December 16, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On October 3, 2011, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), located within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register (76 FR 61206) requesting public comment on the appropriateness of the current HHS and Overlap list of select agents and toxins including whether there are other agents or toxins that should be added to the HHS or Overlap list or whether agents or toxins currently on the HHS or Overlap list should be deleted from the list; the appropriateness of the proposed tiering of the select agents and toxins list; whether minimum standards for personnel reliability, physical and cyber security should be prescribed for identified Tier 1 agents; and any other aspect of the proposed amendments to the select agent regulations. The comment period closed on December 2, 2011. Since we would like to allow interested persons additional time to prepare and submit comments, we are reopening the comment period for the NPRM.

The Director, Information Collection Clearance Division, Privacy, Information and Records Management Services, Office of Management, invites comments on the submission for OMB review as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13).

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. App. 2, the United States Department of Agriculture announces the appointments made by the Secretary of Agriculture to the 8 vacancies on the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development invites the public to nominate individuals for appointment, with the approval of the Secretary, to the Manufactured Housing Consensus Committee (MHCC), a Federal advisory committee established by the National Manufactured Housing Construction and Safety Standards Act of 1974, as amended by the Manufactured Housing Improvement Act of 2000.

Notice is hereby given that the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) has prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to meet its responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and 7 CFR 1794 related to providing financial assistance to Dairyland Power Cooperative (Dairyland) for its share in the construction of a proposed 345-kilovolt (kV) transmission line and associated infrastructure between Hampton, Minnesota and the La Crosse area in Wisconsin (the proposed project). Dairyland is participating in the proposed project with a number of other utilities (Applicants). The purpose of the proposed project is to: (1) Improve community reliability of the transmission system in Rochester, Winona, La Crosse, and the surrounding areas, which include areas served by Dairyland; (2) improve the regional reliability of the transmission system; and (3) increase generation outlet capacity.

This rule identifies communities where the sale of flood insurance has been authorized under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that are scheduled for suspension on the effective dates listed within this rule because of noncompliance with the floodplain management requirements of the program. If the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) receives documentation that the community has adopted the required floodplain management measures prior to the effective suspension date given in this rule, the suspension will not occur and a notice of this will be provided by publication in the Federal Register on a subsequent date.

The FAA is correcting a final rule published on August 21, 2009 (74 FR 42500). In that rule, the FAA amended its regulations to revise the training, qualification, certification, and operating requirements for pilots, flight instructors, ground instructors, and pilot schools. This document corrects an error in the codified text of that document to permit a person serving as an examiner and administering a practical test for the issuance of a sport pilot certificate in a light-sport aircraft other than a glider or balloon to hold either a medical certificate or a U.S. driver's license. The FAA is also clarifying the regulatory text related to when an instrument proficiency check is required to act as pilot in command under IFR or in weather conditions less than the minimums prescribed for VFR. Finally, this document corrects one section of the final rule to clarify the FAA's original intent with regard to the use of flight simulation training devices for training and testing when seeking to add a type rating to an existing pilot certificate or obtain a type rating concurrently with a pilot certificate.

The proposed information collection requirement described below will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended). The Department is soliciting public comments on the subject proposal.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on this proposed collection. This is a new collection for the contract WIC Local Agency Breastfeeding Policy and Practices Inventory.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations to prevent the spread of citrus greening and its vector, Asian citrus psyllid, to noninfested areas of the United States.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with regulations for the importation of peppers from certain Central American countries.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement, are notifying the public that we intend to grant funds to eligible applicants for purposes authorized under the Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Reclamation Program. Additionally we are notifying the public that we intend to grant funds to eligible applicants for regulating coal mining within their jurisdictional borders. We will award these grants after October 1, 2011, because our award authority commences at the beginning of the fiscal year.

We are proposing to amend the fruits and vegetables regulations to allow the importation of Chinese sand pears (Pyrus pyrifolia) from China into the United States. As a condition of entry, sand pears from areas in China in which the Oriental fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) is not known to exist would have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that would include requirements for registration of places of production and packinghouses, sourcing of pest-free propagative material, inspection for quarantine pests at set intervals by the national plant protection organization of China, bagging of fruit, safeguarding, labeling, and importation in commercial consignments. Sand pears from areas in China in which Oriental fruit fly is known to exist could be imported into the United States if, in addition to these requirements, the places of production and packinghouses have a monitoring system in place for Oriental fruit fly and the pears are treated with cold treatment. All sand pears from China would also be required to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate with an additional declaration stating that all conditions for the importation of the pears have been met and that the consignment of pears has been inspected and found free of quarantine pests. This action would allow for the importation of sand pears from China into the United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.

We are advising the public of our decision to authorize the importation into the continental United States of fresh Cape gooseberry fruit (Physalis peruviana L.) with husks from Chile. Based on the findings of a pest risk analysis, which we made available to the public for review and comment through a previous notice, we concluded that the application of one or more designated phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risks of introducing or disseminating plant pests or noxious weeds via the importation of fresh Cape gooseberry fruit from Chile.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's intention to request an extension of approval of an information collection associated with the Emergency Management Response System.

This document contains a correction to notice of proposed rulemaking (REG-149625-10) that was published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 (76 FR 72362) providing guidance regarding the application of the segregation rules to public groups under section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code (Code).

An open meeting of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Face-to-Face Service Methods Project Committee will be conducted. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.