September 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management is issuing final regulations to amend the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) regulations to provide eligible Federal employees up to 12 administrative workweeks of unpaid leave under the FMLA for qualifying exigency purposes. Qualifying exigencies arise when the spouse, son, daughter, or parent of an employee is on covered active duty in the Armed Forces, or has been notified of an impending call or order to covered active duty status. These regulations will help employees manage family affairs when their family members are on covered active duty.

EPA is changing the public hearing arrangements for our proposed action on North Dakota's State Implementation Plans (SIPs) addressing regional haze and the interstate transport of pollutants that interfere with programs to protect visibility in other states. We are making this change in response to a letter that the Governor of North Dakota submitted on September 9, 2011.

In this document, the Commission seeks comment on a submission by the North American Numbering Council (NANC) recommending a set of standard thresholds and intervals for non-simple ports and ``projects''port requests that involve a large quantity of telephone numbers. Specifically, the Commission seeks comment on whether the thresholds and processing timelines for non-simple ports and projects are appropriate and whether the Commission should adopt the recommendation as a rule.

NMFS proposes regulations under the Tuna Conventions Act of 1950, as amended, (Act) to implement decisions of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC). At its Eighty-second Meeting in July 2011, the IATTC adopted a number of resolutions, some of which require rulemaking to implement domestically in the United States. This proposed rule implements three of these decisions: the Resolution on Tuna Conservation 2011-2013 (C-11-01), the Resolution Prohibiting Fishing on Data Buoys (C-11-03), and the Resolution Prohibiting the Retention of Oceanic Whitetip Sharks (C-11-10). This action is necessary for the United States to satisfy its obligations as a member of the IATTC.

This action establishes Class E Airspace at Bumpass, VA, to accommodate the new Standard Instrument Approach Procedures serving Lake Anna Airport. This action enhances the safety and airspace management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

The Office of Government Ethics proposes to amend the executive branch regulation regarding qualified trusts. The proposed amendments would make a few minor substantive changes, but would primarily put the regulation in a more logical order, make it more readable, and eliminate redundant provisions.

On August 18, 2011, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) published a final rule pertaining to air cargo screening with a request for comments on the proposed fee range and methodology for the processing of security threat assessments, and provided a 30-day public comment period that ended on September 19, 2011. The TSA has decided to reopen the comment period for an additional 30 days to allow the public to comment on data available in the public docket concerning the underlying methodology used to calculate the fee.

The Coast Guard is establishing temporary special local regulations for the swim portions of ``Beach 2 Battleship Full and Half Iron Distance Triathlon'', to be held on the waters adjacent to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. These special local regulations are necessary to provide for the safety of life on navigable waters during the event. This action is intended to restrict vessel traffic on Banks, Motts, and Wrightsville Channels during the swimming portion of this event.

The Commander, Eighth Coast Guard District, issued a temporary deviation from the regulation governing the operation of the CSX Railroad Swing Span Bridge across Chickasaw Creek, mile 0.0, at Mobile, Alabama. The deviation is necessary to repair structural members of the bridge. This deviation allows the bridge to remain closed for ten consecutive hours for repairs to structural members of the bridge.

The Commander, First Coast Guard District, has issued a temporary deviation from the regulation governing the operation of the Oceanic Bridge at mile 4.5 across the Navesink (Swimming) River between Oceanic and Locust Point, New Jersey. The deviation is necessary to facilitate bridge rehabilitation. This deviation allows the bridge to open only one of the two moveable spans for the passage of vessel traffic.

The purpose of this document is to inform the public of an extension of the comment period for proposed rules of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (Commission) as published in the Federal Register of July 13, 2011.

This action revises Class E airspace at Northway, AK, to accommodate the amendment of one Standard Instrument Approach Procedure at the Northway Airport. The FAA is taking this action to enhance safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the Northway Airport. This action adjusts the geographic coordinates for the Northway Airport.

The Department of the Treasury (Department), with the concurrence of the Director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE), is establishing a new chapter in Title 12 of the Code of Federal Regulations to incorporate certain post-employment prohibitions that apply to employees of the Office of Financial Research (OFR). The Dodd- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) provides for certain post-employment prohibitions if OFR employees have had access to transaction or position data or other business confidential information about financial entities required to report to OFR.

This action proposes to: require TRI reporting facilities located in Indian country to report to the appropriate Tribal government for the relevant area instead of the State; and improve and clarify certain opportunities allowing Tribal governments to participate more fully in the TRI Program. In 1990, EPA finalized regulations in the Federal Register (FR) requiring facilities in Indian country to submit annual TRI reports to EPA and the appropriate Tribal government. These amendments, however, were inadvertently omitted from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), and the relevant provisions were later overwritten by a subsequent final rule, thus resulting in the exclusion of the intended requirement from the CFR. EPA intends to correct that inadvertent result by proposing this rule. Further, because Tribal governmental structures may vary, EPA is proposing to update its terminology to refer to the principal elected official of the Tribe as the ``Tribal chairperson or equivalent elected official.'' EPA is also amending its definition of ``State'' for purposes of 40 CFR part 372 to no longer include Indian country, so as to avoid any confusing overlap in terminology with the proposed express discussion of facilities in Indian country. With regard to the procedures for EPA to modify the list of covered chemicals and TRI reporting facilities, EPA proposes to clarify the opportunities available to Tribal governments. In particular, EPA proposes to include within the relevant provision an opportunity for the Tribal Chairperson or equivalent elected official to request that EPA apply the TRI reporting requirements to a specific facility located within the Tribe's Indian country. Secondly, EPA is proposing that the Tribal Chairperson or equivalent elected official may petition EPA to add or delete a particular chemical respectively to or from the list of chemicals covered by TRI. By increasing the participation and engagement of Tribal governments in the TRI program, EPA is helping to increase awareness of toxic releases within Tribal communities, thereby increasing the understanding of potential human health and ecological impacts from these hazardous chemicals.

