September 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS suspends the minimum size limit for Atlantic surfclams for the 2015 fishing year. NMFS also announces that the quotas for the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fisheries for 2015 will remain status quo. Regulations governing these fisheries require NMFS to notify the public in the Federal Register of the allowable harvest levels for Atlantic surfclams and ocean quahogs from the Exclusive Economic Zone if the previous year's quota specifications remain unchanged.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is amending its regulations to remove the Safeguards InformationModified Handling (SGI-M) designation of the security-related information for large irradiators, manufacturers and distributors, and for transport of category 1 quantities of radioactive material. The rulemaking will also result in the removal of the SGI-M designation of the security-related information for the transportation of irradiated reactor fuel that weighs 100 grams or less in net weight of irradiated fuel. The security-related information for these facilities and the transportation of certain materials will no longer be designated as SGI-M and will be protected under the information protection requirements that apply to other materials licensees that possess category 1 and category 2 quantities of radioactive material.

The Coast Guard published a final rule in the Federal Register on July 7, 2014, making non-substantive corrections throughout Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations. In that final rule, the Coast Guard revised a paragraph because it duplicated the substance of another paragraph within the same section of an existing regulation. In correcting that error, the Coast Guard inadvertently removed four paragraphs from its regulations. This correction resolves that error by replacing the four paragraphs that we inadvertently removed.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is adopting, as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that changed the minimum grade requirements prescribed under the marketing order for oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, and tangelos grown in Florida (order). The interim rule reduced the minimum grade requirement for Valencia and other late type oranges shipped to interstate markets from a U.S. No. 1 to a U.S. No. 1 Golden from May 15 through June 14 each season and to a U.S. No.2 external/U.S. No. 1 internal from June 15 through August 31 each season. This rule provides additional Valencia and other late type oranges for late season markets, helping to maximize fresh shipments.

The Commission proposes to approve Communications Reliability Standard COM-001-2 and Operating Personnel Communications Protocols Reliability Standard COM-002-4, developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which the Commission has certified as the Electric Reliability Organization responsible for developing and enforcing mandatory Reliability Standards. The Commission believes that the proposed Reliability Standards will enhance reliability over the currently-effective COM standards in several respects by, among other things, requiring adoption of predefined communication protocols, annual assessment of those protocols and operating personnel's adherence thereto, training on the protocols, and use of three-part communications. However, the Commission proposes to direct NERC to modify proposed Reliability Standard COM-001-2 to include internal communications capabilities.

The Coast Guard published a final rule in the Federal Register on September 22, 2014, which removes references to type codes in its regulations on the carriage and labeling of Coast Guard-approved personal flotation devices. Two extra characters were included in the phone number for the Coast Guard person to contact for more information about that rule. This document corrects that phone number.

This document corrects the preamble to a proposed rule published in the Federal Register of September 12, 2014, requesting the substitution of channel 11 for channel 21 at Mount Vernon, Illinois. This correction clarifies that the proposed rule applies prospectively to plans submitted for approval from the effective date for the final rule.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposes to amend existing regulations to facilitate responsible solar and wind energy development and to receive fair market value for such development. The proposed rule would promote the use of preferred areas for solar and wind energy development and establish competitive processes, terms, and conditions (including rental and bonding requirements) for solar and wind energy development rights-of-way both inside and outside these preferred areas. In the proposed rule, preferred areas for solar and wind energy development would be called ``designated leasing areas.'' The proposed rule would also make technical changes, corrections, and clarifications to existing rights-of-way regulations. Some of these changes would affect all rights-of-way and some provisions would affect particular types of actions, such as transmission lines with a capacity of 100 Kilovolts (kV) or more, or pipelines 10 inches or more in diameter.

