March 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS proposes approval of, and regulations to implement, measures in Framework Adjustment 50 (Framework 50) to the Northeast (NE) Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (FMP). Framework 50 would set specifications for fishing years (FYs) 2013-2015, including 2013 total allowable catches (TACs) for the three U.S./Canada stocks, modify the rebuilding program for Southern New England/Mid-Atlantic (SNE/MA) winter flounder, and revise management measures for this stock consistent with the proposed rebuilding strategy. This action also proposes recreational management measures for FY 2013, as well as revisions to the sector carryover program. An emergency action to implement a 2013 catch limit for Georges Bank (GB) yellowtail flounder is also proposed in this action. The proposed regulations are intended to prevent overfishing, rebuild overfished stocks, achieve optimum yield, and ensure that management measures are based on the best available scientific information.

We, NMFS, announce a 90-day finding on a petition from WildEarth Guardians to list the sperm whale (Physter macrocephalus) as an endangered or threatened distinct population segment (DPS) in the Gulf of Mexico. We find that the petition presents substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted. As a result, we hereby initiate a status review of sperm whales in the Gulf of Mexico to determine whether the petitioned action is warranted. To ensure that the status review is comprehensive, we are soliciting scientific and commercial information pertaining to this species and potential critical habitat from any interested party.

We are amending the regulations governing the importation of animals and animal products by recognizing 25 Member States of the European Union (EU) as the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)-defined EU poultry trade region and adding it to the list of regions we consider to be free of Newcastle disease. We are taking this action based on a risk evaluation that we prepared in which we determined that the region meets our requirements for being considered free of Newcastle disease. We also determined that the region meets our requirements for being considered free of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). In addition, we are establishing requirements governing the importation of live birds and poultry and poultry meat and products from the APHIS-defined EU poultry trade region and updating avian disease terms and definitions. We are also allowing importation from the APHIS-defined EU poultry trade region of hatching eggs under official seal, including those that have transited a restricted zone established because of detection of HPAI within the boundaries of the APHIS-defined EU poultry trade region. These actions will facilitate the importation of live birds and poultry, including hatching eggs, and poultry meat and products from the APHIS-defined EU poultry trade region while maintaining safeguards to protect the United States from the introduction of communicable avian diseases.

The Coast Guard is establishing a special local regulation on the waters of Charleston Harbor in Charleston, South Carolina during Charleston Race Week, a series of sailboat races. From Thursday, April 18, 2013, until Sunday, April 21, 2013, approximately 300 sailboats are anticipated to participate in these races, and approximately 15 spectator vessels are expected to watch the event. A special local regulation is necessary to provide for the safety of life on the navigable waters of the United States during the races. This special local regulation consists of three race areas. Except for those persons and vessels participating in the sailboat races, persons and vessels are prohibited from entering, transiting through, anchoring in, or remaining within any of the race areas unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Charleston or a designated representative.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary moving safety zone on the waters of Bahia de San Juan during the transit of the Spanish Navy School Ship San Sebastian El Cano, a public vessel, and during their 21 gun salute in accordance with the military tradition of vessel proving that it is unarmed upon entrance into a foreign country. The safety zone is necessary to protect the public from the hazards associated with the 21 gun salute near the Bar Channel entrance, and to protect the high ranking officials on board the Spanish Navy School Ship San Sebastian El Cano. The inbound escort is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 6, 2013, and will entail an escort of the Spanish Navy School Ship San Sebastian El Cano and 21 gun salute. The outbound escort is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. The safety zone is necessary to ensure the safety of high ranking officials, commercial traffic, spectators, and the general public on the navigable waters of the United States during the transit and salute. Persons and vessels are prohibited from entering, transiting through, anchoring in, or remaining within the safety zone unless authorized by the Captain of the Port San Juan or a designated representative.