The FTC proposes amending the Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule (``MTOR'' or ``Rule'') to respond to the development of new technologies and changed commercial practices. By doing so, the Commission seeks to accomplish four objectives: clarify that the Rule covers all Internet merchandise orders regardless of whether the buyer accesses the Internet through a telephone line, allow sellers to provide refunds and refund notices to buyers by any means at least as fast and reliable as first class mail, clarify sellers' obligations under the Rule for sales made using payment methods not specifically enumerated in the Rule, and require sellers to process any third party credit card refund within seven working days of a buyer's right to a refund vesting. Additionally, the FTC sets forth its interpretation of ``demand drafts'' as the functional equivalents of checks for purposes of the Rule.

NMFS announces that the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils (Councils) have submitted Amendment 18 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Coastal Migratory Pelagic Resources in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Region (FMP) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. The amendment proposes actions to remove species from the FMP; modify the framework procedures; establish two migratory groups for cobia; and establish annual catch limits (ACLs), annual catch targets (ACTs), and accountability measures (AMs) for king mackerel, Spanish mackerel, and cobia. In addition, Amendment 18 proposes to set allocations and establish control rules for Atlantic group cobia and revise definitions for management thresholds for Atlantic migratory groups.

The Railroad Retirement Board (Board) amends its regulations to allow alternative signature methods in addition to the traditional pen-and-ink or ``wet'' signature in order to implement an electronic application process which will eventually eliminate the need to retain paper applications and make the application process more convenient for the individuals filing applications.

In a final rule that was published in the Federal Register on January 26, 2010, and effective on February 25, 2010, we amended the phytosanitary treatment regulations by removing the lists of approved treatments and treatment schedules from the regulations, while retaining the general requirements for performing treatments and certifying or approving treatment facilities. The final rule also removed treatment schedules from other places where they had been found in APHIS regulations and provided that approved treatment schedules will instead be found in the Plant Protection and Quarantine Treatment Manual, which is available on the Internet. In the final rule, we neglected to provide for the Administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to approve treatments that are not found in the Treatment Manual, and we did not retain text explaining that irradiation can be used as a substitute for other treatments. In this amendment, we are amending the regulation to provide for such approval of treatments and to restore the text we removed.

We are adopting as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that amended the regulations to add areas in Indiana, Maine, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin to the list of generally infested areas based on the detection of infestations of gypsy moth in those areas. The interim rule was necessary to prevent the artificial spread of the gypsy moth to noninfested areas of the United States.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 90-day finding on a petition to list the American eel (Anguilla rostrata) as threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). Based on our review, we find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that listing this species may be warranted. Therefore, with the publication of this notice, we are initiating a review of the status of the species to determine if listing the American eel is warranted. To ensure that this status review is comprehensive, we are requesting scientific and commercial data and other information regarding this species. Based on the status review, we will issue a 12-month finding on the petition, which will address whether the petitioned action is warranted, as provided in section 4(b)(3)(B) of the Act.

This rule decreases the assessment rate established for the Administrative Committee for Pistachios (Committee) for the 2011-12 and subsequent production years from $0.0007 to $0.0005 per pound of assessed weight pistachios. The Committee locally administers the marketing order which regulates the handling of pistachios grown in California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Assessments upon pistachio handlers are used by the Committee to fund reasonable and necessary expenses of the program. The production year begins September 1 and ends August 31. The assessment rate will remain in effect indefinitely unless modified, suspended, or terminated.

We are revising an existing airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Piper Aircraft, Inc. Models PA-23, PA-23-160, PA-23-235, PA-23- 250, PA-23-250 (Navy UO-1), PA-E23-250, PA-31, PA-31-300, PA-31-325, PA-31-350, PA-31P, PA-31P-350, PA-31T, PA-31T1, PA-31T2, PA-31T3, PA- 42, PA-42-720, and PA-42-1000 airplanes that are equipped with a baggage door in the fuselage nose section (a nose baggage door). That AD currently establishes life limits and replacement requirements for safety-critical nose baggage door components and repetitive inspections and lubrication of the nose baggage door latching mechanism and lock assembly. This new AD removes the requirement for the nose baggage door compartment interior light inspection and retains the other requirements from AD 2009-13-06, Amendment 39-15944. This AD was prompted by further investigation and a request for an alternative method of compliance (AMOC). We are issuing this AD to correct the unsafe condition on these products.

This document invites members of the public to comment on the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC's or Commission's) rules to be reviewed pursuant to section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended (RFA). The purpose of the review is to determine whether Commission rules whose ten-year anniversary dates are in the year 2010, as contained in the Appendix, should be continued without change, amended, or rescinded in order to minimize any significant impact the rules may have on a substantial number of small entities. Upon receipt of comments from the public, the Commission will evaluate those comments and consider whether action should be taken to rescind or amend the relevant rule(s).