May 20, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the West Virginia regulatory program (the West Virginia program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). West Virginia is submitting a proposed amendment to revise its Surface Coal Mining and Reclamation Act to conform the State's requirements for informal conferences and decisions on surface mining permit applications with parallel provisions of Federal law, and to provide tax incentives for mine operators who reclaim bond forfeiture sites.

OSM announces receipt of a proposed amendment to the Ohio regulatory program under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Ohio's proposed amendment is prompted by requirements within the Ohio statute that all agencies must review their administrative rules every five years. Consistent with this requirement, the Ohio Reclamation Commission, (the Commission), proposes an amendment to its procedural rules in order to ensure an orderly, efficient, and effective appeals process. By submittal of this proposed amendment, Ohio intends to revise its approved program pursuant to the additional flexibility afforded by the revised Federal regulations and SMCRA, as amended, to ensure Ohio's proposed provisions are consistent with and in accordance with SMCRA and no less effective than the corresponding Federal regulations. This document provides the times and locations that the Ohio program and proposed amendment are available for public inspection, the comment period during which you may submit written comments on this amendment, and the procedures that we will follow for the public hearing, if one is requested.

NMFS announces that the Commonwealth of Virginia is transferring a portion of its 2014 commercial summer flounder quota to the State of New Jersey. NMFS is adjusting the quotas and announcing the revised commercial quota for each state involved.

The Rural Housing Service is amending its regulations for the section 502 direct single family housing loans program by reinstating language pertaining to payment assistance method 1 that was inadvertently changed or omitted when the payment subsidy regulation was revised on December 27, 2007. This action will make clear to the public that under this method, the amount of subsidy granted is the difference between the installment due on the promissory note and the greater of the payment amortized at the equivalent interest rate or the payment calculated based on the required floor payment.

NMFS is closing the commercial aggregated large coastal sharks (LCS) and hammerhead sharks management groups in the Gulf of Mexico region. This action is necessary because the commercial landings of Gulf of Mexico aggregated LCS for the 2014 fishing season have exceeded 80 percent of the available commercial quota as of May 13, 2014.

The Coast Guard will enforce the events taking place throughout the Sector Northern New England Captain of the Port (COTP) Zone. This action is necessary to protect marine traffic and spectators from the hazards associated with powerboat races, regattas, boat parades, rowing and paddling boat races, swim events, and fireworks displays. During the enforcement period, no person or vessel may enter the Special Local Regulation area or Safety Zone without permission of the COTP.

This rule would amend the Office of Natural Resources Revenue civil penalty regulations to: apply the regulations to all mineral leases, including solid mineral and geothermal leases, and agreements for offshore energy development; adjust civil penalty amounts for inflation; clarify and simplify the existing regulations for issuing notices of noncompliance and civil penalties; and provide notice that we will post matrices for civil penalty assessments on our Web site.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are adopting as a final rule an interim rule to list the southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum) as threatened under the authority of section 4(e) of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), due to the similarity in appearance with the endangered Javan (Rhinoceros sondaicus), Sumatran (Dicerorhinos sumatrensis), Indian (Rhinoceros unicornis), black (Diceros bicornis) and northern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum cottoni). The interim rule was necessary, as differentiating between the horns and other products made from the southern white rhino and the endangered Javan, Sumatran, Indian, black, and northern white rhino is difficult for law enforcement to determine without genetic testing, decreasing their ability to enforce and further the provisions and policies of the Act. This similarity of appearance has resulted in the documented trade of listed rhinoceros species, often under the guise of being the unprotected southern white rhinoceros, and this difficulty in distinguishing between the rhino species protected under the Act and the southern white rhino constitutes an additional threat to all endangered rhinoceros species. The determination that the southern white rhino should be treated as threatened due to similarity of appearance will substantially facilitate law enforcement actions to protect and conserve all endangered rhino species. Therefore, for the reasons given in the interim rule and in this document, we are adopting the interim rule as a final rule without substantive change.

This document completes the Commission's proceeding regarding the attribution of television joint sales agreements (JSAs)in which a ``brokering station'' sells the advertising time for a ``brokered station''for purposes of applying the broadcast ownership rules. The Commission, consistent with its prior decision to attribute radio JSAs, attributes to the brokering station same-market television JSAs that cover more than 15 percent of the weekly advertising time for the brokered station.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending the animal drug regulations to reflect a change of sponsor for 172 approved new animal drug applications (NADAs) and 14 approved abbreviated new animal drug applications (ANADAs) for oral dosage form new animal drug products from Pfizer, Inc., including its several subsidiaries and divisions, to Zoetis, Inc. FDA is also amending the animal drug regulations to remove entries describing conditions of use for new animal drug products for which no NADA is approved, to make minor corrections, and to reflect a current format. This is being done to increase the accuracy and readability of the regulations.