June of 2010, the Office requested comments on a proposal to provide applicants with greater control over when their utility and plant applications are examined and to promote greater efficiency in the patent examination process (3- Track). The Office, in addition to requesting written comments, conducted a public meeting to collect input from the public. The vast majority of public comments and input that the Office received were supportive of the prioritized examination track (Track I) portion of the 3-Track proposal. While the Office is in the process of considering and revising the other portions of the 3-Track proposal in view of the public comments and input, the Office wishes to implement the prioritized examination track (Track I) now to provide the procedure for prioritized examination to applicants as quickly as possible. In February of 2011, the Office published a notice of proposed rule making to set forth the proposed procedure for prioritized examination and to seek public comments on the proposed procedure. The Office considered the public comments and revised the proposed procedure in view of the public comments. The Office, in this final rule, is revising the rules of practice to implement the optional procedure for prioritized examination. The aggregate goal for processing applications under prioritized examination is to provide a final disposition within twelve months of prioritized status being granted. The Office is initially limiting requests for prioritized examination to a maximum of 10,000 applications during the remainder of fiscal year 2011.

The Commission grants a petition for rulemaking filed by Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Inc. (``CPBI''), the licensee of noncommercial educational station WEDY, New Haven, Connecticut, requesting the substitution of channel *41 for channel *6 at New Haven. CPBI's channel *6 facility is subject to substantial levels of new interference from other post-transition stations' power increases, and the substitution of channel *41 will resolve any interference being experienced by CPBI's viewers.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD requires an inspection of the elevator spar for cracks and, if any crack is found, either replacement with a serviceable elevator spar that is found free of cracks or repair/ modification with an FAA-approved method. This AD also requires reporting to the FAA the results of the inspection. This AD was prompted by reports of a total of nine elevator spar cracks across seven of the affected airplanes, including a crack of 2.35 inches just below the outboard hinge of the right-hand elevator. We are issuing this AD to prevent structural failure of the elevator spar due to such cracking, which could result in separation of the elevator from the airplane with consequent loss of control.

This rule establishes, amends, suspends, or revokes Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) and associated Takeoff Minimums and Obstacle Departure Procedures for operations at certain airports. These regulatory actions are needed because of the adoption of new or revised criteria, or because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System, such as the commissioning of new navigational facilities, adding new obstacles, or changing air traffic requirements. These changes are designed to provide safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace and to promote safe flight operations under instrument flight rules at the affected airports.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are proposing to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to clarify reporting, reutilization, and disposal of Government property and the contractor requirements under the Government property clause.

Effective July 21, 2011, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) amends the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) by increasing the threshold for exempt consumer credit transactions from $25,000 to $50,000. In addition, the Dodd-Frank Act provides that, on or after December 31, 2011, this threshold must be adjusted annually by any annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Accordingly, the Board is making corresponding amendments to Regulation Z, which implements TILA, and to the accompanying staff commentary. Because the Dodd-Frank Act also increases the Consumer Leasing Act's threshold for exempt consumer leases from $25,000 to $50,000, the Board is making similar amendments to Regulation M elsewhere in today's Federal Register.