November 3, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Base (1% annual-chance) Flood Elevations (BFEs) and modified BFEs are made final for the communities listed below. The BFEs and modified BFEs are the basis for the floodplain management measures that each community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of being already in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is amending the definitions and standards for the official U.S. classes of poultry so that they more accurately and clearly describe the characteristics of poultry in the market today. Poultry classes are defined primarily in terms of the age and sex of the bird. Genetic improvements and poultry management techniques have reduced the grow-out period for some poultry classes, while extensive cross breeding has produced poultry with higher meat yields but blurred breed distinctions. FSIS is taking this action to ensure that the labeling of poultry products is truthful and not misleading.

The Department of the Navy (DoN) published a final rule in the Federal Register (76 FR 58399) of September 21, 2011, concerning certifications and exemptions under the International Regulations for Preventing collisions at Sea, 1972 (72 COLREGS). The document added an entry to Table Four, paragraph 23, in Sec. 706.2. The existing table has three columns and the proposed entry has four columns. This correcting amendment corrects that information.

This rule amends the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) regulations on an interim basis to implement the preferential tariff treatment and other customs-related provisions of the United States- Peru Trade Promotion Agreement.

In this document, the Commission denies a petition for reconsideration of an August 12, 2009 Report and Order changing the allotted channel for station WWAZ-TV, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, from channel 44 to channel 5. The petitioner stated that the staff, in granting the original channel change, cited erroneous loss-of-service figures. The petitioner further argues that the primary technical justification for creation of this loss area was not raised until the reply comment stage, and that the record further does not support the technical justification. The order finds that the staff requested a re- engineered proposal that would result in the replacement translators covering the projected analog loss area. The document finds that the re-engineered translators sufficiently address any loss of service, and further finds that the public interest is served by substituting channel 5 for channel 44 at Fond du Lac because it permitted WLS-TV, an ABC network affiliate in Chicago, Illinois, to move from its post-transition channel 7 to channel 44, resulting in the restoration of ABC network service to numerous viewers that had lost service after the transition of WLS-TV to digital operations. Finally, the document notes that the petitioner's own engineer had recognized potential technical problems associated with WWAZ-TV's digital operations on channel 44.

In this document, the Commission announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved, for a period of three years, the information collection associated with the Commission's Structure and Practices of the Video Relay Service Program, Second Report and Order and Order (Second Report and Order and Order). The information collection requirements were approved on October 20, 2011 by OMB.

The Commander, First Coast Guard District, has issued a temporary deviation from the regulation governing the operation of the Captree State Parkway Bridge at mile 30.7, across the State Boat Channel at Captree Island, New York. The deviation is necessary to facilitate emergency bridge repairs as a result of a recent fire at the bridge. This deviation allows the bridge to open on a limited opening schedule to help facilitate necessary repairs.

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). These revisions were proposed in the Federal Register on August 23, 2011 and concern volatile organic compound (VOC), oxides of nitrogen (NOX), and particulate matter (PM) emissions from flares. 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.