October 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA proposes to approve the State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the District of Columbia (hereafter ``the District'') pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA). Whenever new or revised national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) are promulgated, the CAA requires states to submit a plan for the implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of such NAAQS. The plan is required to address basic program elements including, but not limited to, regulatory structure, monitoring, modeling, legal authority, and adequate resources necessary to assure attainment and maintenance of the NAAQS. These elements are referred to as infrastructure requirements. The District has made a submittal addressing the infrastructure requirements for the 2008 lead (Pb) NAAQS (``the infrastructure submittal'') and a separate submittal addressing requirements in relation to State Boards. This action is being taken under the CAA. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the District's SIP submittals as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views these as noncontroversial submittals and anticipates no adverse comments. A more detailed description of the District's submittals and EPA's evaluation are included in a Technical Support Document (TSD) prepared in support of this rulemaking action. A copy of the TSD is available, upon request, from the EPA Regional Office listed in the ADDRESSES section of this document. 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 If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule.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.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list Agave eggersiana (no common name) and Gonocalyx concolor (no common name) as endangered species, and Varronia rupicola (no common name) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). These three plants are endemic to the Caribbean. The effect of this regulation, if finalized, would be to conserve A. eggersiana, G. concolor, and V. rupicola under the Act.

NMFS is closing the directed herring fishery in management area 1A, because it projects that 92 percent of the catch limit for that area will have been caught by the effective date. Effective 0001 hr, October 15, 2013, federally permitted vessels may not fish for, catch, possess, transfer, or land more than 2,000 lb (907.2 kg) of Atlantic herring (herring) per trip or calendar day in or from Management Area 1A until June 1, 2014, when the 2014 allocation for Area 1A becomes available. Vessels that have entered port before 0001 hr on October 15, 2013, may possess, offload, and sell more than 2,000 lb of herring from Area 1A, from that trip, after the closure. Also effective 0001 hr, October 15, 2013, federally permitted dealers may not receive more than 2,000 lb (907.2 kg) of herring caught within Management Area 1A per trip or calendar day, unless it is from a trip landed by a vessel that entered port before 0001 hr on October 15, 2013.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on the navigable waters of Oyster Bay near Oyster Bay, NY for the Oyster Festival 30th Anniversary fireworks display. This temporary safety zone is necessary to protect spectators and vessels from the hazards associated with fireworks displays. This rule is intended to restrict all vessels from a portion of Oyster Bay before, during, and immediately after the fireworks event.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Board), are adopting a final rule that revises their risk-based and leverage capital requirements for banking organizations. The final rule consolidates three separate notices of proposed rulemaking that the OCC, Board, and FDIC published in the Federal Register on August 30, 2012, with selected changes. The final rule implements a revised definition of regulatory capital, a new common equity tier 1 minimum capital requirement, a higher minimum tier 1 capital requirement, and, for banking organizations subject to the advanced approaches risk-based capital rules, a supplementary leverage ratio that incorporates a broader set of exposures in the denominator. The final rule incorporates these new requirements into the agencies' prompt corrective action (PCA) framework. In addition, the final rule establishes limits on a banking organization's capital distributions and certain discretionary bonus payments if the banking organization does not hold a specified amount of common equity tier 1 capital in addition to the amount necessary to meet its minimum risk-based capital requirements. Further, the final rule amends the methodologies for determining risk-weighted assets for all banking organizations, and introduces disclosure requirements that would apply to top-tier banking organizations domiciled in the United States with $50 billion or more in total assets. The final rule also adopts changes to the agencies' regulatory capital requirements that meet the requirements of section 171 and section 939A of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The final rule also codifies the agencies' regulatory capital rules, which have previously resided in various appendices to their respective regulations, into a harmonized integrated regulatory framework. In addition, the OCC is amending the market risk capital rule (market risk rule) to apply to Federal savings associations, and the Board is amending the advanced approaches and market risk rules to apply to top-tier savings and loan holding companies domiciled in the United States, except for certain savings and loan holding companies that are substantially engaged in insurance underwriting or commercial activities, as described in this preamble.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for pollock in Statistical Area 620 in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2013 total allowable catch of pollock for Statistical Area 620 in the GOA.

NMFS reduces the commercial trip limit for vermilion snapper in or from the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic to 500 lb (227 kg), gutted weight. This trip limit reduction is necessary to protect the South Atlantic vermilion snapper resource.

NMFS implements an accountability measure (AM) for recreational gray triggerfish in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) reef fish fishery for the 2013 fishing year through this temporary final rule. Based on the projected recreational landings, NMFS determined that the recreational annual catch target (ACT) for Gulf gray triggerfish was reached in August 2013. Therefore, NMFS closes the recreational sector for gray triggerfish in the Gulf EEZ at 12:01 a.m., local time, October 15, 2013, until January 1, 2014. This closure is necessary to reduce overfishing of the Gulf gray triggerfish resource.

NMFS announces a temporary removal of the 2,000-lb (907.2 kg) trip limit for the Atlantic herring fishery in Management Area 2 (Area 2) because catch data indicate that 95 percent of the total sub-annual catch limit (sub-ACL) threshold in Area 2 has not been fully attained. Vessels issued a Federal permit to harvest Atlantic herring may resume fishing for and landing herring in amounts greater than 2,000 lb (907.2 kg), consistent with their respective Atlantic herring permit categories, effective 0001 hrs, October 1, 2013.

