November 3, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on the waters of Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Florida during the Fourth Annual Chillounge Night St. Petersburg Fireworks Display on Saturday, November 19, 2011. The safety zone is necessary to protect the public from the hazards associated with launching fireworks over navigable waters of the United States. Persons and vessels are prohibited from entering, transiting through, anchoring in, or remaining within the safety zone unless authorized by the Captain of the Port St. Petersburg or a designated representative.

Notice is hereby given that the Maritime Administration, of the U.S. Department of Transportation (US DOT), has made available to interested parties the Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the United States Merchant Marine Academy Mallory Pier Replacement project. An environmental assessment (EA) and FONSI have been prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) (U.S.C. 4231 et seq.) in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 1500-1508). The purpose of the EA is to evaluate the potential environmental impacts from replacement of a 600 foot section of timber pile supported pier with concrete pile supports and decking. The timber pile pier section to be replaced comprises a total area of 13,400 square feet.

EPA is finalizing approval of revisions to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision was proposed in the Federal Register on June 30, 2011 and concerns volatile organic compound (VOC) and particulate matter (PM) emissions from commercial charbroilers. We are approving a local rule that regulates these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is amending the regulations governing employee protection (``retaliation'' or ``whistleblower'') claims under section 806 of the Corporate and Criminal Fraud Accountability Act of 2002, Title VIII of the Sarbanes- Oxley Act of 2002 (``Sarbanes-Oxley'' or ``Act''), which was amended by sections 922 and 929A of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, enacted on July 21, 2010. Public Law 111-203. These revisions to the Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower regulations clarify and improve the procedures for handling Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower complaints and implement statutory changes enacted into law as part of the 2010 statutory amendments. These changes to the Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower regulations also make the procedures for handling retaliation complaints under Sarbanes-Oxley more consistent with OSHA's procedures for handling complaints under the employee protection provisions of the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982, 29 CFR part 1978; the National Transit Systems Security Act and the Federal Railroad Safety Act, 29 CFR part 1982; the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008, 29 CFR part 1983; and the Employee Protection Provisions of Six Environmental Statutes and Section 211 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, as amended, 29 CFR part 24.

The Board is amending Regulation D, Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions, to reflect the annual indexing of the reserve requirement exemption amount and the low reserve tranche for 2012. The Regulation D amendments set the amount of total reservable liabilities of each depository institution that is subject to a zero percent reserve requirement in 2012 at $11.5 million (up from $10.7 million in 2011). This amount is known as the reserve requirement exemption amount. The Regulation D amendments also set the amount of net transaction accounts at each depository institution that is subject to a three percent reserve requirement in 2012 at $71.0 million (up from $58.8 million in 2011). This amount is known as the low reserve tranche. The adjustments to both of these amounts are derived using statutory formulas specified in the Federal Reserve Act. The Board is also announcing changes in two other amounts, the nonexempt deposit cutoff level and the reduced reporting limit, that are used to determine the frequency at which depository institutions must submit deposit reports.