August 8, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States International Trade Commission (``Commission'') amends provisions of its Rules of Practice and Procedure concerning national security information. The amendments are designed to ensure that the Commission's procedures with respect to national security information are consistent with applicable authorities.

The Secretary proposes to amend the regulations governing the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program. The Secretary is proposing to amend these regulations to strengthen and improve the administration of the Federal Direct PLUS Loan Program authorized under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to extend two reporting deadlines for the 2013 compliance period under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program. This proposed action would specifically affect the annual compliance and attest engagement reporting requirement deadlines for regulated parties. The annual compliance reports and attest engagement reports for the 2013 RFS compliance period would not be due until 30 days and 90 days, respectively, following publication of the final rule establishing the 2014 renewable fuel percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel in the Federal Register. This proposed action would ensure timely amendment of existing deadlines, before compliance obligations would otherwise go into effect. In the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal Register, we are extending the annual compliance and attest engagement reporting deadlines for the 2013 RFS compliance period as a direct final rule without a prior proposed rule. If we receive no adverse comment, we will not take further action on this proposed rule.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) proposes to amend one of its implementing regulations for Executive Order 11246, Equal Employment Opportunity, which sets forth the reporting obligations of Federal contractors and subcontractors. This notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) would amend the regulation by adding a requirement that certain Federal contractors and subcontractors supplement their Employer Information Report (EEO-1 Report) with summary information on compensation paid to employees, as contained in the Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement (W-2) forms, by sex, race, ethnicity, and specified job categories, as well as other relevant data points such as hours worked, and the number of employees. This summary compensation data collection from Federal contractors and subcontractors by OFCCP is a critical tool for eradicating compensation discrimination. It would enable OFCCP to direct its enforcement resources toward entities for which reported data suggest potential pay violations, and not toward entities for which there is no evidence of potential pay violations. It would also enhance two enforcement objectives: Greater voluntary compliance; and greater deterrence of noncompliant behaviors by contractors and subcontractors. OFCCP seeks to achieve these dual and complementary objectives while minimizing, to the extent feasible, the compliance burden borne by Federal contractors and subcontractors.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promulgating a source-specific Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) requiring the Navajo Generating Station (NGS), a coal-fired power plant located on the Navajo Nation near Page, Arizona, to achieve reductions in oxides of nitrogen (NOX) required under the Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the Regional Haze Rule (RHR). On February 5, 2013, EPA issued a proposed BART determination for NGS and an alternative to BART. In a supplemental proposal on October 22, 2013, EPA proposed to approve a new alternative plan, based on an agreement developed by a group of stakeholders known as the Technical Work Group (TWG). EPA is finalizing the alternative to BART described in our supplemental proposal. This rule is consistent with the TWG Agreement, including a lifetime cap in total emissions of NOX from NGS over 2009-2044 (2009-2044 NOX Cap). Our final action will achieve greater emissions reductions than BART and is expected to significantly reduce the impact of NGS on visibility at 11 mandatory Class I Federal areas. The operator of NGS must implement one of several alternative operating scenarios to achieve the necessary emission reductions to comply with the 2009-2044 NOX Cap.