August 4, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On November 18, 2010, the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) issued a Notice of Inquiry and Notice of Consultation advising the public that the NIGC was conducting a comprehensive review of its regulations and requesting public comment on the process for conducting the regulatory review. On April 4, 2011, after holding eight consultations and reviewing all comments, NIGC published a Notice of Regulatory Review Schedule setting out a consultation schedule and process for review. The purpose of this document is to cancel four scheduled tribal consultations.

EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) on May 13, 2011 and July 15, 2011. This SIP revision revises and supplements the preconstruction permitting requirements for electric generating stations that are required to receive a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) from the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) before commencing construction. The SIP revision also requires electric generating stations to obtain a preconstruction permit from the MDE when a CPCN is not required under the PSC regulations and statutes. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA).

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by American Fisheries Act (AFA) trawl catcher/processors in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2011 Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) specified for AFA trawl catcher-processors in the BSAI.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list six sand dune beetles as endangered or threatened and to designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Based on our review, we find that the petition does not present substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing two of the six species [Hardy's aegialian scarab (Aegialia hardyi) and Sand Mountain serican scarab (Serica psammobunus)] may be warranted. However, we find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing may be warranted for four of the six species [Crescent Dunes aegialian scarab (A. crescenta), Crescent Dunes serican scarab (S. ammomenisco), large aegialian scarab (A. magnifica), and Giuliani's dune scarab (Pseudocotalpa giuliani)]. Therefore, with the publication of this notice, we are initiating a review of the status of these species to determine if listing these four species is warranted. To ensure that the status reviews are comprehensive, we are requesting scientific and commercial data and other information regarding these four species. Based on the status reviews, we will issue 12-month findings on these four species, which will address whether the petitioned actions are warranted, as provided in the Act.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to require the filing of a premarket approval application (PMA) or a notice of completion of a product development protocol (PDP) for the class III preamendments device pacemaker programmers. The agency is also summarizing its proposed findings regarding the degree of risk of illness or injury designed to be eliminated or reduced by requiring this device to meet the statute's approval requirements and the benefits to the public from the use of the devices. In addition, FDA is announcing the opportunity for interested persons to request that the agency change the classification of the aforementioned device based on new information. This action implements certain statutory requirements.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (the Commission) proposes measures to improve 911 availability and location determination for users of interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services. First, the Commission considers whether to apply our 911 rules to ``outbound-only'' interconnected VoIP services, i.e., services that support outbound calls to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) but not inbound voice calling from the PSTN. These services, which allow consumers to place IP-based outbound calls to any telephone number, have grown increasingly popular in recent years. The Commission asks whether such services are likely to generate consumer expectations that they will support 911 calling and consider whether to extend to outbound-only interconnected VoIP service providers the same 911 requirements that have applied to other interconnected VoIP service providers since 2005. The Commission seeks comment on whether our proposal to amend the definition of interconnected VoIP service for 911 purposes has any impact on our interpretation of certain statutes that reference the Commission's existing definition of interconnected VoIP service.

EPA is approving submittals from the State of West Virginia pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA) sections 110(k)(2) and (3). These submittals address the infrastructure elements specified in the CAA section 110(a)(2), necessary to implement, maintain, and enforce the 1997 8-hour ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) and the 2006 PM2.5 NAAQS. This final rule is limited to the following infrastructure elements which were subject to EPA's completeness findings pursuant to CAA section 110(k)(1) for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS dated March 27, 2008 and the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS dated October 22, 2008: 110(a)(2)(A), (B), (C), (D)(ii), (E), (F), (G), (H), (J), (K), (L), and (M), or portions thereof.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is amending the requirements established for Emergency Restoration Plans (ERPs), currently mandated for all borrowers, to include a plan to comply with the eligibility requirements to qualify for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance Grant Program in the event of a declared disaster. This amendment will ensure that RUS borrowers have a plan to maintain their eligibility to receive financial assistance from FEMA in the event they incur eligible costs for disaster related system repair and restoration.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD requires removing the 15th stage HPC disk within 12,000 cycles since new (CSN) or, for any disks that exceed 12,000 CSN after the effective date of this AD using a drawdown plan that includes a borescope inspection (BSI) or eddy current inspection (ECI) of the rim for cracks. This AD was prompted by multiple shop findings of cracked 15th stage HPC disks. We are issuing this AD to prevent cracks from propagating into the disk bolt holes, which could result in a failure of the 15th stage HPC disk, uncontained engine failure, and damage to the airplane.

EPA is taking direct final action to approve a revision to the South Coast Air Quality Management District portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision concerns volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from polymeric foam manufacturing operations. We are approving a local rule that regulates these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA).

This action modifies Class D and Class E airspace at Lawson Army Airfield (AAF), Columbus, GA, by removing the reference to the Columbus Metropolitan Airport Class C airspace area from the description. Controlled airspace at Columbus Metropolitan Airport is being downgraded due to decreased air traffic volume. This action is necessary for the safety and management of air traffic within the National Airspace System. This action also updates the geographic coordinates of Columbus Lawson AAF.

EPA is proposing to amend specific provisions in the Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse Gases Rule to correct certain technical and editorial errors that have been identified since promulgation and to clarify or propose amendments to certain provisions that have been the subject of questions from reporting entities. These proposed changes include additional information to clarify compliance obligations, correct data reporting elements so they more closely conform to the information used to perform emission calculations, and make other corrections and amendments. EPA has received petitions for reconsideration on some of these subparts. EPA is still considering these petitions, and the issues raised in the petitions are not discussed or addressed in this action.