December 14, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA is proposing uses that qualify for the 2013 critical use exemption. EPA is also proposing to amend the regulatory framework to determine the amount of methyl bromide that may be produced, imported, or supplied from existing pre-phaseout inventory for those uses in 2013. EPA is taking action under the authority of the Clean Air Act to reflect a recent consensus decision taken by the Parties to the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer at the Twenty-Third Meeting of the Parties. EPA is seeking comment on the list of critical uses and on EPA's determination of the specific amounts of methyl bromide that may be produced and imported, or sold from pre- phaseout inventory for those uses.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing action on New Jersey's State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision for attaining the 1997 fine particle (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), which was submitted to EPA on April 1, 2009. EPA is proposing to fully approve elements of the New Jersey SIP for the New Jersey portion of two nonattainment areas in the State: The New York-N. New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT, PM2.5 nonattainment area, and the Philadelphia-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE, PM2.5 nonattainment area. EPA is taking action on several elements of the SIP, including proposed approval of New Jersey's attainment demonstration and motor- vehicle emissions budgets used for transportation conformity purposes, as well as the Reasonably Available Control Technology and Reasonably Available Control Measures (RACT/RACM) analysis, and base-year and projection-year modeling emission inventories. This action is being taken in accordance with the Clean Air Act and the Clean Air Fine Particle Implementation Rule issued by EPA.

NMFS announces that the 2012 summer flounder commercial fishery in the State of New York will be reopened to provide the opportunity for the fishery to fully harvest the available quota. Vessels issued a commercial Federal fisheries permit for the summer flounder fishery may land summer flounder in New York until the quota is fully harvested. Regulations governing the summer flounder fishery require publication of this notification to advise New York that quota remains available and the summer flounder fishery is open to vessel permit holders for landing summer flounder in New York and to inform dealer permit holders in New York that they may purchase summer flounder.

The Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement proposes priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria under the Investing in Innovation Fund (i3). The Assistant Deputy Secretary may use these priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2013 and later years. The U.S. Department of Education (Department) has conducted three competitions under the i3 program and awarded 92 i3 grants since the program was established under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). These proposed priorities, requirements, definitions, and selection criteria maintain the overall purpose and structure of the i3 program, which is discussed later in this document, and incorporate changes based on specific lessons learned from the first three competitions.

This action withdraws a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would have amended the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA's) bus testing regulation to increase the assumed average passenger weight value used for ballasting test buses from the current value of 150 pounds to a new value of 175 pounds. This increase was proposed to better reflect the actual weight of the average American adult and to provide accurate information to the transit agencies that purchase such vehicles. In light of recent legislation directing FTA to establish new pass/fail standards that require a more comprehensive review of its overall bus testing program, FTA is withdrawing the rulemaking.

The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) issues this regulation establishing its Code of Federal Regulations chapter to provide the procedures and guidelines under which CIGIE will implement the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The final rule describes the policies and procedures for public disclosure of information required to be disclosed under FOIA.

The Secretary proposes to amend the regulations in 34 CFR parts 75 and 77 of the Education Department General Administrative Regulations (EDGAR) in order to improve the Department's ability to promote projects supported by evidence; evaluate the performance of discretionary grant programs and grantee projects; review grant applications using selection factors that promote reform objectives related to project evaluation, sustainability, productivity, and capacity to scale; and reduce burden on grantees in selecting implementation sites, implementation partners, or evaluation service providers for their proposed projects. These proposed changes would allow the Department to be more effective and efficient when selecting discretionary grantees, provide higher-quality data to Congress and the public, and better focus applicants on the particular goals and objectives of the programs to which they apply for grants.

This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the final rule published in the November 6, 2012 Federal Register entitled ``Medicaid Program; Payments for Services Furnished by Certain Primary Care Physicians and Charges for Vaccine Administration under the Vaccines for Children Program.''

In this action, EPA is finalizing approval of South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) Rule 317, ``Clean Air Act Non- Attainment Fee,'' as a revision to SCAQMD's portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This action was proposed in the Federal Register on January 12, 2012 and concerns volatile organic compounds (VOC) and oxides of nitrogen (NOX). Rule 317 is a local fee rule submitted to address section 185 of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) with respect to the 1-hour ozone standard for anti- backsliding purposes. EPA is finalizing approval of Rule 317 as an alternative to the program required by section 185 of the Act. EPA has determined that SCAQMD's alternative fee-equivalent program is not less stringent than the program required by section 185, and, therefore, is approvable as an equivalent alternative program, consistent with the principles of section 172(e) of the Act.