The Coast Guard proposes to establish a safety zone within Milwaukee Harbor, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This Zone is intended to restrict vessels from a portion of Milwaukee Harbor due to the 2013 and 2014 Olympic and Sprint Distance National Championships. This proposed safety zone is necessary to protect the surrounding public and vessels from the hazards associated with the 2013 and 2014 Olympic and Sprint Distance National Championships.

The EPA proposes to amend the compliance certification requirements for state and federal operating permits programs that were published in the Federal Register on June 27, 2003. In that action, one sentence was removed from the rules in error. This action proposes to restore the sentence to its original location in the rules.

EPA is proposing to convert a conditional approval of specified provisions of the Ohio state implementation plan (SIP) to a full approval. Ohio submitted a request to approve a section of its particulate matter (PM) rules on February 23, 2012. The PM rule revisions being approved establish work practices for coating operations, add a section clarifying that sources can be subject to both stationary source and fugitive source PM restrictions, and add a PM emission limitation exemption for jet engine testing. Pursuant to a state commitment underlying a previous conditional approval of this rule, the revised rule provides that any exemption from the work practice requirements that the state grants to large coating sources must be submitted to EPA for approval.

This final rule adopts without substantive change the proposed rule with request for comments published in the Federal Register on October 31, 2011, and includes several non-substantive, technical corrections. The Department of Justice (Department) is amending its regulations to alter the process by which the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) forwards asylum applications for consideration by the Department of State (DOS), Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Currently, EOIR forwards to DOS all asylum applications that are submitted initially in removal proceedings before an immigration judge. The final rule amends the regulations to provide for sending asylum applications to DOS on a discretionary basis. For example, EOIR may forward an application in order to ascertain whether DOS has information relevant to the applicant's eligibility for asylum. This change increases the efficiency of DOS' review of asylum applications and is consistent with similar changes already made by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) published a rule in the Federal Register of December 5, 2012, announcing the revisions to regulations addressing non-agricultural surface leasing of Indian land. This notice makes some minor corrections to include the proper indefinite article for the term ``agricultural lease'' and clarifies two provisions for wind energy evaluation leases (WEELs).

Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to approve Reliability Standard MOD-028-2, submitted to the Commission for approval by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization. NERC proposes one modification to the currently-effective Reliability Standard MOD-028-1, pertaining to the information a transmission service provider must include when calculating Total Transfer Capability using the area interchange methodology for the on-peak and off-peak intra-day and next day time periods. The Commission also proposes to approve NERC's proposed implementation plan and retirement of the currently-effective standard.

This action establishes Class E airspace at Round Mountain, TX. Controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate new Area Navigation (RNAV) Standard Instrument Approach Procedures at West Ranch Airport. The FAA is taking this action to enhance the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) operations at the airport.

On February 27, 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) announced that staff will convene a workshop on Wednesday, March 27, 2013 to discuss certain topics related to the proposals in the Small Generator Interconnection Agreements and Procedures Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Docket No. RM13-2-000).\1\ Please note that the time for the conference has been changed.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) requests public comment on Draft Spent Fuel Storage and Transportation Interim Staff Guidance No. 26A (SFST-ISG-26A), Revision 0, ``Shielding and Radiation Protection Review Effort and Licensing Conditions for 10 CFR Part 72 Applications.''

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 777 airplanes. This AD was prompted by reports that escape slides/rafts did not deploy due to galvanic corrosion of the door-mounted slide/raft packboard release mechanisms. This AD requires doing a general visual inspection of the housing assembly of the packboard release mechanism to determine if its surface treatment has been sealed, and if the surface of the housing assembly is unsealed, replacing the housing assembly with a new or serviceable housing assembly. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct corrosion of the packboard release mechanisms, which could interfere with escape slide/raft deployment, prohibit doors from opening in the armed mode, and cause consequent delay and injury during evacuation of passengers and crew from the cabin in the event of an emergency.

