2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA proposes to update a portion of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Air Regulations. Requirements applying to OCS sources located within 25 miles of States' seaward boundaries must be updated periodically to remain consistent with the requirements of the corresponding onshore area (COA), as mandated by section 328(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The portion of the OCS air regulations that is being updated pertains to the requirements that would apply to OCS sources located within 25 miles of the seaward boundary of the Commonwealth of Virginia. EPA is taking this action as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial action and anticipates no adverse comments. If no adverse comments are received in response to this action, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

This document announces the Agency's receipt of several initial filings of pesticide petitions requesting the establishment or modification of regulations for residues of pesticide chemicals in or on various commodities.

EPA is taking final action to disapprove the portion of North Carolina's September 21, 2009, submission which was intended to meet the requirement to address interstate transport for the 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Additionally, EPA is responding to comments received on EPA's January 26, 2011, proposed disapproval of the aforementioned portion of North Carolina's September 21, 2009, submission. On September 21, 2009, the State of North Carolina, through the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NC DENR), provided a letter to EPA certifying that North Carolina's state implementation plan (SIP) meets the interstate transport requirements with regard to the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. Specifically, the interstate transport requirements under the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) prohibit a state's emissions from significantly contributing to nonattainment or interfering with the maintenance of the NAAQS in any other state. The effect of today's action will be the promulgation of a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for North Carolina no later than two years from the date of disapproval. The proposed Transport Rule, when final, is the FIP that EPA intends to implement for North Carolina.

EPA is taking final action to disapprove the portion of Kentucky's September 8, 2009, submission which was intended to meet the requirement to address interstate transport for the 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Additionally, EPA is responding to comments received on EPA's January 26, 2011, proposed disapproval of the aforementioned portion of Kentucky's September 8, 2009, submission. On September 8, 2009, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, through the Kentucky Division for Air Quality (KDAQ), provided a letter to EPA with certification that Kentucky's state implementation plan (SIP) meets the interstate transport requirements with regard to the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. Specifically, the interstate transport requirements under the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) prohibit a state's emissions from significantly contributing to nonattainment or interfering with the maintenance of the NAAQS in any other state. The effect of today's action will be the promulgation of a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for Kentucky no later than two years from the date of disapproval. The proposed Transport Rule, when final, is the FIP that EPA intends to implement for Kentucky.

EPA is taking final action to disapprove the portion of Alabama's September 23, 2009, submission which was intended to meet the requirement to address interstate transport for the 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Additionally, EPA is responding to comments received on EPA's January 26, 2011, proposed disapproval of the aforementioned portion of Alabama's September 23, 2009, submission. On September 23, 2009, the State of Alabama, through the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), provided a letter to EPA certifying that the Alabama state implementation plan (SIP) meets the interstate transport requirements with regard to the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. Specifically, the interstate transport requirements under the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) prohibit a state's emissions from significantly contributing to nonattainment or interfering with the maintenance of the NAAQS in any other state. The effect of today's action will be the promulgation of a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for Alabama no later than two years from the date of disapproval. The proposed Transport Rule, when final, is the FIP that EPA intends to implement for Alabama.

EPA is taking final action to disapprove the New Jersey and the New York State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted to address significant contribution to nonattainment or interference with maintenance in another state with respect to the 2006 24-hour fine particle (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). On January 20, 2010, New Jersey submitted a SIP revision to address sections of the Clean Air Act (CAA) concerning interstate transport requirements, and the sections of the CAA concerning infrastructure requirements. On March 23, 2010, New York submitted a SIP revision to address the section of the CAA concerning interstate transport, and sections 110(a)(1) and (2) of the CAA concerning infrastructure SIP requirements. In this action, EPA is taking final action to disapprove the portion of the New Jersey and the New York SIP revisions that addresses the requirement prohibiting a state's emissions from significantly contributing to nonattainment or interfering with maintenance of the NAAQS in any other state. The remaining elements of the submittals are not addressed in this action and will be addressed in a separate action. The intended effect of this action will be the implementation of a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for the State no later than 2 years from date of the disapproval. The proposed Transport Rule, when final, is the FIP that EPA intends to implement for the State.

Pursuant to our authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to disapprove the portion of the ``Infrastructure'' State Implementation Plan (SIP) (CAA section 110(a)(1) and (2)) submittal from the State of Missouri intended to address the CAA section relating to the ``interstate transport'' requirements for the 2006 24-hour fine particle (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) that prohibit a state from significantly contributing to nonattainment or interfering with maintenance of the NAAQS in any other state. This final action to disapprove the ``interstate transport'' portion of the Missouri SIP submittal received by EPA on December 28, 2009, only relates to those provisions and does not address the other portions of Missouri's December 28, 2009, submission. The rationale for this action and additional detail on this disapproval were described in EPA's proposed rulemaking published in the Federal Register on March 18, 2011. The effect of this action will be the promulgation of a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for Missouri no later than two years from the date of disapproval. EPA's proposed Transport Rule, when final, is the FIP that EPA intends to implement for Missouri.

