2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces its decision to continue to provide financial support to the Texas Clean Energy Project (TCEP). DOE prepared an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) (DOE/EIS- 0444) to assess the environmental impacts associated with the TCEP, a project that Summit Texas Clean Energy, LLC (Summit) would design, construct, and operate. The project will demonstrate advanced power systems using integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) technology to generate 400 megawatts (gross) of electric power from coal and will put 130 to 213 megawatts on the power grid while capturing approximately 90 percent of its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The project will sequester approximately 2.5 to 3.0 million tons (2.3 to 2.7 million metric tonnes) of CO2 per year. The CO2 will be delivered through a regional pipeline network to existing oil fields in the Permian Basin of West Texas for use in enhanced oil recovery (EOR) by third-parties. The plant will also produce urea, argon, and sulfuric acid for sale in commercial markets. Because of its multiple products, the facility is referred to as a polygeneration (polygen) plant. The plant will be built on a 600-acre (243-hectare) oil field site in Ector County, Texas, north of the community of Penwell, and will continue in commercial operation for 30 to 50 years. DOE's proposed action, as described in the EIS, is to provide cost- shared financial assistance under DOE's Clean Coal Power Initiative (CCPI) using a combination of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) (Pub. L. 111-5) funds and other CCPI program funds. After careful consideration of the potential environmental impacts and other factors such as program goals and objectives, DOE has decided to provide, through a cooperative agreement with Summit, $450 million in cost-shared funding, which is approximately 26 percent of the project's total capital cost of $1.73 billion (2009 dollars). The balance of project funding is expected to come from private sector investors and lenders.

We, the Fish and Wildlife Service (Service, USFWS), announce the availability of our revised comprehensive conservation plan (CCP) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) for the Selawik National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge). In this revised CCP, we describe how we will manage the Refuge for the next 15 years.

This document informs the public that an appeal of the closing of the Clarksville, New York post office has been filed. It identifies preliminary steps and provides a procedural schedule. Publication of this document will allow the Postal Service, petitioners, and others to take appropriate action.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is providing notice that beginning Monday, October 3, 2011, all visitors to the NRC White Flint Complex headquarters shall be required to enter through the recently renovated One White Flint North (OWFN) building entrance lobby. Only NRC badged employees and contractors shall be permitted to use the Two White Flint North (TWFN) building entrance. NRC staff shall meet visitors in the OWFN lobby waiting area and escort them to their destination.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has examined and found suitable for classification and conveyance to Emery County under the provisions of the Recreation and Public Purposes (R&PP) Act, as amended, a parcel of public land in Emery County, Utah. Emery County proposes to establish a public shooting range facilities complex.

In accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Federal Transit Administration and the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) intend to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Sound Transit's proposed extension of the Central Link Light Rail system from Seattle in King County to the city of Lynnwood in Snohomish County, Washington. The EIS will also be prepared in accordance with Washington's State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). This Notice of Intent initiates scoping for the EIS, invites interested parties to participate in the EIS process, provides information about the purpose and need for the proposed transit project, includes the general set of alternatives being considered for evaluation in the EIS, and identifies potential environmental effects to be considered. With this notice, Sound Transit and FTA invite public comments on the scope of the EIS, and announce the public scoping meetings that will be conducted. Alternatives being considered for evaluation in the EIS include a No-Build alternative and various build alternatives to develop light rail in the North Corridor. The light rail alternatives are based on the most promising alternatives identified through an Alternatives Analysis study completed by the project. Early scoping for the alternatives analysis phase was previously announced in the Federal Register on September 27, 2010. Results of the alternatives analysis are described below.

DoD has updated its Commercial Item Handbook. The purpose of the Handbook is to help acquisition personnel develop sound business strategies for procuring commercial items. DoD is seeking industry input on the contents before finalizing the Handbook.

Notice is hereby given in accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act, 5 U.S.C. Appendix, and Parts 62 and 65 of title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations, that the National Park System Advisory Board will meet December 1-2, 2011, in Key Largo, Florida. The agenda will include the review of proposed actions regarding the National Historic Landmarks Program and the National Natural Landmarks Program. Interested parties are encouraged to submit written comments and recommendations that will be presented to the Board. Interested parties also may attend the board meeting and upon request may address the Board concerning an area's national significance.