NMFS is implementing Framework Adjustment 2 to the Atlantic Herring Fishery Management Plan (Framework 2) and the 2013-2015 fishery specifications for the Atlantic herring fishery (2013-2015 specifications). Framework 2 allows the New England Fishery Management Council (Council) to split annual catch limits seasonally for the four Atlantic herring management areas, and the carryover of unharvested catch, up to 10 percent for each area's annual catch limit. The specifications set catch specifications for the herring fishery for the 2013-2015 fishing years and establish seasonal splits for management areas 1A and 1B as recommended to NMFS by the Council.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has updated the Patent and Trademark Office Acquisition Guidelines (PTAG), which are the agency's internal operating procedures for procurement.

In this document, the Commission, via the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau (Bureau) seeks comment to refresh the record in response to the Commission's April 2012 Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Further Notice), in which the Commission sought comment on whether it should take additional steps to prevent cramming, including ``opt-in'' and possible solutions to Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) cramming. The additional comments will facilitate the development of a full record given the importance of the issues in this proceeding.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Dassault Aviation Model FALCON 2000 and FALCON 2000EX airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by a determination that new center of gravity (CG) limits applicable during takeoff with a Slat/ Flap SF2 setting are necessary. This proposed AD would require revising the airplane flight manual (AFM) to include procedures to advise the flightcrew of the new CG limits. We are proposing this AD to prevent an erratic takeoff path and consequent reduced controllability of the airplane.

This document corrects technical and typographical errors in the final rules that appeared in the August 19, 2013 Federal Register titled ``Medicare Program; Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems for Acute Care Hospitals and the Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System and Fiscal Year 2014 Rates; Quality Reporting Requirements for Specific Providers; Hospital Conditions of Participation; Payment Policies Related to Patient Status.''

This final rule addresses recommendations submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) following their November 2011 and May 2012 meetings. These recommendations pertain to the 2013 Sunset Review of substances on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List). Consistent with the recommendations from the NOSB, this final rule continues the allowed uses of multiple synthetic and nonsynthetic substances and the prohibition of one nonsynthetic substance on the National List (along with any restrictive annotations). This rule also removes one synthetic substance from the National List.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list Brickellia mosieri (Florida brickell-bush) and Linum carteri var. carteri (Carter's small-flowered flax), as endangered species under the Endangered Species Act. If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would extend the Act's protections to these plants.

The Coast Guard is changing the operating schedule that governs the Walnut Street Bridge at mile 2.8, and the Market Street Bridge at mile 3.0, both located on the Christina River in Wilmington, DE. Originally it was also proposed that the Third Street Drawbridge at mile 2.3 be included in this rule change but that request was withdrawn. Since the two other drawbridges are located near one another and the few vessels that do transit this waterway usually go through all three bridges, the Walnut Street and Market Street bridges will now open on the same eight hour advance notice. This rule will change the current regulations by allowing the Third Street and Walnut Street drawbridges to be opened in sequence with the same eight hour advance notice presently given to the Market Street drawbridge. This schedule clarifies the sequencing of these drawbridge openings, and provides for the reasonable needs of navigation.

The Coast Guard is correcting the docket number in a notice of enforcement that appeared in the Federal Register on September 26, 2013 (78 FR 59240). The correct docket number is USCG-2012-0309.

This action establishes Class E airspace at Comanche, TX. Controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate Area Navigation (RNAV) Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAP) at Comanche County-City Airport. The FAA found that SIAPs were established for the airport in 2006, but the Class E airspace area to contain it was never established, thereby prohibiting certain aircraft from using the procedures. This seriously impacts the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at the airport. As a result, a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) has been issued suspending the use of the procedures until the Class E airspace area is established.

This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the final rule published in the August 6, 2013, Federal Register entitled ``Medicare Program; Prospective Payment System and Consolidated Billing for Skilled Nursing Facilities for FY 2014.''

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is issuing this consolidated advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to request public comments on a wide range of topics pertaining to the new Public Transportation Safety Program (National Safety Program) and the requirements of the new transit asset management provisions (National TAM System) authorized by the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act. Together, the requirements of the National Safety Program and the National TAM System are intended to improve the safety of the Nation's public transportation systems, ensure that those systems are in a state of good repair, and provide increased transparency into agencies' budgetary decision-making process.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bombardier, Inc. Model CL-215-6B11 (CL-415 Variant) airplanes. This AD requires replacing the panel assembly of the main distribution center (MDC) rack. This AD was prompted by findings of chafed power wires due to flexing of the MDC rack panel. We are issuing this AD to prevent damage to power wires, which could cause simultaneous loss of systems such as electrical power, pilot indications, and caution/advisory lighting systems, which are essential for safe flight.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), determine endangered status for the Taylor's checkerspot butterfly (Euphydryas editha taylori) and threatened status for the streaked horned lark (Eremophila alpestris strigata) under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (Act), as amended. This final rule adds these species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and implements the Federal protections provided by the Act for these species. This rule also establishes a special rule under section 4(d) of the Act to exempt certain activities from the take prohibitions of the Act and our regulations in order to provide for the conservation of the streaked horned lark.

The EPA is approving a limited maintenance plan submitted by the State of Washington on July 1, 2013, for the Thurston County maintenance area (Thurston County) for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to a nominal 10 micrometers (PM10). The EPA is also approving both local and state regulatory updates related to this maintenance plan.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain The Boeing Company Model 737-600, -700, -700C, -800, -900, and -900ER series airplanes. This AD was prompted by a new revision to the airworthiness limitations of the maintenance planning data (MPD) document. This AD requires revising the maintenance program to update inspection requirements to detect fatigue cracking of principal structural elements (PSEs). We are issuing this AD to detect and correct fatigue cracking of various principal structural elements (PSEs), which could adversely affect the structural integrity of these airplanes.