In this action, EPA is finding that Tennessee has failed to submit a State Implementation Plan (SIP) to satisfy the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) with respect to the 2006 24-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (24- hour PM2.5). Although Tennessee has submitted a SIP to address the requirements, the state subsequently withdrew that portion of its SIP submittal because it relied on the Clean Air Interstate Rule to address transport. This finding creates a 2-year deadline for the promulgation of a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) by EPA. In a separate action, commonly referred to as the Transport Rule, EPA is finalizing a FIP for Tennessee to address these requirements.

This action defers for a period of three (3) years the application of the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) and Title V permitting requirements to biogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from bioenergy and other biogenic stationary sources. This action is being taken as part of the process of granting the Petition for Reconsideration filed by the National Alliance of Forest Owners (NAFO) on August 3, 2010, related to the PSD and Title V Greenhouse Gas Tailoring Rule. The result of this action is that during this three year period biogenic CO2 emissions are not required to be counted for applicability purposes under the PSD and Title V permitting programs. State, local, and tribal permitting authorities may adopt the deferral at their option but the deferral is effective upon publication for the PSD and Title V permit programs that are implemented by EPA.

The Board is adopting an interim final rule and requesting comment on provisions in Regulation II (Debit Card Interchange Fees and Routing) adopted in accordance with Section 920(a)(5) of the Electronic Fund Transfer Act, which governs adjustments to debit interchange transaction fees for fraud-prevention costs. The provisions allow an issuer to receive an adjustment of 1 cent to its interchange transaction fee if the issuer develops, implements, and updates policies and procedures reasonably designed to identify and prevent fraudulent electronic debit transactions; monitor the incidence of, reimbursements received for, and losses incurred from fraudulent electronic debit transactions; respond appropriately to suspicious electronic debit transactions so as to limit the fraud losses that may occur and prevent the occurrence of future fraudulent electronic debit transactions; and secure debit card and cardholder data. If an issuer meets these standards and wishes to receive the adjustment, it must certify its eligibility to receive the fraud-prevention adjustment to the payment card networks in which the issuer participates.

The Farm Credit Administration (FCA or Agency), through the FCA Board (Board), issued a final rule under part 614 on May 25, 2011 (76 FR 30246) amending our regulations on loan policies and operations. In accordance with 12 U.S.C. 2252, the effective date of the final rule is 30 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register during which either or both Houses of Congress are in session. Based on the records of the sessions of Congress, the effective date of the regulations is July 12, 2011.

We propose to rescind an airworthiness directive (AD) for Lycoming Engines model TIO 540-A series reciprocating engines. The existing AD, AD 71-13-01 (Amendment 39-1231) resulted from a report of a failed fuel injector tube assembly. Since we issued AD 71-13-01, we became aware that Lycoming Engines no longer supports Service Bulletin (SB) No. 335A, which was incorporated by reference in AD 71-13-01. The intent of the requirements of that SB is now in Lycoming Engines Mandatory SB No. 342F. This proposal to rescind AD 71-13-01 allows the public the opportunity to comment on the FAA's determination of the duplication of requirements in another AD, before we rescind the engine-level AD.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) is reviewing its reporting requirements for providers of international telecommunications services. The Commission proposes to amend its reporting requirements for providers of international telecommunications services and transmission facilities in order to simplify the filing of the annual traffic and revenue report and the annual circuit-status report and modernize the information collected under those reports. The Commission also proposes to amend its rules to create a new annual services report designed to obtain basic information about providers of international telecommunications services and to update contact information. The Commission also proposes to amend its rules to clarify the confidential treatment of certain disaggregated information reported under the traffic and revenue report and the circuit-status report. This action is part of the Commission's comprehensive review of its international reporting requirements and is intended to remove unnecessary information collections and tailor its information collections to the current state of the international telecommunications market.

We propose to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to the products listed above. The existing AD currently requires replacing the separation link assembly on the applicable entry and service doors with an improved separation link assembly, and doing related investigative and corrective actions if necessary. Since we issued that AD, we have received a report that an additional airplane is subject to the unsafe condition. This proposed AD would add that airplane to the applicability and also remove certain other airplanes from the applicability. We are proposing this AD to prevent failure of an entry or service door to open fully in the event of an emergency evacuation, which could impede exit from the airplane. This condition could result in injury to passengers or crewmembers.

The EPA is announcing that the period for providing public comments on the May 20, 2011, Proposed National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Polyvinyl Chloride and Copolymers Production is being extended for 14 days.

On March 17, 2011, the Commission issued Order Nos. 748 and 749, which approved new and revised Reliability Standards, including IRO-004-2 and EOP-001. In this order, we grant the North American Electric Reliability Corporation's (NERC) request for clarification of certain aspects of Order No. 748 including: The proper effective date language for Reliability Standard IRO-004-2; the correct version identification for the approval of EOP-001 intended by the Commission; and the proper effective date for Reliability Standard EOP-001-2. The Commission also grants NERC's request for clarification of Order No. 749 with respect to the version EOP-001 the Commission intended to approve and its effective date.

