2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS announces that the Mid-Atlantic and New England Fishery Management Councils have submitted an Omnibus Amendment to the Fishery Management Plans of the Northeastern U.S. to establish a Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology, incorporating a draft Environmental Assessment and preliminary Regulatory Impact Review, for review and approval by the Secretary of Commerce, and is requesting comments from the public. The Standardized Bycatch Reporting Methodology Omnibus Amendment would establish a standardized bycatch reporting methodology for all 13 Fishery Management Plans in the region, as required under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. The proposed measures include: Bycatch reporting and monitoring mechanisms; analytical techniques and allocation of at-sea fisheries observers; a standardized bycatch reporting methodology performance standard; a review and reporting process; framework adjustment and annual specifications provisions; a prioritization process; and provisions for industry-funded observers and observer set-aside programs.

The National Endowment for the Humanities will hold three meetings of the Humanities Panel, a federal advisory committee, during January, 2015. The purpose of the meetings is for panel review, discussion, evaluation, and recommendation of applications for financial assistance under the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965.

EPA's Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program is committed to proactive stakeholder engagement, transparency, and using the best available science in IRIS assessments. In accordance with the increased stakeholder engagement enhancements adopted by the IRIS Program, EPA is announcing a series of public science meetings for calendar year 2015 to obtain public input at specific stages in the process of developing an IRIS assessment.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing an interim rule amending the provisions of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) that address the continuing Governmentwide statutory prohibition on the use of appropriated (or otherwise made available) funds for contracts with any foreign incorporated entity that is an inverted domestic corporation or any subsidiary of such entity.

This document is issued under the joint authority of DOD, GSA, and NASA. This Small Entity Compliance Guide has been prepared in accordance with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. It consists of a summary of the rules appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-79, which amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). An asterisk (*) next to a rule indicates that a regulatory flexibility analysis has been prepared. Interested parties may obtain further information regarding these rules by referring to FAC 2005-79, which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at https:// www.regulations.gov.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing an interim rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the Executive Order, Establishing a Minimum Wage for Contractors, and a final rule issued by the Department of Labor.

The National Labor Relations Board (the Board) has decided to issue this final rule for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of the National Labor Relations Act which ``protect[ ] the exercise by workers of full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their own choosing, for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of their employment or other mutual aid or protection.'' While retaining the essentials of existing representation case procedures, these amendments remove unnecessary barriers to the fair and expeditious resolution of representation cases. They simplify representation-case procedures, codify best practices, and make them more transparent and uniform across regions. Duplicative and unnecessary litigation is eliminated. Unnecessary delay is reduced. Procedures for Board review are simplified. Rules about documents and communications are modernized in light of changing technology. In various ways, these amendments provide targeted solutions to discrete, specifically identified problems to enable the Board to better fulfill its duty to protect employees' rights by fairly, efficiently, and expeditiously resolving questions of representation.

The Broadcasting Board of Governors (Board) will be meeting at the time and location listed above. The Board will vote on a consent agenda consisting of the minutes of its October 30, 2014 meeting, a resolution honoring the 65th anniversary of Voice of America's Ukrainian Service, and a resolution honoring the fifth anniversary of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Radio Mashaal. The Board will receive a presentation providing an overview of the International Broadcasting Bureau. This meeting will also be available for public observation via streamed Webcast, both live and on-demand, on the agency's public Web site at www.bbg.gov. Information regarding this meeting, including any updates or adjustments to its starting time, can also be found on the agency's public Web site. The public may also attend this meeting in person at the address listed above as seating capacity permits. Members of the public seeking to attend the meeting in person must register at https:// bbgboardmeetingdecember2014.eventbrite.com by 12:00 p.m. (EST) on December 17. For more information, please contact BBG Public Affairs at (202) 203-4400 or by email at pubaff@bbg.gov.

