March 8, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services proposes four priorities for the Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects and Centers Program administered by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). Specifically, this notice proposes a priority for a Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center (RERC) on each of: Rehabilitation Strategies, Techniques, and Interventions (priority 1); Information and Communication Technologies (priority 2); Individual Mobility and Manipulation (priority 3); and Physical Access and Transportation (priority 4). The Assistant Secretary may use one or more of these priorities for competitions in fiscal year (FY) 2013 and later years. We take this action to focus research attention on areas of national need. We intend the priorities to improve rehabilitation services and outcomes for individuals with disabilities.

In accordance with existing regulations, this final rule raises the minimum limit on domestic baggage liability applicable to air carriers to reflect inflation since July 2008, the basis month of the most recent previous revision to the liability limit. DOT regulations require that the Department of Transportation periodically revise the limit to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). This revision adjusts the minimum limit of liability from the current amount of $3,300, set by the Department in November 2008, to $3,400, to take into account the changes in consumer prices since the prior revision.

This statement describes a policy change to the FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program. The FAA wants to ensure that countries do not remain on this listing when the results of the FAA's IASA determinations as to those countries might no longer be accurate or reasonably current. The FAA is accordingly adopting a procedure to remove a country from the IASA program summary listing when that country's air carriers no longer provide air service to the United States, none of the country's air carriers participates in code- share arrangements with U.S. air carriers, and the country's civil aviation authority (CAA) has ceased interacting with the FAA for an extended period of time. The FAA is making this change to improve the quality of the IASA summary listing. This statement also explains IASA Categories 1 and 2 in terms of what the flying public may reasonably take them to mean. This document modifies the IASA policies previously announced by the FAA.

This document summarizes the results of an Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) review of the Pork Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Program (Program), commonly known as the Pork Checkoff Program, under the criteria contained in section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA). Based upon this review, AMS concluded that there is a continued need for the Pork Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Order (Order). Copies of the review performed by AMS are available to interested parties.

We are revising an earlier proposed airworthiness directive (AD) to supersede an existing AD for certain The Boeing Company Model 767 airplanes. The existing AD currently requires repetitive inspections to detect discrepancies of the wiring and surrounding Teflon sleeves of the fuel tank boost pumps and override/jettison pumps; replacement of the sleeves with new sleeves, for certain airplanes; and repair or replacement of the wiring and sleeves with new parts, as necessary. The first SNPRM proposed to reduce the initial compliance time and repetitive inspection interval in the existing AD. The first SNPRM also proposed to mandate a terminating action for the repetitive inspections, to eliminate wire damage. In addition, the first SNPRM proposed to remove certain airplanes from the applicability of the existing AD. The first SNPRM was prompted by fleet information indicating that the repetitive inspection interval in the existing AD is too long, because excessive chafing of the sleeving continues to occur much earlier than expected between scheduled inspections. This action revises the first SNPRM by also proposing to require revising the maintenance program to incorporate changes to the airworthiness limitations section. We are proposing this second SNPRM to detect and correct chafing of the fuel pump wire insulation and consequent exposure of the electrical conductor, which could result in electrical arcing between the wires and conduit and consequent fire or explosion of the fuel tank. Since these actions impose an additional burden over that proposed in the first SNPRM, we are reopening the comment period to allow the public the chance to comment on these proposed changes.

The purpose of this notice is to announce that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has received a complete program revision package from the State of Washington requesting approval of its revised Underground Injection Control (UIC) program; the EPA has determined the application contains all the required elements; the application is available for inspection and copying at the address appearing below; public comments are requested; and a public hearing will be held. The purpose of this notice is to inform the public that the State of Washington has revised its UIC regulations, including the transfer of oversight authority from the Department of Ecology to the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council to issue UIC permits at energy facilities and other minor technical corrections.

This action amends the description of the Houston, TX, Class B airspace area by changing the airport reference for describing the William P. Hobby Airport in the Class B airspace header from ``Secondary Airport'' to ``Primary Airport.'' This change is editorial only and does not alter the current charted boundaries or altitudes or ATC procedures for the Houston Class B airspace area.

This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) seeks comment on a proposal to elevate the allocation status of Earth Stations Aboard Aircraft (ESAA) in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band from secondary to primary and whether giving ESAA licensees primary status in the 14.0-14.5 GHz band would require a change to the technical rules.