September 5, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) published a final rule in the Federal Register on Thursday, August 7, 2014 (79 FR 46316), that amended the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) to implement the understandings reached at the 2005, 2012, and 2013 Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) Plenary meetings. That final rule also amended the EAR to implement a decision adopted under the NSG intersessional silent approval procedures, in December 2009, and to reflect the status of Croatia, Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania, Malta, Mexico, and Serbia as participating countries in the NSG. In that final rule, the amendatory instruction for the EAR supplement that lists ``Country Groups'' contained an error with respect to Mexico. In addition, the amendments to Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 6A203 in the August 7, 2014, final rule inadvertently omitted the controls that apply to certain radiation-hardened TV cameras and lenses therefor. This document amends the EAR to correct these errors. Finally, the contact information in the preamble of the August 7, 2014, NSG Plenary rule contained an incorrect telephone number and the saving clause in the preamble omitted specific instructions concerning certain items newly controlled under ECCN 3A225. This document amends the preamble of the August 7, 2014, NSG Plenary rule to correct these errors.

This final rule specifies additional options for annual eligibility redeterminations and renewal and re-enrollment notice requirements for qualified health plans offered through the Exchange, beginning with annual redeterminations for coverage for benefit year 2015. This final rule provides additional flexibility for Exchanges, including the ability to propose unique approaches that meet the specific needs of their state, while streamlining the consumer experience.

The Audio Division grants a settlement request filed by Dickenson County Broadcasting Corporation (``Dickenson County''), licensee of Station WDIC-FM, Clinchco, Virginia, and East Kentucky Broadcasting Corporation (``East Kentucky''), licensee of Station WPKE- FM, Coal Run, Kentucky. The staff dismisses Dickenson County's Application for Review with prejudice and returns Stations WDIC-FM and WPKE-FM to the channels that they occupied before this proceeding commenced. See also Supplementary Information.

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 received a petition to ``designate the Sakhalin Bay-Amur River stock of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) as a depleted stock under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).'' On August 1, 2014, NMFS announced that the petition presented substantial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted and that NMFS would initiate a status review promptly. NMFS also solicited information from the public that may contribute to the status review. NMFS is extending the comment period for 30 days.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing notice that it has responded to a petition from the Sierra Club that requests the EPA to redesignate as nonattainment 57 areas with 2012 design values violating the 2008 national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone. The petition also requests that the EPA set specific boundaries for the areas. The EPA Administrator denied the petition in letters to the signatories of the petition dated August 14, 2014. The letters explain the EPA's reasons for the denial and are available in the rulemaking docket.

The FHWA is updating the existing value engineering (VE) regulations to make them consistent with the statutory changes in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and to make other non-substantive changes for clarity.

With this final rule, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expands the boundary of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary (TBNMS or sanctuary), clarifies the correlation between TBNMS regulations and Indian tribal fishing activities, and revises the corresponding sanctuary terms of designation. The new boundary for TBNMS increases the size of the sanctuary from 448 square miles to 4,300 square miles and extends protection to 47 additional known historic shipwrecks of national significance. NOAA has prepared a final environmental impact statement for this action.