2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

As part of its regular business meeting held on December 5, 2014, in Annapolis, Maryland, the Commission took the following actions: (1) Approved or tabled the applications of certain water resources projects; (2) accepted settlements in lieu of penalty from Lion Brewery, Inc.; LHP Management, LLC; and Southwestern Energy Production Company; and (3) took additional actions, as set forth in the Supplementary Information below.

The Council Ranger District of the Payette National Forest will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Middle Fork Weiser River Landscape Restoration Project. The Middle Fork Weiser River Landscape Restoration Project area is located approximately six miles southeast of Council, Idaho, primarily in the Middle Fork Weiser River watershed. It comprises approximately 50,000 acres and is within the boundaries of the Council Ranger District of the Payette National Forest, in Adams County Idaho. The project is designed to move vegetation toward desired conditions, improve wildlife habitat, reduce forest fuels, improve watershed conditions through a variety of activities including commercial and non-commercial vegetation management and road system modifications and maintenance; improve recreation infrastructure and opportunities; and improve firefighter and public safety by establishing fuelbreaks.

The Rio Grande National Forest, located in south central Colorado, is initiating the forest planning process pursuant to the 2012 Forest Planning Rule (36 CFR 219). This process results in a Forest Land Management Plan which describes the strategic direction for management of forest resources for the next fifteen to twenty years on the Rio Grande National Forest. The first phase of the process, the assessment phase, has begun and interested parties will be invited to contribute to the development of the assessment (36 CFR 219.6). The Forest hosted a series of informational meetings with key stakeholders and the public in the fall of 2014, and will be hosting additional meetings between January and June 2015. Additional information on public participation opportunities will be available on the project Web site: https://www.fs.usda.gov/riogrande. The trends and conditions identified in the assessment will help in identifying the need for change, in the development of plan components.

The Peace Corps will be submitting the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The purpose of this notice is to allow 30 days for public comment in the Federal Register preceding submission to OMB. We are conducting this process in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice announces the intention of the Foreign Agricultural Service to request approval for a new information collection for the Agriculture Wool Apparel Manufacturers Trust Fund.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is correcting a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register on December 11, 2014 (79 FR 73750). The final rule amends the general provisions of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule to establish chemical-specific and default global warming potentials (GWPs) for a number of fluorinated greenhouse gases (F-GHGs) and fluorinated heat transfer fluids (F- HTFs). The rule also includes conforming changes to the provisions for the Electronics Manufacturing and Fluorinated Gas Production source categories.

This notice sets forth the schedule and summary agenda for a partially-closed meeting of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), and describes the functions of the Council. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) invites public comments on, and plans to request approval to continue, the collection of information pertaining to surface-disturbing activities associated with onshore oil and gas geophysical exploration within oil and gas leases, communitized areas, and unitized areas on Federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or the U.S. Forest Service (FS). The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has assigned control number 1004-0162 to this information collection.

Notice is hereby given that a complaint was filed with the U.S. International Trade Commission on November 7, 2014, under section 337 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. 1337, on behalf of Arctic Cat Inc. of Plymouth, Minnesota. An amended complaint was filed on December 12, 2014. The complaint, as amended, alleges violations of section 337 based upon the importation into the United States, the sale for importation, and the sale within the United States after importation of certain snowmobiles with engines having exhaust temperature-controlled engine technology and components thereof by reason of infringement of certain claims of U.S. Patent No. 6,371,082 (``the '082 patent''); U.S. Patent No. 6,550,450 (``the '450 patent''); and U.S. Patent No. 7,258,107 (``the '107 patent''). The complaint further alleges that an industry in the United States exists as required by subsection (a)(2) of section 337. The complainant requests that the Commission institute an investigation and, after the investigation, issue a limited exclusion order and cease and desist orders.

The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 16 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Shrimp Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico (FMP) for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. Amendment 16 includes actions to revise the annual catch limit (ACL) for royal red shrimp, remove the royal red shrimp quota, and revise the accountability measures (AM) for royal red shrimp to remove an inconsistency in the regulations.

The Eldorado National Forest proposes to restore portions of the King Fire of 2014. The proposed action includes hazard tree removal, fuel reduction, salvage logging, reforestation, road improvements, watershed improvements, and research.

NMFS issues a proposed rule that would implement Amendment 31 to the Fishery Management Plan for Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands King and Tanner Crabs (FMP). The proposed rule would make several changes to regulations governing the acquisition, use, and retention of quota share established for captains and crew, known as crew quota share or C shares, under the Crab Rationalization Program (CR Program). To implement Amendment 31, the proposed rule would: Temporarily expand the eligibility requirements for individuals wishing to acquire C share Quota Share (QS) by transfer; establish minimum participation requirements for C share QS holders to be eligible to receive an annual allocation of Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ); establish minimum participation requirements for C share QS holders to be eligible to retain their C share QS and establish an administrative process for revocation of an individual's C share QS, if he or she fails to satisfy the minimum participation requirements; establish a regulatory mechanism to ensure that three percent of the total allowable catch (TAC) for each CR Program crab fishery is allocated as IFQ to holders of C share QS; and remove the prohibition on leasing C share IFQ. In addition, the proposed rule would implement a regulatory amendment to the CR Program that adjusts certain CR Program application deadlines. Specifically, the proposed rule would: Establish an earlier deadline for filing annual IFQ, individual processing quota (IPQ), and crab harvesting cooperative IFQ applications, which would increase the amount of time during which NMFS would suspend the processing of IFQ and IPQ transfer applications; shorten the amount of time in which to appeal an initial administrative determination to withhold issuance of IFQ or IPQ; and provide in the regulations that an applicant's proof of timely filing for IFQ, IPQ, or cooperative IFQ would create a presumption of timely filing. Finally, the proposed rule would revise the reporting period and due date for CR Program registered crab receiver (RCR) Ex-vessel Volume and Value Reports. This action is necessary to ensure that individuals who hold C shares are active in the CR Program fisheries and to ensure that application deadlines provide adequate time to resolve disputes. This action is intended to promote the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the FMP, and other applicable law.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), ED is proposing a new information collection.

NMFS publishes this final rule implementing regulations to codify type-approval standards, requirements, procedures, and responsibilities applicable to commercial Enhanced Mobile Transceiver Unit (EMTU) vendors and mobile communications service (MCS) providers seeking to obtain and maintain type-approval by NMFS for EMTU/MTU or MCS, collectively referred to as vessel monitoring systems (VMS), products and services. This rule is necessary to specify NMFS procedures for EMTU/MTU and MCS type-approval, type-approval renewal, and revocation; revise latency standards; and ensure compliance with type-approval standards.

In accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 and the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972, the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Dominguez- Escalante National Conservation Area (NCA) Advisory Council (Council) will meet as indicated below.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution (the U.S. Institute), part of the Udall Foundation, will submit for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review, a request for an emergency extension of currently approved information collection requests which will expire on February 28, 2015. The extension is being sought to evaluate, along with our partners, the need for and scope of the existing instruments. The Agency expects that OMB will approve these emergency extensions by February 28, 2015, and approve any revised instruments (after appropriate notice and public comment periods) by June 30, 2015.

The Postal Service gives notice of filing a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission to add a domestic shipping services contract to the list of Negotiated Service Agreements in the Mail Classification Schedule's Competitive Products List.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is amending its regulations for petitioning for device reclassification to update mailing addresses for the petitions. This action is being taken to improve the accuracy of the regulations.

The Postal Service gives notice of filing a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission to add a domestic shipping services contract to the list of Negotiated Service Agreements in the Mail Classification Schedule's Competitive Products List.