May 26, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On February 20, 2015, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) submitted a request to the Environmental Protections Agency (EPA) to make a determination under the Clean Air Act (CAA) that the Cleveland and Delta nonattainment areas have attained the 2008 lead (Pb) national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS or standard). In this action, EPA is determining that the Cleveland and Delta nonattainment areas (hereafter also referred to as the ``Cleveland area'', ``Delta area'' or ``areas'') have attained the 2008 Pb NAAQS. These determinations of attainment are based upon complete, quality-assured and certified ambient air monitoring data for the 2012-2014 design period showing that the areas have monitored attainment of the 2008 Pb NAAQS. Additionally, as a result of this determination, EPA is suspending the requirements for the areas to submit attainment demonstrations, together with reasonably available control measures (RACM), reasonable further progress (RFP) plans, contingency measures for failure to meet RFP, and attainment deadlines for as long as the areas continue to attain the 2008 Pb NAAQS.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reissuing its final approval of the Colorado regional haze State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted on May 25, 2011 with respect to the State's best available retrofit technology (BART) determination for the Comanche Generating Station (Comanche) near Pueblo, Colorado. EPA originally finalized its approval of the Colorado regional haze SIP on December 31, 2012. In response to a petition for review of that final action in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, EPA successfully moved for a voluntary remand, without vacatur, to more adequately respond to public comments concerning Comanche. EPA is providing new responses to those comments in this rulemaking notice.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to disapprove a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) for the State of Delaware on October 15, 2013. EPA is proposing this action because the submittal does not satisfy the requirements of Clean Air Act (CAA) or the Federal implementing regulations, which establish the criteria under which the owner or operator of a new or modified major stationary source must obtain the required emission offsets ``from the same source or other sources in the same nonattainment area'' with limited exceptions, for Delaware's nonattainment New Source Review (NSR) preconstruction permitting program. In addition, EPA is proposing disapproval of the SIP revision because Delaware exercises authorities that are reserved for EPA under section 107 of the CAA. This action is being taken under the CAA.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to approve Reliability Standard TPL-007-1 (Transmission System Planned Performance for Geomagnetic Disturbance Events). Proposed Reliability Standard TPL-007-1 establishes requirements for certain entities to assess the vulnerability of their transmission systems to geomagnetic disturbance events (GMDs), which occur when the sun ejects charged particles that interact and cause changes in the earth's magnetic fields. Entities that do not meet certain performance requirements, based on the results of their vulnerability assessments, must develop a plan to achieve the requirements. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization, submitted the proposed Reliability Standard for Commission approval in response to a Commission directive in Order No. 779. In addition, the Commission proposes to direct that NERC develop modifications to the benchmark GMD event definition set forth in Attachment 1 of the proposed Reliability Standard so that the definition is not based solely on spatially-averaged data. The Commission also proposes to direct NERC to submit a work plan, and subsequently one or more informational filings, that address specific GMD-related research areas.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has recently submitted a request for renewal of an existing collection of information to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. The information collection is entitled, ``Requests to Non-Agreement States for Information.''

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving the removal of general conformity regulations from the Ohio state implementation plan (SIP) under the Clean Air Act. These regulations are no longer necessary since the establishment of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users transportation act removed the requirement for states to maintain general conformity regulations.

This action amends Class E Airspace at Clarksburg, WV, as the Clarksburg VOR/DME has been decommissioned, requiring airspace redesign at North Central West Virginia Airport, formerly Benedum Airport. This action enhances the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport. This action also updates the geographic coordinates of the airport.

This action removes Class E Airspace at Lexington, TN, as the Franklin Wilkins Airport has been abandoned, and controlled airspace is no longer required. This action enhances the safety and airspace management around the Lexington, TN, area.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to approve revisions to the Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia) State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions remove the Stage II vapor recovery program (Stage II) from the attainment plans for the Virginia portion of the Washington, DC-MD-VA 1990 1-Hour and 1997 8-Hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) Nonattainment Areas (Northern Virginia Areas), as well as from the maintenance plan for the Fredericksburg 1997 8-Hour Ozone NAAQS Maintenance Area (Fredericksburg Area). These revisions also include an analysis that addresses the impact of removal of Stage II from the attainment and maintenance plans. The analysis submitted by the Commonwealth satisfies the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA). In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the Commonwealth's SIP submittal as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule and the Technical Support Document (TSD) prepared in support of this rulemaking action. A copy of the TSD is available, upon request, from the EPA Regional Office listed in the ADDRESSES section of this document. If no adverse comments are received in response to this action, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

DoD is proposing to amend the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to implement a section of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 that revises the restrictions relating to utilization of domestic photovoltaic devices.

DoD is issuing a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to establish the level of approval required for a determination and findings for time-and- materials and labor-hour contracts, or portions of contracts, exceeding $1 million.

DoD is issuing a final rule amending the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to require contracting officers to consider information in the Statistical Reporting module of the Past Performance Information Retrieval System when evaluating past performance of offerors under competitive solicitations for supplies using simplified acquisition procedures.

The Coast Guard will enforce the subject safety zone in the Captain of the Port Boston Zone on the specified date and time listed below. This action is necessary to ensure the protection of the maritime public and event participants from the hazards associated with this annual recurring event.