The Coast Guard will enforce the Special Local Regulation for the Columbia Unlimited Hydroplane Races. This regulation which restricts navigation and anchorage on the Columbia River for six days at the end of July. This action is necessary to ensure the safety of the vessels involved in the Annual Kennewick, Washington, Columbia Unlimited Hydroplane Races (Water Follies). During the enforcement period, no person or vessel may operate their vessels in this area without permission from the on scene Patrol Commander.

The Coast Guard is establishing Special Local Regulations for ``The Crystal Coast Grand Prix'' powerboat race, to be held on the waters of Bogue Sound, adjacent to Morehead City, North Carolina. This Special Local Regulation is necessary to protect spectators and vessels from hazards associated with powerboat races. This regulation will close a portion of the waters of Bogue Sound to vessel traffic during the boat race.

We, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), will be considering a proposal to authorize a nonessential experimental population of Upper Columbia (UC) spring-run Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Okanogan River and its tributaries in Okanogan County, Washington under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended. The geographic boundaries of the experimental population area would likely include the entire Okanogan River subbasin and a portion of the mainstem Columbia River from the confluence of the Columbia and Okanogan Rivers upstream to the base of Chief Joseph Dam. We will consider the best available information to determine if reintroduction of Chinook salmon is biologically feasible and will promote the conservation of the UC spring-run Chinook salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU). This advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) identifies policy and technical issues for consideration and evaluation, and solicits comments regarding them.

This action makes corrections, clarifications, and modifications to existing regulations to ensure consistency with measures adopted by the New England Fishery Management Council (Council) to regulate the Northeast (NE) multispecies fishery and to provide additional flexibility for some of the administrative regulatory requirements. The current regulations governing the NE multispecies fishery contain a number of inadvertent errors, omissions, and potential inconsistencies with measures adopted by the Council and approved by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) in recent actions regarding the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). This interim final rule is being taken by NMFS under the authority of section 305(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act); NMFS is implementing changes made to the dockside monitoring program (DSM), not included in the proposed rule, as an interim rule in order to seek public comments on the changes.

The Rural Business-Cooperative Service is proposing to amend its regulations for the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program to ensure the Agency has sufficient right(s) for reimbursement when an Agency guaranteed portion of a loan is sold to a holder. This action is necessary because the rule is not sufficiently clear that the use of loan funds for purposes not approved by the Agency is a reason to find the guarantee unenforceable regardless of whether the guaranteed portion of the loan has been sold to a holder. This action ensures the Agency has sufficient rights for reimbursement when an Agency guaranteed portion of the loan is sold to a holder.

This action corrects the effective date of a final rule correction, that was published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2011. The effective date in that Final Rule; Correction. inadvertently listed the wrong effective date in the Correction to Final Rule section.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list Pinus albicaulis (whitebark pine) as threatened or endangered and to designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). After review of all available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing P. albicaulis as threatened or endangered is warranted. However, currently listing P. albicaulis is precluded by higher priority actions to amend the Lists of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants. Upon publication of this 12-month petition finding, we will add P. albicaulis to our candidate species list. We will develop a proposed rule to list P. albicaulis as our priorities and funding will allow. We will make any determination on critical habitat during development of the proposed listing rule. In any interim period, we will address the status of the candidate taxon through our annual Candidate Notice of Review.

NMFS proposes regulations to implement measures in Framework Adjustment (FW) 46 to the NE Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). FW 46 was developed and submitted to NMFS for approval by the New England Fishery Management Council (Council) to address haddock catch in the Atlantic herring fishery. The proposed rule would increase the haddock incidental catch cap allocated to the Atlantic midwater trawl herring fishery to 1 percent of the Georges Bank (GB) haddock Acceptable Biological Catch (ABC) and to 1 percent of the Gulf of Maine (GOM) haddock ABC. In addition, this action would modify the cap accountability measures (AMs) such that, upon attainment of the cap, the midwater trawl herring fleet could not catch or land herring in excess of the incidental catch limit (2,000 lb (907.2 kg)) in or from the appropriate haddock stock area. This action is intended to allow the herring fishery to fully utilize available herring quota, while providing incentives for the midwater trawl fishery to minimize haddock catch.

EPA is proposing to approve State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the State of Vermont (VT) on November 22, 2006, and November 14, 2008. These SIP revisions consist of a demonstration that VT meets the requirements of reasonably available control technology (RACT) for oxides of nitrogen (NOX) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) set forth by the Clean Air Act (CAA) with respect to the 1997 8-hour ozone standard; minor revisions to Vermont's bulk gasoline plants regulation; and new requirements for wood furniture manufacturing operations. Additionally, EPA is proposing to approve VT's negative declarations for several categories of VOC sources. EPA is proposing full approval all of the submitted items, with two exceptions. EPA is proposing a conditional approval of the RACT determinations for two major VOC sources (Churchill Coatings Corporation and H.B.H Prestain). This action is being taken in accordance with the CAA.