This final rule creates an exception to the usual rule that TRICARE Prime enrollment fees are uniform for all retirees and their dependents and responds to public comments received to the proposed rule published in the Federal Register on June 7, 2013. Survivors of Active Duty Deceased Sponsors and Medically Retired Uniformed Services Members and their Dependents are part of the retiree group under TRICARE rules. In acknowledgment and appreciation of the sacrifices of these two beneficiary categories, the Secretary of Defense has elected to exercise his authority under the United States Code to exempt Active Duty Deceased Sponsors and Medically Retired Uniformed Services Members and their Dependents enrolled in TRICARE Prime from paying future increases to the TRICARE Prime annual enrollment fees. The Prime beneficiaries in these categories have made significant sacrifices for our country and are entitled to special recognition and benefits for their sacrifices. Therefore, the beneficiaries in these two TRICARE beneficiary categories who enrolled in TRICARE Prime prior to 10/1/ 2013, and those since that date, will have their annual enrollment fee frozen at the appropriate fiscal year rate: FY2011 rate $230 per single or $460 per family, FY2012 rate $260 or $520, FY2013 rate $269.38 or $538.56, or the FY2014 rate $273.84 or $547.68. The future beneficiaries added to these categories will have their fee frozen at the rate in effect at the time they are classified in either category and enroll in TRICARE Prime or, if not enrolling, at the rate in effect at the time of enrollment. The fee remains frozen as long as at least one family member remains enrolled in TRICARE Prime and there is not a break in enrollment. The fee charged for the dependent(s) of a Medically Retired Uniformed Services Member would not change if the dependent(s) was later re-classified a Survivor.

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA), as amended, prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products and certain commercial and industrial equipment, including small, large, and very large air-cooled commercial package air conditioning and heating equipment. EPCA also requires the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to determine whether more-stringent, amended standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified, and would save a significant amount of energy. In this document, DOE proposes to amend the energy conservation standards for small, large, and very large air-cooled commercial package air conditioning and heating equipment. This document also announces a public meeting to receive comment on these proposed standards and associated analyses and results.

DoD is issuing a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to incorporate into the DFARS policies and procedures concerning payment for contracts for performance in Afghanistan.

DoD has adopted as final, with changes, an interim rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement section 811 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, which prohibits DoD from entering into cost-type contracts for production of major defense acquisition programs (MDAPs). In implementing section 811 of the NDAA for FY 2013, DoD further defined the prohibition on entering into cost-type contracts to explicitly state the prohibition also applies to entering into cost- reimbursement line items for the production of MDAPs.

DoD is issuing a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to conform with statute, amend the clause prescriptions, and update the basic and alternate clause for the prohibition on storage, treatment, and disposal of toxic or hazardous materials.

This document contains final regulations relating to the requirements for filing certain employee retirement benefit plan statements, returns, and reports on magnetic media. The term magnetic media includes electronic filing, as well as other magnetic media specifically permitted under applicable regulations, revenue procedures, publications, forms, instructions, or other guidance on the IRS.gov Internet Web site. These regulations affect plan administrators and employers maintaining retirement plans that are subject to various employee benefit reporting requirements under the Internal Revenue Code (Code).