The Department of Labor (DOL) is submitting the Employee Benefits Security Administration sponsored information collection request (ICR) titled, ``Employee Retirement Income Security Act Prohibited Transaction Exemption 86-128,'' to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval for continued use in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

OSHA is reopening the record and extending the deadline for submitting nominations for membership on the Federal Advisory Council on Occupational Safety and Health (FACOSH) until October 31, 2011.

The Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the Office of Domestic Finance within the Department of the Treasury is soliciting comments concerning requirements for banks participating in the Small Business Lending Fund to report information about the level and type of loans they are making to small businesses on a quarterly basis.

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.

On March 30, 2011, the Coast Guard published a direct final rule that notified the public of the Coast Guard's intent to harmonize structural and performance standards for inflatable recreational personal flotation devices (PFDs) with current voluntary industry consensus standards, and to slightly modify regulatory text in anticipation of a future rulemaking addressing the population for which inflatable recreational PFDs are approved (76 FR 17561). As discussed below, we have received an adverse comment on the direct final rule, and have withdrawn the direct final rule in a notice of withdrawal published separately in this issue of the Federal Register. The Coast Guard seeks comment on the issues raised by the commenters and proposes to make the same changes to the current regulatory text, as modified below.

The Industry Trade Advisory Committee on Small and Minority Business (ITAC-11) will hold a meeting on Wednesday, October 12, 2011, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The meeting will be opened to the public from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

HPI-PSO: AHRQ has accepted a notification of voluntary relinquishment from the HPI-PSO, a component entity of Healthcare Performance Improvement, LLC, of its status as a Patient Safety Organization (PSO). The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (Patient Safety Act), Public Law 109-41, 42 U.S.C. 299b-21b-26, provides for the formation of PSOs, which collect, aggregate, and analyze confidential information regarding the quality and safety of health care delivery. The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Final Rule (Patient Safety Rule), 42 CFR Part 3, authorizes AHRQ, on behalf of the Secretary of HHS, to list as a PSO an entity that attests that it meets the statutory and regulatory requirements for listing. A PSO can be ``delisted'' by the Secretary if it is found to no longer meet the requirements of the Patient Safety Act and Patient Safety Rule, including when a PSO chooses to voluntarily relinquish its status as a PSO for any reason.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently submitted to OMB for review the following proposal for the collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The NRC published a Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period on this information collection on July 5, 2011 (76 FR 39132). 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Extension. 2. The title of the information collection: 10 CFR part 36 Licenses and Radiation Safety Requirements for Irradiators. 3. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0158. 4. The form number if applicable: N/A. 5. How often the collection is required: Annually. 6. Who will be required or asked to report: Irradiator licensees licensed by NRC or an Agreement State. 7. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 79 (9 for reporting [1.3 NRC licensee and 7.8 Agreement State licensees] and 70 for recordkeepers [10 NRC licensees and 60 Agreement State licensees]). 8. The estimated number of annual respondents: 70 (10 NRC licensees and 60 Agreement State licensees). 9. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 32,690. 10. Abstract: Part 36 contains requirements for the issuance of a license authorizing the use of sealed sources containing radioactive materials in irradiators used to irradiate objects or materials for a variety of purposes in research, industry, and other fields. The subparts cover specific requirements for obtaining a license or license exemption, design and performance criteria for irradiators; and radiation safety requirements for operating irradiators, including requirements for operator training, written operating and emergency procedures, personnel monitoring, radiation surveys, inspection, and maintenance. Part 36 also contains the recordkeeping and reporting requirements that are necessary to ensure that the irradiator is being safely operated so that it does not pose any danger to the health and safety of the general public and the irradiator employees. The public may examine and have copied for a fee publicly available documents, including the final supporting statement, at the NRC's Public Document Room, Room O1-F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC Web site: https://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doc- comment/omb/. The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice. Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer listed below by October 28, 2011. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date. OMB Reviewer: Chad Whiteman, Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (3150-0158), NEOB-10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503. Comments can also be e-mailed to CWhiteman@omb.eop.gov or submitted by telephone at 202-395-4718. The NRC Clearance Officer is Tremaine Donnell, 301-415-6258.

This document informs the public that an appeal of the closing of the Algoma, Mississippi post office has been filed. It identifies preliminary steps and provides a procedural schedule. Publication of this document will allow the Postal Service, petitioners, and others to take appropriate action.

The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text of a section 36(b)(1) arms sales notification. This is published to fulfill the requirements of section 155 of Public Law 104-164 dated July 21, 1996.