September 12, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is denying a petition for rulemaking (PRM), PRM-50-105, submitted by Mark Leyse (the petitioner) on February 28, 2012. The petitioner requested that the NRC require all holders of operating licenses for nuclear power plants (NPPs) to operate NPPs with in-core thermocouples at different elevations and radial positions throughout the reactor core to enable the operators to accurately measure a large range of in-core temperatures in NPP steady-state and transient conditions. The NRC is denying the PRM because: there are no protection or plant control functions that utilize inputs from core exit thermocouples (CETs); there is no operational necessity for more accurate measurement of temperatures throughout the core; the petition provided inadequate justification of why precise knowledge of core temperature at various elevations and radial positions would enhance safety or change operator action; and the NRC believes that, despite the known limitations of CETs, CETs are sufficient to allow NPP operators to take timely and effective action in the event of an accident.

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.

NMFS issues this final rule to implement Regulatory Amendment 2 to the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the Queen Conch Resources of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) (Regulatory Amendment 2), as prepared by the Caribbean Fishery Management Council (Council). This final rule revises the commercial trip limit for queen conch in the Caribbean exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to be compatible with the trip limit in USVI territorial waters. The purpose of this provision is to improve the compatibility of Federal and USVI territorial regulations for queen conch in order to facilitate enforcement efforts while ensuring the long-term health of the queen conch resource. This final rule also changes the regulations specifying the queen conch fishing season to correct an inadvertent change to the text that occurred in a prior rulemaking. The revision better reflects the original and current intent of the Council.

We are amending the Hawaii quarantine regulations to allow the interstate movement of untreated Sharwil avocados from Hawaii into the continental United States. As a condition of movement, Sharwil avocados from Hawaii will have to be produced in accordance with a systems approach that includes requirements for registration and monitoring of places of production and packinghouses, an orchard trapping program, grove sanitation, limits on harvest periods and distribution areas, and harvesting and packing requirements to ensure that only intact fruit that have been protected against infestation are shipped. This action will allow for the interstate movement of Sharwil avocados from Hawaii into other States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests.

U.S. derivatives markets have experienced a fundamental transition from human-centered trading venues to highly automated and interconnected trading environments. The operational centers of modern markets now reside in a combination of automated trading systems (``ATSs'') and electronic trading platforms that can execute repetitive tasks at speeds orders of magnitude greater than any human equivalent. Traditional risk controls and safeguards that relied on human judgment and speeds, and which were appropriate to manual and/or floor-based trading environments, must be reevaluated in light of new market structures. Further, the Commission and market participants must ensure that regulatory standards and internal controls are calibrated to match both current and foreseeable market technologies and risks. This Concept Release on Risk Controls and System Safeguards for Automated Trading Environments (``Concept Release'') reflects the Commission's continuing commitment to the safety and soundness of U.S. derivatives markets in a time of rapid technological change. The Concept Release serves as a platform for cataloguing existing industry practices, determining their efficacy and implementation to date, and evaluating the need for additional measures, if any. The Commission welcomes all public comments.

The U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, gives notice of revised procedures for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act and Council on Environmental Quality regulations. These final implementing procedures are being issued in regulations concerning National Environmental Policy Act Compliance, which describes categorical exclusions. Categorical exclusions (CE) are categories of actions that normally will not result in individual or cumulative significant impacts on the quality of the human environment and, therefore, do not require analysis or documentation in either an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement. The revision adds three new categorical exclusions for activities that restore lands negatively impacted by water control structures, disturbance events, and roads and trails. Activities that restore lands occupied by National Forest System Roads and National Forest System Trails are excluded from this final rule. These will allow the Forest Service to more efficiently analyze and document the potential environmental effects of soil and water restoration projects that are intended to restore the flow of waters into natural channels and floodplains by removing water control structures, such as dikes, ditches, culverts, and pipes; restore lands and habitat to pre- disturbance conditions, to the extent practicable, by removing debris and sediment following disturbance events; and restore lands occupied by roads and trails to natural conditions. These categorical exclusions will not apply where resource conditions related to the potential effect of a proposed action constitute an extraordinary circumstance. Activities conducted under these categorical exclusions must be consistent with Agency procedures and applicable land management plans and must comply with all applicable Federal and State laws for protecting the environment. The road and trail restoration category will be used for restoring lands impacted by roads and trails that are not needed, not maintained, and/or where public access is prohibited. This category will not be used to make access decisions about which roads and trails are to be designated for public use.

This action updates, simplifies, and streamlines rules of practice and procedure for filing and adjudicating complaints against federally-assisted airports. It improves efficiency by enabling parties to file submissions with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) electronically, and by incorporating modern business practices into how the FAA handles complaints. This amendment is necessary to reflect changes in applicable laws and regulations, and to apply lessons learned since the existing rules were implemented in 1996.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, propose to designate critical habitat for Arabis georgiana (Georgia rockcress) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). In total, we propose to designate as critical habitat approximately 323 hectares (786 acres) of riparian, river bluff habitat for this species. The intended effect of this rule is to conserve Georgia rockcress and its habitat under the Act. The proposed critical habitat is located in Georgia, including parts of Gordon, Floyd, Harris, Muscogee, Chattahoochee, and Clay Counties, and in Alabama, including parts of Bibb, Dallas, Elmore, Monroe, Russell, Sumter, and Wilcox Counties.

EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted to EPA by the State of Colorado. On May 25, 2011, the Governor of Colorado's designee submitted a Clean Air Act (CAA) section 175A(b) second 10-year maintenance plan for the Fort Collins area for the carbon monoxide (CO) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). This limited maintenance plan (LMP) addresses maintenance of the CO NAAQS for a second 10-year period beyond the original redesignation. This action is being taken under sections 110 and 175A of the CAA.

In this document, the Wireline Competition Bureau announces the availability of the next version of the Connect America Cost Model (CAM v3.2), which includes certain adjustments to the CAM to reflect the unique circumstances and operating conditions in the non-contiguous areas of the United States. The Bureau seeks comment on these changes, specifically the addition of the capability to model costs for undersea cable connecting non-contiguous areas to the contiguous United States, plant mix values submitted by Alaska Communications Systems Group, Inc. (ACS) for Alaska, and using the default value of ``1'' for the regional cost adjustment for the U.S. Virgin Islands, which has the effect of increasing labor costs. Lastly, the Bureau seeks comment on using the plant mix values that were filed separately in models previously filed by Puerto Rico Telephone Company, Inc. (PRTC) and Virgin Islands Telephone Corporation d/b/a Innovative Telephone (Vitelco) in the next version of the CAM.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for Bell Model 206A, 206B, 206L, 206L-1, 206L-3, 206L-4, 222, 222B, 222U, 230, 407, 427, and 430 helicopters. This AD requires inspecting each bearing to determine if it has been properly staked and replacing the bearing or assembly if it has not been properly staked. This AD was prompted by bearings not being properly staked and migrating out of their proper position, which may limit the functionality of the affected part. The actions of this AD are intended to prevent failure of a bearing and the assembly in which it is installed and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter.