October 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a direct final rule to establish amended energy conservation standards for residential furnaces and residential central air conditioners and heat pumps in the Federal Register on June 27, 2011. DOE has determined that the adverse comments received in response to the direct final rule do not provide a reasonable basis for withdrawing the direct final rule. Therefore, DOE provides this notice confirming adoption of the energy conservation standards for residential furnaces and residential central air conditioners and heat pumps established in the direct final rule and announcing the effective date of those standards.

This proposed rule would implement provisions of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA 2006) that change the rules for determining benefits upon the termination of a statutory hybrid plan, such as a cash balance plan. PPA 2006 provides that, when such a plan terminates, a variable rate used under the plan to determine accrued benefits will be equal to the average of the rates of interest used under the plan during the five-year period ending on the termination date. Further, the amount of the benefit payable in the form of an annuity payable at normal retirement age will be determined using the interest rate and mortality table specified under the plan for that purpose as of the termination date (or an average interest rate if the plan rate is a variable rate). For a plan terminated and trusteed by PBGC, the proposed rule would amend PBGC's regulations to conform the rules for determining the allocation of assets and the amount of benefits payable under Title IV of ERISA to the PPA 2006 changes in the benefit determination rules for statutory hybrid plans. The proposed rule would also implement a PPA 2006 change for determining the present value of the accrued benefit under a statutory hybrid plan. Finally, the proposed rule would provide guidance on benefits payable under a statutory hybrid plan that terminates in a standard termination.

This proposed rule would establish opening dates and adjust quotas for the 2012 fishing season for the Atlantic commercial shark fisheries. Quotas would be adjusted based on any over- and/or underharvests experienced during the 2010 and 2011 Atlantic commercial shark fishing seasons. In addition, NMFS proposes season openings based on previously implemented adaptive management measures to provide, to the extent practicable, fishing opportunities for commercial shark fishermen in all regions and areas. The proposed measures could affect fishing opportunities for commercial shark fishermen in the northwestern Atlantic, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean.

In this document, the Commission proposes to modify its rules to provide that a certified provider may subcontract with another certified provider for, or otherwise authorize the provision by another certified provider of, communications assistants (CA) services or call center functions only in the event of an unexpected and temporary surge in call traffic due to exigent circumstances, and seeks comment on this proposal. The purpose of this rule change is to provide clarity as to the circumstances under which the Commission will deem subcontracting of call handling functions acceptable.

This final rule announces inseason changes to management measures in the commercial Pacific Coast groundfish fisheries. These actions, which are authorized by the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), are intended to allow fisheries to access more abundant groundfish stocks while protecting overfished and depleted stocks.

This action amends Class E airspace for Sturgis, SD, to accommodate new Area Navigation (RNAV) Standard Instrument Approach Procedures at Sturgis Municipal Airport. The FAA is taking this action to enhance the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) operations at the airport.

This action amends Class E airspace for Valley City, ND. Decommissioning of the Valley City non-directional beacon (NDB) at Barnes County Municipal Airport, Valley City, ND, has made this action necessary to enhance the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) operations at the airport.

This action amends Class E airspace for Bryan, OH. Decommissioning of the Bryan non-directional beacon (NDB) at Williams County Airport, Bryan, OH, has made this action necessary to enhance the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) operations at the airport.

This action amends Class E Airspace at Fayette, AL, as the Fayette Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) has been decommissioned and new Standard Instrument Approach Procedures have been developed at Richard Arthur Field. This action enhances the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport. This action also updates the airport's geographic coordinates and notes the name change to Richard Arthur Field.

