March 26, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This action prohibits fixed-wing special visual flight rules operations at Washington-Dulles International Airport. This action is necessary to support aviation safety and the efficient use of the navigable airspace by managing operations in the busy and complex airspace around the airport.

The Department of Defense is publishing this notice to announce the following Federal Advisory Committee meeting of the Judicial Proceedings since Fiscal Year 2012 Amendments Panel (``the Judicial Proceedings Panel'' or ``the Panel''). The meeting is open to the public.

The Department of the Air Force is deleting a system of records notice in its existing inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended. The system notice is entitled ``F044 AF SG J, Air Force Blood Program.''

This notice extends the comment period for the proposed ``Revised Guidelines for Implementing Executive Order 11988, Floodplain Management'' published in the Federal Register on February 5, 2015 (80 FR 6530). The comment period for the proposed revised guidelines, which would have ended on April 6, 2015, is extended for 30 days.

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is proposing to revise regulations on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) to specify the requirements for a person to be considered actively engaged in farming for the purpose of payment eligibility for certain FSA and CCC programs. Specifically, this rulemaking proposes to revise and clarify the requirements for a significant contribution of active personal management to a farming operation. These changes are required by the Agricultural Act of 2014 (the 2014 Farm Bill). The provisions of this rule would not apply to persons or entities comprised solely of family members. The rule would not change the existing regulations as they relate to contributions of land, capital, equipment, or labor, or the existing regulations related to landowners with a risk in the crop or to spouses.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is initiating a rulemaking to consider amended energy conservation standards for direct heating equipment and pool heaters. Once completed, this rulemaking will fulfill DOE's statutory obligation to either propose amended energy conservation standards for these products or to determine that the existing standards do not need to be amended. This RFI seeks to solicit information to help DOE determine whether national standards more stringent than those that are currently in place would result in a significant amount of additional energy savings and whether such amended national standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified. In overview, this document presents a brief description of the analysis DOE plans to perform for this rulemaking and requests comment on various issues relating to each of the analyses (e.g., market assessment, engineering analysis, energy use analysis, life-cycle cost and payback period analysis, national impact analysis, and manufacturer impact analysis). Although this document contains several specific topics on which the Department is particularly interested in receiving written comment, DOE welcomes suggestions and information from the public on any subject within the scope of this rulemaking, including topics not raised in this RFI.

DoD is making technical amendments to the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to provide needed editorial changes.

DoD has adopted as final, without change, an interim rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to remove language based on a statute that provided the underlying authority for DoD's Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) program. This action is necessary because the statute has expired.

We propose to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2012-18- 05, which applies to The Boeing Company Model DC-9-10, DC-9-20, DC-9- 30, DC-9-40, and DC-9-50 series airplanes; and Model DC-9-81 (MD-81), DC-9-82 (MD-82), DC-9-83 (MD-83), DC-9-87 (MD-87), MD-88, and MD-90-30 airplanes; equipped with a center wing fuel tank and Boeing original equipment manufacturer-installed auxiliary fuel tanks. AD 2012-18-05 currently requires adding design features to detect electrical faults and to detect a pump running in an empty fuel tank. Since we issued AD 2012-18-05, we have determined that it is necessary to clarify the actions for airplanes on which the auxiliary fuel tanks are removed. This proposed AD would allow certain actions as optional methods of compliance. We are proposing this AD to reduce the potential of ignition sources inside fuel tanks, which, in combination with flammable fuel vapors, could result in fuel tank explosions and consequent loss of the airplane.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is issuing a final rule setting forth requirements related to allocations by the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (together, the Enterprises) to the Housing Trust and Capital Magnet Funds created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The rule implements a statutory prohibition against the Enterprises passing the cost of such allocations through to the originators of loans they purchase or securitize, and finalizes and continues an interim final rule FHFA issued on December 16, 2014.

On February 2, 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a direct final rule approving revisions to the Albuquerque/ Bernalillo County, New Mexico State Implementation Plan. These revisions add definitions and clarifying changes to the general provisions and add a new emissions inventory regulation that establishes reporting requirements for stationary sources in Albuquerque/Bernalillo County. The direct final rule was published without prior proposal because EPA anticipated no adverse comments. EPA stated in the direct final rule that if we received relevant, adverse comments by March 4, 2015, EPA would publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register. EPA received a comment on February 20, 2015 from the Sierra Club stating in relevant part, that an Acting Regional Administrator cannot sign approvals, disapprovals, or any combination of approvals or disapproval, in whole or in part, due to the fact that the authority to act on agency actions on state implementation plans is delegated only to, and therefore can only be signed by, the Regional Administrator. EPA considers this a relevant, adverse comment and accordingly we are withdrawing our direct final rule approval, and in a separate subsequent final rulemaking we will address the comment received. The withdrawal is being taken pursuant to section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

On May 11, 2012, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule titled Oil and Gas; Well Stimulation, Including Hydraulic Fracturing, on Federal and Indian Lands. Because of significant public interest in hydraulic fracturing and this rulemaking, on May 24, 2013, the BLM published in the Federal Register a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comment titled Oil and Gas Hydraulic Fracturing on Federal and Indian Lands. The BLM has used the comments on the supplemental proposed rule and the earlier proposed rule in drafting this final rule. Key changes to the final rule include the allowable use of an expanded set of cement evaluation tools to help ensure that usable water zones have been isolated and protected from contamination, replacement of the ``type well'' concept to demonstrate well integrity with a requirement to demonstrate well integrity for all wells, more stringent requirements related to claims of trade secrets exempt from disclosure, more protective requirements to ensure that fluids recovered during hydraulic fracturing operations are contained, additional disclosure and public availability of information about each hydraulic fracturing operation, and revised records retention requirements to ensure that records of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations are retained for the life of the well. The final rule also provides opportunities for the BLM to coordinate standards and processes with individual states and tribes to reduce administrative costs and to improve efficiency.

This document corrects technical errors in the direct final rule that appeared in the Federal Register on February 24, 2015, entitled ``Rural Development RegulationsUpdate to FmHA References and to Census Regulations.''

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is proposing to expand the boundaries and scope of Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary (HIHWNMS or sanctuary), amend the regulations for HIHWNMS, change the name of the sanctuary, and revise the sanctuary's terms of designation and management plan. The purpose of this action is to transition the sanctuary from a single- species management approach to an ecosystem-based management approach. A draft environmental impact statement and draft revised management plan have been prepared for this proposed action. NOAA is soliciting public comment on the proposed rule, draft environmental impact statement, and draft revised management plan.