December 14, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of the Treasury is issuing final regulations concerning the investment and use of amounts deposited in the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund, which was established in the Treasury of the United States by the Resources and Ecosystem Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economies of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 (RESTORE Act).

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the Simpson Avenue Bridge across the Hoquiam River, mile 0.5, at Hoquiam, WA. The deviation is necessary to accommodate Washington State Department of Transportation's (WSDOT) extensive maintenance and restoration efforts on this bridge. This deviation allows WSDOT to open one leaf of the double leaf bascule bridge when at least two hours of notice is given. The vertical clearance will be reduced to approximately 25 feet at mean high tide, and the horizontal clearance will be reduced to 52 feet.

NMFS is transferring 24.3 metric tons (mt) of Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) quota from the General category December 2016 subquota period to the January 2016 subquota period (from January 1 through March 31, 2016, or until the available subquota for this period is reached, whichever comes first). NMFS also is adjusting the Atlantic tunas General category BFT daily retention limit for the January 2016 subquota period to three large medium or giant BFT from the default retention limit of one. This action is based on consideration of the regulatory determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments and applies to Atlantic tunas General category (commercial) permitted vessels and Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Charter/Headboat category permitted vessels when fishing commercially for BFT.

This document announces a control date that may limit or restrict access to the blueline tilefish fishery in Federal waters north of the Virginia/North Carolina border. This action is necessary to inform fishery participants that we are considering future action. We intend for this document to promote awareness of possible future rulemaking, and discourage speculative entry into and/or investment in the Mid-Atlantic blueline tilefish fishery.

The Surface Transportation Board seeks comment on whether and how it should update its rules pertaining to offers of financial assistance in order to improve that process and protect it against abuse.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving under the Federal Clean Air Act (the Act) State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the State of Texas. These revisions pertain to contingency measures for particulate matter in the City of El Paso. The affected contingency measures are the paving of alleys and sweeping of streets.

We propose to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 90-11-05 for certain Airbus Model A300 series airplanes and Model A300 B4-600 series airplanes. AD 90-11-05 currently requires repetitive detailed inspections for cracking in the aft hinge brackets of the outer shroud box that is located in the outer wing box, and related investigative and corrective actions if necessary. Since we issued AD 90-11-05, we have determined that a change to certain compliance times is needed. This proposed AD would continue to require doing repetitive detailed inspections for cracking in the hinge brackets of the forward and aft outer shroud boxes that are located in the outer wing box, and related investigative and corrective actions if necessary; and would add airplanes to the applicability. We are proposing this AD to detect and correct cracking of the aft hinge brackets of the outer shroud box; such cracking could affect the structural integrity of the airplane.

This action proposes to modify Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface at Deer Lodge-City-County Airport, Deer Lodge, MT. After a review, the FAA found it necessary to amend the airspace area for the safety and management of standard instrument approach procedures for Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to amend its regulations with regard to compliance information, post-award compliance reviews, and complaint investigations. This proposed rule will improve the EPA's ability to ensure that recipients of federal financial assistance comply with their affirmative obligation under the Civil Rights Act of 1965 and other nondiscrimination statutes not to discriminate, while also ensuring that the EPA has sufficient flexibility and discretion to carry out its nondiscrimination compliance work.

Under section 211 of the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is required to set renewable fuel percentage standards every year. This action establishes the annual percentage standards for cellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and total renewable fuel that apply to all motor vehicle gasoline and diesel produced or imported in the years 2014, 2015, and 2016. The EPA is establishing a cellulosic biofuel volume for all three years that is below the applicable volume specified in the Act, and is also rescinding the cellulosic biofuel standard for 2011. Relying on statutory waiver authorities, the EPA is adjusting the applicable volumes of advanced biofuel and total renewable fuel for all three years. The 2016 standards are expected to spur further progress in overcoming current constraints in renewable fuel distribution infrastructure, which in turn is expected to lead to substantial growth over time in the production and use of renewable fuels. In this action, we are also establishing the applicable volume of biomass-based diesel for 2017. Finally, we are setting the compliance and attest reporting deadlines for the years 2013, 2014, and 2015, as well as finalizing regulatory amendments to clarify the scope of the existing algal biofuel pathway.