Pursuant to section 206 of the Federal Power Act, the Commission is revising its regulations to remedy undue discrimination in the procurement of frequency regulation in the organized wholesale electric markets and ensure that providers of frequency regulation receive just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential rates. Frequency regulation service is one of the tools regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) use to balance supply and demand on the transmission system, maintaining reliable operations. In doing so, RTOs and ISOs deploy a variety of resources to meet frequency regulation needs; these resources differ in both their ramping ability, which is their ability to increase or decrease their provision of frequency regulation service, and the accuracy with which they can respond to the system operator's dispatch signal. The Commission finds that current frequency regulation compensation practices of RTOs and ISOs result in rates that are unjust, unreasonable, and unduly discriminatory or preferential. Specifically, current compensation methods for regulation service in RTO and ISO markets fail to acknowledge the inherently greater amount of frequency regulation service being provided by faster-ramping resources. In addition, certain practices of some RTOs and ISOs result in economically inefficient economic dispatch of frequency regulation resources. By remedying these issues, the Commission is removing unduly discriminatory and preferential practices from RTO and ISO tariffs and requiring the setting of just and reasonable rates. Specifically, this Final Rule requires RTOs and ISOs to compensate frequency regulation resources based on the actual service provided, including a capacity payment that includes the marginal unit's opportunity costs and a payment for performance that reflects the quantity of frequency regulation service provided by a resource when the resource is accurately following the dispatch signal.

DOE today proposes a rule pursuant to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), that would revise the allocation of marketable credits under DOE's Alternative Fuel Transportation Program (AFTP or Program), by including EISA-specified electric drive vehicles and investments in qualified alternative fuel infrastructure, nonroad equipment, and relevant emerging technologies. DOE also is proposing modifications to the use of Program credits, revisions to the exemption process, clarifications of the Alternative Compliance option, and several technical and other amendments intended to make the Program regulations clearer.

EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the Missouri State Implementation Plan (SIP) relating to regulation of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) under Missouri's Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program, and to two New Source Review (NSR) revisions. The GHG-related SIP revisions incorporate the GHG emission thresholds established in EPA's ``PSD and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Final Rule,'' which EPA issued by notice dated June 3, 2010. These revisions were submitted by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to EPA in a letter dated August 8, 2011. The NSR revisions are to the Construction Permits Required Rule and the Emissions Banking and Trading Rule and are intended to address changes to the Federal NSR regulations, which were promulgated by EPA on December 31, 2002. These revisions were submitted by MDNR to EPA in a letter dated November 30, 2009. EPA is proposing to approve the GHG and NSR revisions because the Agency has made the preliminary determination that these SIP revisions, already adopted by Missouri as final effective rules, are in accordance with the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and EPA regulations regarding PSD permitting for GHGs and NSR.

In this document, the Commission extends the deadline for filing reply comments on the Commission's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in this proceeding, which was published in the Federal Register on September 28, 2011. The extension will facilitate the development of a full record given the importance of the issues in this proceeding.

This action proposes to amend Class E airspace at Rugby, ND. Decommissioning of the Rugby non-directional beacon (NDB) at Rugby Municipal Airport, Rugby, ND, has made this action necessary for the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at Rugby Municipal Airport.

The EPA is announcing that the period for providing public comments on the August 23, 2011 proposed rule titled, ``Oil and Natural Gas Sector: New Source Performance Standards and National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants Reviews,'' is being extended to November 30, 2011.

This action proposes to amend Class E airspace at Portsmouth, OH. Decommissioning of the Portsmouth non-directional beacon (NDB) at the Greater Portsmouth Regional Airport, Portsmouth, OH, has made this action necessary for the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

This rule finalizes changes to eligibility determinations for free and reduced price school meals to implement nondiscretionary provisions of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004. This rule also finalizes the following changes set forth in the interim rule published on November 13, 2007 (72 FR 63785)addition of a statutory definition of ``local educational agency,'' specification that a family only has to submit one application for all children in the household as long as they attend schools in the same local educational agency, and requirements to enhance descriptive materials distributed to families. This rule finalizes requirements for electronically-submitted applications, electronic signatures, and use and disclosure standards for such applications. This rule also finalizes year-long eligibility for free or reduced price school meals, unless the household chooses to decline a level of benefits. These changes are intended to provide children with increased access to the school nutrition programs by simplifying the certification process, streamlining program operations, and improving program management.