The FAA will be holding a public engagement session on Wednesday, April 3, 2013, on the proposed privacy policy approach for the unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) test site program. The FAA is seeking the views from the public with respect to proposed privacy language to be included in agreements with each test site operator.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 meters (m)) length overall (LOA) using jig or hook-and-line gear in the Bogoslof Pacific cod exemption area of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the limit of Pacific cod for catcher vessels less than 60 feet (18.3 m) LOA using jig or hook-and-line gear in the Bogoslof Pacific cod exemption area in the BSAI.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 707-300, 707-300B, and 707-300C series airplanes; and certain Model 727C, 727-100C, and 727-200F series airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by a report that a cam latch on the main cargo door (MCD) broke during flight. This proposed AD would require performing repetitive inspections of the MCD cam latches; replacing cam latches, certain bolts, and door hinge fittings; performing related investigative and corrective actions, if necessary; and MCD rigging. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct cracked or damaged cam latches, latch pins, and latch pin cross bolts, which could reduce the structural integrity of the MCD, and result in rapid decompression of the airplane and potential loss of the MCD during flight.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 747-100, -100B, -100B SUD, -200B, - 200C, -200F, -300, -400, -400D, -400F, and 747SR series airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by reports of cracking at the aft upper corner of the main entry door (MED) 5 cutout. This proposed AD would require inspecting for the presence of repairs and measuring the edge margin at certain fastener locations around the upper aft corner of the door cutout, inspecting for any cracking of the fuselage skin assembly and bear strap in the aft upper corner area of the door cutout, and repairing or modifying the fuselage skin assembly and bear strap if necessary. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct cracking of the skin and bear straps at the aft upper corner of the MED 5 cutout, which could result in in-flight depressurization.

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is proposing to maintain user fees for cotton producers for 2013 crop cotton classification services under the Cotton Statistics and Estimates Act at the same level as in 2012. These fees are also authorized under the Cotton Standards Act of 1923. The 2012 crop user fee was $2.20 per bale, and AMS proposes to continue the fee for the 2013 cotton crop at that same level. This proposed fee and the existing reserve are sufficient to cover the costs of providing classification services for the 2013 crop, including costs for administration and supervision.

This action revises several portions of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Trawl Rationalization Program (program) regulations in response to a court order requiring the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to reconsider the initial allocation of Pacific whiting (whiting) to the shorebased individual fishing quota (IFQ) fishery and the at-sea mothership fishery. Additionally, NMFS concludes after review of public comments and the record as a whole, that the Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council's) recommendation to maintain the existing initial allocations of whiting is consistent with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA), the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (Groundfish FMP), and other applicable law. This final rule will affect the transfer of quota share (QS) and individual bycatch quota (IBQ) between QS accounts in the shorebased IFQ fishery, and severability of catch history assignments (CHAs) in the mothership fishery, both of which will be allowed on specified dates, with the exception of widow rockfish. Widow rockfish is no longer an overfished species and transfer of QS for this species will be reinstated pending reconsideration of the allocation of widow rockfish QS in a future action. The divestiture period for widow rockfish QS in the IFQ fishery will also be delayed indefinitely.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce the reopening of the public comment period on our October 3, 2012, proposal to add the acu[ntilde]a cactus and Fickeisen plains cactus to the list of endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). We also announce the reopening of comment on our October 3, 2012, proposal to designate critical habitat for the acu[ntilde]a cactus and Fickeisen plains cactus and the availability of a draft economic analysis of the proposed designation of critical habitat and an amended required determinations section for the proposal. We are reopening the comment period to allow all interested parties an opportunity to comment simultaneously on the proposals, the associated draft economic analysis for the critical habitat designation, and the amended required determinations. Comments previously submitted need not be resubmitted, as they will be fully considered in preparation of the final rules.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list the Rosemont talussnail as endangered or threatened and to designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). After a review of the best available scientific information, we find that listing the Rosemont talussnail as an endangered or threatened species is not warranted, and, therefore, we are removing this species from the candidate list.