Under the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 4314(c)(4) agencies are required to publish a notice in the Federal Register of the appointment of Performance Review Board (PRB) members. This notice announces the appointment of persons to serve on the PRB of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The United States Copyright Office is conducting the sixth triennial rulemaking proceeding under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (``DMCA'') concerning possible exemptions to the DMCA's prohibition against circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. On September 17, 2014, the Office published a Notice of Inquiry requesting petitions for proposed exemptions, and it has received forty-four petitions in response. With this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, the Office is initiating three rounds of public comment on exemptions proposed in the petitions. Interested parties are invited to make full legal and evidentiary submissions in support of or opposition to the proposed exemptions, in accordance with the requirements set forth below. The Office is providing a ``long comment'' form for this purpose. The Office is also offering members of the public the opportunity to express general support for or opposition to any of the proposals via a ``short comment'' form. Commenters should carefully review the legal and evidentiary standards for the granting of exemptions under the DMCA, which are set forth in the September Notice of Inquiry. Commenters should also review the guidance provided in this document regarding specific areas of legal and factual interest with respect to each proposed exemption or category of exemptions, and the types of evidence that commenters may wish to submit for the record. This document also provides information concerning the recommended format and content for submissions, including documentary and multimedia evidence.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the Clinton Railroad Drawbridge, across the Upper Mississippi River, mile 518.0, at Clinton, Iowa. The deviation is necessary to allow the bridge owner time to perform preventive maintenance that is essential to the continued safe operation of the drawbridge. Maintenance is scheduled in the winter when there is less impact on navigation; instead of scheduling work in the summer, when river traffic increases. This deviation allows the bridge to open on signal if at least 24-hours advance notice is given. It further allows the bridge to open on signal if at least 72-hours advance notice is given from January 5, 2015 to February 13, 2015.

We, NMFS, issue this final rule implementing our determination that the narrow sawfish (Anoxypristis cuspidata), dwarf sawfish (Pristis clavata), largetooth sawfish (collectively Pristis pristis; formerly Pristis pristis, Pristis microdon, and Pristis perotteti), green sawfish (Pristis zijsron), and the non-U.S. distinct population segment (DPS) of smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) are endangered species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended. We also include a change in the scientific name for largetooth sawfish in this final rule to codify the taxonomic reclassification of P. perotteti to P. pristis. We are not designating critical habitat because the geographical areas occupied by the species are entirely outside U.S. jurisdiction and we have not identified any unoccupied areas within U.S. jurisdiction that are essential to the conservation of any of the five species. We have reviewed the status of the five species of sawfish, considered public and peer review comments, and conservation efforts being made to protect all five species, and we have made our determination based on the best available scientific and commercial data that all five species of sawfishthe narrow sawfish (Anoxypristis cuspidata), dwarf sawfish (Pristis clavata), largetooth sawfish (collectively Pristis pristis; formerly Pristis pristis, Pristis microdon, and Pristis perotteti), green sawfish (Pristis zijsron), and the non-U.S. DPS of smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata)are at risk of extinction throughout all of their ranges and should be listed as endangered species.

This document corrects a technical error that appeared in the July 24, 2014 amendments to our regulation governing the use of the Automated Clearing House (ACH) network by Federal agencies.

NMFS issues this final rule to amend the regulations implementing the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan to modify the start date of the Massachusetts Restricted Area to begin on February 1, 2015, and to expand the Massachusetts Restricted Area by 912 square miles. In addition, this rule will revise the Federal lobster regulations to be consistent with the revised start date of the Massachusetts Restricted Area. Recent Federal lobster regulations closed the Outer Cape Lobster Management Area to lobster trap fishing from January 15 through March 15, which is consistent with the lobster trap haul-out period in the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Interstate Fishery Management Plan for American Lobster. This rule would adjust the Outer Cape Lobster Management Area closure dates to February 1 through March 31.

This is a notice of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA's) approval of coverage for the continued operation and maintenance of the portion of the Barataria to Alliance Transmission Line and an associated distribution line located in the Bayou aux Carpes CWA Section 404(c) site in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, under an exception provided in the October 16, 1985, EPA Bayou aux Carpes Final Determination, as amended. This action covers discharges (approximately 1.35 cubic yards) to wetlands of dredged or fill material associated with ongoing activities by Entergy Louisiana, L.L.C. (Entergy) to provide electrical service to residential, commercial, military, industrial, and other facilities in nearby Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana.

This action proposes to establish Class E airspace at the Coaldale VHF Omni-Directional Radio Range Tactical Air Navigation Aid (VORTAC), Coaldale, NV, to facilitate vectoring of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) aircraft under control of Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). The FAA is proposing this action to enhance the safety and management of aircraft operations within the National Airspace System.