June 19, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) Omaha District has prepared a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the direct, indirect, and cumulative effects of a water supply project called the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP or Project) in Larimer County and Weld County, CO. The purpose of the project is to provide the project participants with approximately 40,000 acre-feet (AF) of new, reliable municipal water supply annually through a regional project coordinated by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (District). The participants in NISP requested new firm yield to meet a portion of their projected demand through 2060. The requests for new firm yield are based on the participants' analyses of their projected needs, the potential future demands as modeled by the District and verified by the Corps. NISP would result in direct impacts to jurisdictional waters of the United States (U.S.), including wetlands. The placement of fill material in these waters of the U.S. for the construction of water storage and distribution facilities associated with developing additional water supplies requires authorization from the Corps under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The District is the Permittee and Applicant, acting on behalf of the project participants. The Supplemental Draft EIS was prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA), and the Corps' regulations for NEPA implementation (33 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Parts 230 and 325, Appendices B and C). The Corps, Omaha District, Denver Regulatory Office is the lead federal agency responsible for the Supplemental Draft EIS. Information contained in the EIS serves as the basis for a decision regarding issuance of a Section 404 Permit. It also provides information for local and state agencies having jurisdictional responsibility for affected resources.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) announces that it is planning to submit a request for a three-year extension of an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Before submitting this ICR to OMB for review and approval, MSPB is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.

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

OSHA solicits public comments concerning its proposal to extend the Office of Management Budget's (OMB) approval of the information collection requirements specified in the OSHA Strategic Partnership Program (OSPP) for Worker Safety and Health.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Fokker Services B.V. Model F.28 Mark 0070 and 0100 airplanes. This AD was prompted by a report of two cases of heavy (hard to move) aileron control caused by aileron cables stuck in a clump of ice in the wheel bay. This AD requires installing drain tubes on the center wing rear spar. We are issuing this AD to prevent accumulated water near or on the aileron control cables, which could freeze and result in reduced control of the airplane.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Pratt & Whitney Division (PW) PW6122A and PW6124A turbofan engines. This AD requires initial and repetitive borescope inspections (BSIs) of the high-pressure compressor (HPC) 7th stage integrally bladed (IB) rotor aft integral arm for cracks until replacement of the HPC 7th stage IB rotor using non-silver-plated nuts. This AD was prompted by reports of crack finds in the HPC 7th stage IB rotor. We are issuing this AD to prevent HPC 7th stage IB rotor fractures, which could lead to uncontained engine failure and damage to the airplane.

The National Marine Fisheries Service is providing notice that the Final NOAA Restoration Center (RC) Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) is complete and available. The NOAA RC proposes to fund or otherwise implement habitat restoration activities through its existing programmatic framework and related procedures. The NOAA RC programs, which are authorized to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources, will support, fund, or otherwise implement habitat restoration activities throughout the coastal United States. NOAA RC identified a suite of appropriate restoration approaches that it believes will most effectively conserve and restore the coastal and marine resources, and the ecosystem services they provide under NOAA trusteeship. The PEIS evaluates the potential impacts to the human and natural environment of implementing these approaches and sets the stage so that future decisions by NOAA at the project-specific level can be documented as included under, or effectively tiered from, this programmatic analysis.

This document contains proposed regulations relating to multiemployer pension plans that are projected to have insufficient funds, at some point in the future, to pay the full benefits to which individuals will be entitled under the plans (referred to as plans in ``critical and declining status''). The Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (``MPRA'') amended the Internal Revenue Code to incorporate suspension of benefits provisions that permit these multiemployer plans to reduce pension benefits payable to participants and beneficiaries if certain conditions are satisfied. MPRA requires the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the Secretary of Labor, to approve or deny applications by these plans to reduce benefits. As required by MPRA, these proposed regulations, together with temporary regulations being published at the same time, provide guidance implementing these statutory provisions. These proposed regulations would affect active, retired, and deferred vested participants and beneficiaries of multiemployer plans that are in critical and declining status as well as employers contributing to, and sponsors and administrators of, those plans.

This document contains temporary regulations relating to multiemployer pension plans that are projected to have insufficient funds, at some point in the future, to pay the full benefits to which individuals will be entitled under the plans (referred to as plans in ``critical and declining status''). The Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (``MPRA'') amended the Internal Revenue Code to incorporate suspension of benefits provisions that permit these multiemployer plans to reduce pension benefits payable to participants and beneficiaries if certain conditions are satisfied. MPRA requires the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and the Secretary of Labor, to approve or deny applications by these plans to reduce benefits. As required by MPRA, these temporary regulations, together with proposed regulations being published at the same time, provide guidance implementing these statutory provisions. These temporary regulations affect active, retired, and deferred vested participants and beneficiaries of multiemployer plans that are in critical and declining status as well as employers contributing to, and sponsors and administrators of, those plans. The text of these temporary regulations also serves, in part, as the text of the proposed regulations (REG-102648-15) set forth in the notice of proposed rulemaking on this subject in the Proposed Rules section of this issue of the Federal Register.

This document contains an interim final rule prescribing the application process and notice requirements for partitions of eligible multiemployer plans under title IV of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), as amended by the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA). The interim final rule is published pursuant to section 122 of MPRA in order to carry out the provisions of section 4233 of ERISA. PBGC is soliciting public comments on the interim final regulation.

This Notice identifies unutilized, underutilized, excess, and surplus Federal property reviewed by HUD for suitability for use to assist the homeless.

This NPRM proposes to update Head Start program performance standards, last revised in 1998, to meet Congress's requirements and improve the quality of Head Start. In the Improving Head Start for School Readiness Act of 2007, Congress instructed the Office of Head Start to update its performance standards by regulation and ``ensure that any such revisions in the standards [do] not result in the elimination of or any reduction in quality, scope, or types of health, educational, parental involvement, nutritional, social, or other services.'' The proposed performance standards incorporate extensive consultation with experts and findings from scientific research, reflect best practices, lessons from program input and innovation, integrate recommendations from the Secretary's Advisory Committee Final Report on Head Start Research and Evaluation, and reflect this Administration's deep commitment to improving the school readiness of young children. The proposed program performance standards will improve the quality of services, reduce bureaucratic burden on programs, and improve regulatory clarity and transparency. They provide a clear road map for current and prospective grantees to provide high quality Head Start services and to strengthen the outcomes of the children and families they serve.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is affirming, with changes and a request for comment, the interim final rule ``Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Ready-to-Eat Meat and Poultry Products,'' which was published in the Federal Register on June 6, 2003. FSIS is making minor changes to the regulatory provisions in response to comments that the Agency received, on the basis of experience in implementing the provisions, and because the way FSIS obtains establishment profile information electronically has changed. FSIS is clarifying in the regulations that establishments may not release into commerce product that has been in contact with Listeria monocytogenes (Lm)-contaminated surfaces without reprocessing the product. In addition, FSIS is removing the requirement for establishments to report production volume and related information to FSIS because the Agency now routinely collects this information through its Public Health Information System (PHIS).