This action proposes to amend Class E Airspace at Rockingham, NC, as the Roscoe Non-Directional Beacon (NDB) has been decommissioned and new Standard Instrument Approach Procedures have been developed at Richmond County Airport. This action also would update the airport's geographic coordinates and note the name change to Richmond County Airport. This action would enhance the safety and airspace management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

This document proposes to amend provisions in Customs and Border Protection (CPB) regulations to increase the informal entry limit from $2,000 to $2,500. Section 662 of the Customs Modernization provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act raised the statutory limit by which the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to prescribe rules and regulations for the declaration and entry of, among other things, imported merchandise when the aggregate value of the shipment does not exceed an amount specified, but not greater than $2,500. The current limit of $2000 was established in 1998 and while that dollar amount has been unchanged, inflation over the intervening years has reduced the value of that amount in real terms. Consequently, CBP proposes to raise the current informal entry amount to its maximum statutory limit in response to inflation that has occurred and thereby to reduce the administrative burden on importers and other entry filers. Moreover, CBP proposes to remove the language requiring formal entry for certain articles, because with the elimination of absolute quotas under the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing, CBP no longer needs to require formal entries for these articles. This document also makes non-substantive editorial and nomenclature changes.

This notice of proposed rulemaking proposes to create a border crossing in Big Bend National Park to be called Boquillas. The Boquillas crossing would be situated between Presidio and Del Rio, Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the National Park Service plan to partner on the construction of a joint use facility in Big Bend National Park where the border crossing would operate. This NPRM proposes to designate the Boquillas border crossing as a ``Customs station'' for customs purposes and a Class B port of entry for immigration purposes. This NPRM also proposes to update the description of a Class B port of entry to reflect current border crossing documentation requirements.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 32 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Reef Fish Resources of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. Amendment 32 proposes to implement a 10-year rebuilding plan for gag; revise the annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) for gag, red grouper, and shallow-water grouper (SWG); revise recreational annual catch targets (ACTs) for gag and red grouper; implement a 4-month gag recreational season; adjust the commercial quota for gag and SWG for 2012 through 2015 and subsequent fishing years; adjust multi-use individual fishing quota (IFQ) shares for gag and red grouper; and implement a 22-inch (56-cm) commercial minimum size limit for gag. The intent of Amendment 32 is to end overfishing of gag, allow the gag stock to rebuild, and constrain the harvest of red grouper consistent with the requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson- Stevens Act).

NMFS is closing the directed herring fishery in management area 1A, because 95 percent of the catch limit for that area has been caught. Effective 0001 hr, October 27, 2011, federally permitted vessels may not fish for, catch, possess, transfer, or land more than 2,000 lb (907.2 kg) of Atlantic herring (herring) in or from Management Area 1A (Area 1A) per calendar day until January 1, 2012, when the 2012 allocation for Area 1A becomes available.

This document adopts, as a final rule, a proposal to amend the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau regulations by adding a number of new names to the list of grape variety names approved for use in designating American wines, and to include in the list several separate entries for synonyms of existing entries so that readers can more readily find them. These amendments will allow bottlers of wine to use more grape variety names on wine labels and in wine advertisements.

This action proposes to modify Class D airspace at Santa Monica Municipal Airport, CA, to accommodate aircraft departing and arriving under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) at Santa Monica Municipal Airport. This action is a result of the FAA's biennial review, along with a study of the Santa Monica Municipal Airport airspace area that would further enhance the safety and management of aircraft operations at the airport.

This amendment adopts a new airworthiness directive (AD) for Sikorsky Model S-92A helicopters. This action requires making pen and ink changes, inserting a copy of this AD, or inserting specified temporary revisions into the Limitations section of the Rotorcraft Flight Manual (RFM) limiting the maximum rolling groundspeed for a normal landing or takeoff from 65 knots to 50 knots for helicopters with a certain serial-numbered landing gear retract actuator (actuator). Instead of limiting the groundspeed, replacing the affected actuator with a modified actuator is terminating action for the requirements of this AD. This amendment is prompted by a report of a main landing gear that would not retract. The manufacturer reports that certain actuators were manufactured with down-lock keys that did not meet the specified minimum hardness requirements. This condition, if not corrected, could lead to a landing gear collapse following a roll- on landing that exceeds 50 knots groundspeed. These actions are intended to prevent collapse of a landing gear and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter.