2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On February 5, 2013, EPA published its proposed source- specific Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) requiring the Navajo Generating Station (NGS), located on the Navajo Nation, to reduce emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOX) under the Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) provision of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). EPA proposed the BART FIP to reduce visibility impairment caused by NGS at 11 National Parks and Wilderness Areas. EPA's proposed FIP included: (1) A proposed BART determination; (2) A proposed ``better than BART'' alternative that achieves greater reasonable progress towards the national visibility goals than BART; and (3) a framework for evaluating additional alternatives to BART. This framework for evaluating additional alternatives was included in the proposal due to the unique purpose and history of NGS and the numerous stakeholder interests in it. On March 19, 2013 and June 19, 2013, EPA provided two extensions of the public comment period based on requests of several stakeholders who were actively working to develop an alternative to BART. On July 26, 2013, a group of stakeholders, known as the Technical Work Group (TWG), submitted to EPA their suggested alternative to BART (the ``TWG Alternative''). The TWG Alternative establishes a lifetime cap in NOX emissions over 2009-2044 (the 2009-2044 NOX Cap) that is equivalent to the cumulative NOX emissions over 2009-2044 that NGS would emit under EPA's proposed BART determination of 0.055 lb/MMBtu achieved within five years of the final rule. Due to on-going lease and ownership uncertainties, the operators of NGS cannot yet commit to a single course of action for maintaining emissions below the 2009-2044 NOX Cap. The TWG Alternative therefore includes several alternative operating scenarios for meeting the 2009-2044 NOX Cap. EPA did not participate in the TWG or assist in developing the TWG Alternative, and has independently evaluated the TWG Alternative to determine if it meets the requirements of the CAA and the Regional Haze Rule (RHR). In this action, EPA is proposing to determine that the TWG Alternative is ``better than BART'' because maintaining emissions below the 2009-2044 NOX Cap, as provided in the TWG Alternative, achieves greater reasonable progress than EPA's proposed BART determination towards the national visibility goal. EPA is accepting comment concurrently on today's Supplemental Proposal and our proposal from February 5, 2013.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering extending the latest construction completion date specified in Construction Permit No. CPPR-92 issued to Tennessee Valley Authority (permittee, TVA) for the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant (WBN), Unit 2.

This final rule responds to public comments regarding the establishment of the DIB CS/IA program, a voluntary cyber security information sharing program between DoD and eligible DIB companies. The program enhances and supplements DIB participants' capabilities to safeguard DoD information that resides on, or transits, DIB unclassified information systems.

The Department of Defense (DoD) is publishing this final rule to remove the exclusion of drug maintenance programs and allow TRICARE coverage of the substitution of a therapeutic drug, with addictive potential, for a drug of addiction when medically necessary and appropriate as part of a comprehensive treatment plan for an individual with substance use dependence. The current regulation prohibits coverage of drug maintenance programs where one addictive substance is substituted for another. The final rule allows TRICARE to cover, as part of otherwise authorized treatment of substance use disorder, utilization of a specific category of psychoactive agent when medically necessary and appropriate. Removal of the exclusion is based on recognition of the accumulated medical evidence supporting the use of certain pharmacotherapies as one component in the continuum of opioid treatment services. Medication assisted treatment, to include drug maintenance involving substitution of a therapeutic drug with addiction potential, for a drug of addiction, is now generally accepted by qualified professionals to be reasonable and adequate as a component in the safe and effective treatment of substance use disorders treatment services, and thus appropriate for inclusion as a component in the TRICARE authorized substance use disorder treatment for beneficiaries.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to designate critical habitat for three Caribbean plants, Agave eggersiana, Gonocalyx concolor, and Varronia rupicola, under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The effect of this rule, if it is made final, would be to conserve habitat for these three Caribbean plants under the Act.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (``OFAC'') is publishing the names of three individuals and three entities whose property and interests in property have been unblocked pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (``Kingpin Act'') (21 U.S.C. 1901-1908, 8 U.S.C. 1182).

EPA is taking direct final action to approve two State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions 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 made a submittal addressing the infrastructure requirements for the 2008 lead (Pb) NAAQS and a separate submittal addressing requirements in relation to State Boards. EPA is approving portions of the infrastructure requirements for the 2008 lead NAAQS and the requirements addressing State Boards for the District in accordance with the requirements of the CAA.

The EPA is taking final action to revise the regulatory definition of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for purposes of preparing state implementation plans (SIPs) to attain the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone under title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA). This final action adds 2,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (also known as HFO-1234yf) to the list of compounds excluded from the regulatory definition of VOCs on the basis that this compound makes a negligible contribution to tropospheric ozone formation. As a result, if you are subject to certain federal regulations limiting emissions of VOCs, your emissions of HFO-1234yf may not be regulated for some purposes. This action may also affect whether HFO-1234yf is considered a VOC for state regulatory purposes, depending on whether the state relies on the EPA's regulatory definition of VOCs.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) will be meeting at the time and location listed above. Items on the Board's consent agenda include the minutes of the August 21, 2013 meeting and resolutions concerning proposed meeting dates for calendar year 2014, reform of the Board's committee structure, establishment of a special committee on a chief executive officer, establishment of a special committee on shortwave, the Boards of Directors of BBG-funded grantees, and Board travel policy. This meeting will also be available for public observation via streamed webcast, both live and on-demand, on the BBG's public Web site at www.bbg.gov. Information regarding this meeting, including any updates or adjustments to its starting time, can also be found on the Agency's public Web site. The public may also attend this meeting in person, unless the partial government shutdown persists, at the address listed above as seating capacity permits. Member of the public seeking to attend the meeting in person must register at https:// bbgboardmeetingoct2013.eventbrite.com by 12:00 p.m. (EDT) on October 22. For more information, please contact BBG Public Affairs at (202) 203-4400 or by email at pubaff@bbg.gov.

The Patent Law Treaties Implementation Act of 2012 (PLTIA) amends the patent laws to implement the provisions of the Hague Agreement Concerning International Registration of Industrial Designs (Hague Agreement) in title I, and the Patent Law Treaty (PLT) in title II. The PLT harmonizes and streamlines formal procedures pertaining to the filing and processing of patent applications. This final rule revises the rules of practice for consistency with the changes in the PLT and title II of the PLTIA. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) is implementing the Hague Agreement and title I of the PLTIA in a separate rulemaking. The notable changes in the PLT and title II of the PLTIA pertain to: The filing date requirements for a patent application; the restoration of patent rights via the revival of abandoned applications and acceptance of delayed maintenance fee payments; and the restoration of the right of priority to a foreign application or the benefit of a provisional application in a subsequent application filed within two months of the expiration of the twelve- month period (six-month period for design applications) for filing such a subsequent application. This final rule also revises the patent term adjustment provisions to provide for a reduction of any patent term adjustment if an application is not in condition for examination within eight months of its filing date or date of commencement of national stage in an international application, and contains miscellaneous changes pertaining to the supplemental examination, inventor's oath or declaration, and first inventor to file provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (AIA).