February 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Securities and Exchange Commission will host a roundtable to explore ways to improve the proxy voting process. The roundtable will focus on universal proxy ballots and retail participation in the proxy process. Roundtable panelists will discuss the state of contested director elections and whether changes should be made to the federal proxy rules to facilitate the use of universal proxy ballots by management and proxy contestants. In addition, panelists will discuss the state law, logistical and disclosure issues presented by a possible universal proxy ballot process. Roundtable panelists also will discuss strategies for increasing retail shareholder participation in the proxy process, including how technology might affect retail participation and whether the format of disclosure could be improved to increase the engagement of shareholders and how the mechanics of voting could be improved to affect retail shareholder participation. The roundtable discussion will be held in the multi-purpose room of the Securities and Exchange Commission headquarters at 100 F Street NE., Washington, DC, on February 19, 2015 from 9:30 a.m. to approximately 1:00 p.m. The public is invited to observe the roundtable discussion. Seating will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The roundtable discussion will also be available via webcast on the Commission's Web site at www.sec.gov.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), are issuing this final rule to comply with court orders that reinstate the regulatory protections under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (ESA), for the gray wolf (Canis lupus) in Wyoming and the western Great Lakes. Pursuant to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia court order dated September 23, 2014, this rule reinstates the April 2, 2009 (74 FR 15123), final rule regulating the gray wolf in the State of Wyoming as a nonessential experimental population. Gray wolves in Montana, Idaho, the eastern third of Washington and Oregon, and north-central Utah retain their delisted status and are not impacted by this final rule. In addition, pursuant to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia court order dated December 19, 2014, this rule reinstates the March 9, 1978 (43 FR 9607), final rule as it relates to gray wolves in the western Great Lakes including endangered status for gray wolves in all of Wisconsin and Michigan, the eastern half of North Dakota and South Dakota, the northern half of Iowa, the northern portions of Illinois and Indiana, and the northwestern portion of Ohio; threatened status for gray wolves in Minnesota; critical habitat for gray wolves in Minnesota and Michigan; and the rule promulgated under section 4(d) of the ESA for gray wolves in Minnesota.

Notice is hereby given that the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe have submitted three Hatchery and Genetic Management Plans, to be considered jointly, to NMFS pursuant to the limitation on take prohibitions for actions conducted under Limit 6 of the 4(d) Rule for salmon and steelhead promulgated under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The plans specify the propagation of three species of salmon in the Dungeness River watershed of Washington State. This document serves to notify the public of the availability for comment of the proposed evaluation of the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) as to whether implementation of the joint plan will appreciably reduce the likelihood of survival and recovery of ESA-listed Puget Sound Chinook salmon and Puget Sound steelhead. This notice further advises the public of the availability for review of a draft Environmental Assessment of the effects of the NMFS determination on the subject joint plans.

This notice is to advise interested persons that PHMSA will host a Research and Development Forum on Thursday, April 16, 2015, in Washington, DC. PHMSA will use the forum to present the results of recently completed research projects and to discuss current and future research projects. PHMSA will also be soliciting comments on new research projects which may be considered for inclusion in its strategic plan.

Notice is hereby given that a reissuance of an exemption to the land disposal Restrictions, under the 1984 Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, has been granted to Lucite International, Inc. for two Class I hazardous injection wells located at their Beaumont site located in Nederland, TX. The company has adequately demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Environmental Protection Agency by the petition reissuance application and supporting documentation that, to a reasonable degree of certainty, there will be no migration of hazardous constituents from the injection zone for as long as the waste remains hazardous. This final decision allows the continued underground injection by Lucite, of the specific restricted hazardous wastes identified in this exemption reissuance, into Class I hazardous waste injection wells WDW-100 & 101 until December 31, 2030, unless EPA moves to terminate this exemption. Additional conditions included in this final decision may be reviewed by contacting the Region 6 Ground Water/UIC Section. A public notice was issued December 18, 2014. The public comment period closed on February 2, 2015. No comments were received. This decision constitutes final Agency action and there is no Administrative appeal. This decision may be reviewed/appealed in compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act.

This regulation establishes tolerances for residues of dimethenamid in or on cottonseed subgroup 20C and cotton, gin byproducts. BASF Corporation requested these tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a revision to the Illinois State Implementation Plan. The revision amends the Illinois Administrative Code by updating the definition of volatile organic material or volatile organic compound to exclude additional compounds. This revision is in response to EPA rulemakings in 2013 which exempted these chemical compounds from the Federal definition of volatile organic compounds because, in their intended uses, the compounds have a negligible contribution to tropospheric ozone formation.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving revisions to the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted to meet Emissions Inventory (EI) requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) nonattainment areas. EPA is approving the SIP revisions because they satisfy the CAA EI requirements for the DFW and HGB nonattainment areas under the 2008 eight-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). EPA is approving the revisions pursuant to section 110 and part D of the CAA and EPA's regulations.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE or OSM), are announcing our final decision on a petition for rulemaking that was submitted by WildEarth Guardians. The petition requested that we revise our current regulations to prohibit visible nitrogen oxide clouds during blasting. The Director has decided to grant the petition in principle, and although we do not intend to propose the specific rule changes requested in the petition, will instead initiate a rulemaking to address this issue as discussed more fully below.

BOEM is announcing the availability of a Final Second Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the Chukchi Sea Planning Area, Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Lease Sale 193 (Lease Sale 193). The Final Second SEIS (OCS EIS/EA BOEM 2014-669) provides new analysis in accordance with the United States District Court for the District of Alaska (District Court) Order remanding Lease Sale 193 to BOEM. The District Court's order instructs BOEM to address the deficiency in the 2007 Final EIS (OCS EIS/EA MMS 2007-026) identified by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (Ninth Circuit). The Ninth Circuit held that the EIS supporting the decision to hold Lease Sale 193 arbitrarily relied on a one billion barrel oil production estimate. The Final Second SEIS provides a revised exploration and development scenario and an accompanying analysis of potential impacts of the proposed action alternatives. The Final Second SEIS identifies Alternative IV (Corridor II Deferral) as BOEM's preferred alternative.

The Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) is engaged in an initiative to make electronic filing or ``eFiling'' available to parties in all cases before the FLRA. Making eFiling available is another way in which the FLRA is using technology to improve the customer-service experience. These eFiling enhancements are expected to increase efficiency by reducing procedural filing errors and processing delays.

FMCSA announces its decision to exempt 24 individuals from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs). They are unable to meet the vision requirement in one eye for various reasons. The exemptions will enable these individuals to operate commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in interstate commerce without meeting the prescribed vision requirement in one eye. The Agency has concluded that granting these exemptions will provide a level of safety that is equivalent to or greater than the level of safety maintained without the exemptions for these CMV drivers.

The FHWA proposes to establish a process for the development of a State asset management plan in accordance with section 1106 of the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), to improve or preserve the condition of the assets and the performance of the National Highway System (NHS) as they relate to physical assets. In this document ``asset management plan'' and ``risk-based asset management plan'' are used interchangeably. An asset management plan is a key management tool for highway infrastructure owners. State departments of transportation (State DOT) increasingly use asset management plans to make decisions about where and when to invest State and Federal funds in highway infrastructure improvements to achieve and sustain a desired state of good repair over the life cycle of the assets at minimum practicable cost. The development and implementation of an asset management plan also is an important part of the overall MAP-21 framework for enhancing the management and performance of transportation highway infrastructure funded through the Federal-aid highway program (FAHP). The asset management plan required by section 1106 of MAP-21 will provide States with critical data and identify investment and management strategies to improve or preserve the condition of the assets and the performance of the NHS. Under section 1106, the plan must include strategies leading to a program of projects that would make progress toward achievement of the State targets for asset condition and performance of the NHS in accordance with section 1203(a) of MAP-21, and supporting progress toward the achievement of the national goals identified in section 1203(a). While the primary purpose of this proposed rule is to address asset management plan requirements in section 1106, this proposed rule also would address other MAP-21 requirements that relate to asset management. The proposed rule defines the minimum standards that States would use in developing and operating highway bridge and pavement management systems as required by section 1203(a) of MAP-21. Also, this proposed rule would address the requirements in section 1315(b) of MAP- 21 by requiring States to conduct statewide evaluations to determine if reasonable alternatives exist to roads, highways, or bridges that repeatedly require repair and reconstruction activities from emergency events. The proposed rule would require State DOTs to take these evaluations into account in their asset management plans for facilities that are included in the plans.

In accordance with the procedures governing the application for, and the processing of, special permits from the Department of Transportation's Hazardous Material Regulations (49 CFR part 107, Subpart B), notice is hereby given that the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety has received the applications described herein. This notice is abbreviated to expedite docketing and public notice. Because the sections affected, modes of transportation, and the nature of application have been shown in earlier Federal Register publications, they are not repeated here. Requests for modification of special permits (e.g. to provide for additional hazardous materials, packaging design changes, additional mode of transportation, etc.) are described in footnotes to the application number. Application numbers with the suffix ``M'' denote a modification request. These applications have been separated from the new application for special permits to facilitate processing.

An open meeting of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Notices and Correspondence Project Committee will be conducted. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

An open meeting of the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel Taxpayer Assistance Center Improvements Project Committee will be conducted. The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel is soliciting public comments, ideas, and suggestions on improving customer service at the Internal Revenue Service.

The National Park Service (NPS) is terminating the preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) for a proposed Chronic Wasting Disease Management Plan at Shenandoah National Park. A Notice of Intent to Prepare the EIS was published in the Federal Register at 78 FR 13376 on February 27, 2013. Instead, the NPS has prepared an environmental assessment to amend its approved Chronic Wasting Disease Detection and Assessment Plan to include chronic wasting disease management actions.

In a decision served on February 13, 2015, we proposed to adopt 1.007 (0.7% per year) as the measure of average change in railroad productivity for the 2009-2013 (5-year) averaging period. This value represents a decrease of 0.3% from the average for the 2008-2012 period. The Board's February 13, 2015 decision in this proceeding stated that comments may be filed addressing any perceived data and computational errors in our calculation. It also stated that, if there were no further action taken by the Board, the proposed productivity adjustment would become effective on March 1, 2015.

Notice is hereby given of the following determinations: Pursuant to the authority vested in me by the Act of October 19, 1965 (79 Stat. 985; 22 U.S.C. 2459), Executive Order 12047 of March 27, 1978, the Foreign Affairs Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998 (112 Stat. 2681, et seq.; 22 U.S.C. 6501 note, et seq.), Delegation of Authority No. 234 of October 1, 1999, and Delegation of Authority No. 236-3 of August 28, 2000 (and, as appropriate, Delegation of Authority No. 257 of April 15, 2003), I hereby determine that the objects to be included in the exhibition ``Ships, Clocks & Stars: The Quest for Longitude,'' imported from abroad for temporary exhibition within the United States, are of cultural significance. The objects are imported pursuant to loan agreements with the foreign owners or custodians. I also determine that the exhibition or display of the exhibit objects at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC, from on or about March 16, 2015, until on or about August 23, 2015, the Mystic Seaport Museum, Mystic, Connecticut, from on or about September 14, 2015, until on or about March 28, 2016, and at possible additional exhibitions or venues yet to be determined, is in the national interest. I have ordered that Public Notice of these Determinations be published in the Federal Register.