The Federal Trade Commission (``the Commission'') previously published in the Federal Register a request for public comments on the overall costs and benefits of and the continuing need for its Guides for Advertising Allowances and Other Merchandising Payments and Services (``the Guides''). The Commission issued this request as part of its program for periodic review of its rules and guides to ensure they are up-to-date, effective, and not overly burdensome.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is taking final action on a petition from the United States Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to import foreign-manufactured polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). For purposes of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), ``manufacture'' is defined to include the import of chemical substances into the customs territory of the United States. With certain exceptions, section 6(e)(3) of TSCA bans the manufacture, processing, and distribution in commerce of PCBs. One of these exceptions is TSCA section 6(e)(3)(B), which gives the EPA authority to grant petitions to import PCBs into the customs territory of the United States for a period of up to 12 months, provided the EPA can make certain findings by rule. On April 23, 2013, the EPA received a petition from DLA, a component of the United States Department of Defense (DOD), to import PCBs that DOD currently owns in Japan for disposal in the United States. The EPA is granting DLA's petition as of October 1, 2014. This decision to grant the petition allows DLA to ``manufacture'' (i.e., import) certain PCBs for disposal. Without an exemption granted by the EPA, DLA would not be allowed to import the PCB waste to the U.S. for proper disposal.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will hold a public meeting to discuss and receive comments on the preliminary analysis it has conducted for purposes of establishing energy conservation standards for ceiling fans. The meeting will cover the analytical framework, models, and tools that DOE is using to evaluate potential standards for this product; the results of preliminary analyses performed by DOE for this product; the potential energy conservation standard levels derived from these analyses that DOE could consider for this product; and any other issues relevant to the development of energy conservation standards for ceiling fans. In addition, DOE encourages written comments on these subjects. To inform interested parties and to facilitate this process, DOE has prepared an agenda, a preliminary technical support document (TSD), and briefing materials, which are available on the DOE Web site at: https://www1.eere.energy.gov/ buildings/appliancestandards/rulemaking.aspx/ruleid/65.

These special conditions are issued for the Boeing, Model 767- 200/-300 series airplanes. These airplanes, as modified by Avionics Support Group, will have a novel or unusual design feature when compared to the state of technology envisioned in the airworthiness standards for transport category airplanes. This design feature is an ePhone handset for use with the ICS SATCOM System that will use rechargeable lithium batteries and battery systems. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking direct final action to approve a revision to the Placer County Air Pollution Control District (PCAPCD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision concerns a permitting rule that regulates construction and modification of major stationary sources of air pollution. These revisions correct deficiencies in PCAPCD Rule 502, New Source Review, previously identified by EPA in a final rule dated September 24, 2013. We are approving revisions that correct the identified deficiencies.

The Department of Defense (``Department'') proposes to amend its regulation that implements the Military Lending Act, herein referred to as the ``MLA''. Among other protections for Service members, the MLA limits the amount of interest that a creditor may charge on ``consumer credit'' to a maximum annual percentage rate of 36 percent. The Department is proposing to amend its existing regulation primarily for the purpose of extending the protections of the MLA to a broader range of closed-end and open-end credit products, rather than the limited credit products currently defined as consumer credit. In addition, the Department is proposing to amend its existing regulation to amend the provisions governing a tool a creditor may use in assessing whether a consumer is a ``covered borrower,'' modify the disclosures that a creditor must provide to a covered borrower, implement the enforcement provisions of the MLA, as amended, and for other purposes.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) is proposing to amend certain specific provisions of the proposed rule, ``Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption.'' We are taking this action because the extensive information received in public comments has led to significant changes in our current thinking on certain key provisions of the proposed rule. We are reopening the comment period only with respect to the specific issues identified in this document.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) is proposing to amend our 2013 proposed rule for Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP) and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals. In that 2013 proposed rule, we proposed to add CGMP requirements for animal food and to add requirements for certain domestic and foreign facilities to establish and implement hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls for food for animals. We are taking this action because the input we have received from public comments has led to significant changes in our current thinking on certain key provisions of this proposed rule. We are reopening the comment period only with respect to specific issues identified in this proposed rule.

NMFS announces that the State of Maine is transferring a portion of its 2014 commercial bluefish quota to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. By this action, NMFS adjusts the quotas and announces the revised commercial quota for each state involved.

This regulation establishes an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance for residues of C9 rich aromatic hydrocarbons, C10-11 rich aromatic hydrocarbons, and C11-12 rich aromatic hydrocarbons when used as inert ingredients (solvents) in pesticide formulations applied to animals. ExxonMobil Chemical Company submitted a petition to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), requesting establishment of an exemption from the requirement of a tolerance. This regulation eliminates the need to establish a maximum permissible level for residues of C9 rich aromatic hydrocarbons, C10-11 rich aromatic hydrocarbons, and C11-12 rich aromatic hydrocarbons.