May 16, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Section 518 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), enacted as part of the 1987 amendments to the statute, authorizes EPA to treat eligible Indian tribes with reservations in a manner similar to states (TAS) for a variety of purposes, including administering each of the principal CWA regulatory programs and receiving grants under several CWA authorities. Since 1991, EPA has followed a cautious interpretation that has required tribes, as a condition of receiving TAS regulatory authority under section 518, to demonstrate inherent authority to regulate waters and activities on their reservations under principles of federal Indian common law. The Agency has consistently stated, however, that its approach was subject to change in the event of further congressional or judicial guidance addressing tribal authority under CWA section 518. Based on such guidance, EPA in the interpretive rule we are finalizing today concludes definitively that section 518 includes an express delegation of authority by Congress to Indian tribes to administer regulatory programs over their entire reservations, subject to the eligibility requirements in section 518. This reinterpretation streamlines the process for applying for TAS, eliminating the need for applicant tribes to demonstrate inherent authority to regulate under the Act and allowing eligible tribes to implement the congressional delegation of authority. The reinterpretation also brings EPA's treatment of tribes under the CWA in line with EPA's treatment of tribes under the Clean Air Act, which has similar statutory language addressing tribal regulation of Indian reservation areas. This interpretive rule does not revise any regulatory text. Regulatory provisions remain in effect requiring tribes to identify the boundaries of the reservation areas over which they seek to exercise authority and allowing the adjacent state(s) to comment to EPA on an applicant tribe's assertion of authority. This rule will reduce burdens on applicants associated with the existing TAS process and has no significant cost.

These special conditions are issued for the Cessna Aircraft Company, Models 208 and 208B Caravan airplanes. This airplane, as modified by Peregrine, will have a novel or unusual design feature associated with the use of a replacement option of a lithium battery instead of nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) and lead-acid rechargeable batteries. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.

NMFS announces that the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area will close for the remainder of the 2016 fishing year. No vessel issued a federal scallop permit, with the exception of Northern Gulf of Maine permit holders also holding a Maine state scallop permit and fishing under the state waters exemption program in Maine state waters, may fish for, possess, or land scallops from the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area. Regulations require this action once NMFS projects that 100 percent of the 2016 total allowable catch for the Northern Gulf of Maine Scallop Management Area will be harvested.

On March 15, 2016, FRA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would require establishing minimum requirements for the size of train crew staffs depending on the type of operation. FRA is announcing an extension to the comment period and that it will schedule a public hearing in a future notice to provide interested persons an opportunity to comment on the proposal and to discuss further development of the regulation. When FRA schedules the public hearing in a future notice, it will also reopen the comment period for this proceeding to allow additional time for interested parties to submit written comments in response to views or information provided at the public hearing.

This rule deletes the requirement for fee-to-trust applicants to furnish title evidence that meets the ``Standards for the Preparation of Title Evidence in Land Acquisitions by the United States'' issued by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and replaces the requirement with a more targeted requirement for title evidence, because adherence to the DOJ standards is not required for acquisitions of land in trust for individual Indians or Indian tribes.

On November 18, 2015, the U.S. Department of Energy (``DOE'') issued a notice of proposed rulemaking to exempt certain types of external power supplies consistent with the EPS Service Parts Act of 2014. That proposal, which serves as the basis for this final rule, explained that the Act exempted certain EPSs made available by a manufacturer as a service or spare part from the energy conservation standards promulgated in a February 2014 final rule. The proposal sought to codify this exemption and certain related reporting requirements. This rule adopts the November 2015 proposal along with related provisions to require manufacturers to annually report the total units of exempt EPSs shipped as service and spare parts that fail to meet the appropriate energy conservation standards.

The DOT is withdrawing a previously published Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would have replaced the Orders limiting scheduled operations at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR), and LaGuardia Airport (LGA) with longer-term limits on scheduled and unscheduled operations at JFK, EWR, and LGA, and requested comment on options to establish a secondary market for the purchase, sale, lease, or trade of slots at these airports, as well as procedures that would codify the review of slot transactions arising from the secondary market for public interest and anti-competitive effects.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA, we, or Agency) is announcing the availability of a draft guidance for industry entitled ``Qualified Facility Attestation Using Form FDA 3942a (for Human Food) or Form FDA 3942b (for Animal Food).'' This draft guidance explains our current thinking on how to determine whether a business is a ``qualified facility'' that is subject to modified requirements under our rule entitled ``Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food'' (the Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule) or under our rule entitled ``Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals'' (the Preventive Controls for Animal Food Rule). This draft guidance also explains our current thinking on how a business would submit Form FDA 3942a attesting to its status as a qualified facility under the Preventive Controls for Human Food Rule and how a business would submit Form FDA 3942b attesting to its status as a qualified facility under the Preventive Controls for Animal Food Rule. We also are announcing an opportunity for public comment on the proposed collection of information embodied in Forms FDA 3942a and 3942b. Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), Federal Agencies are required to publish notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information and allow 60 days for public comment in response to the notice.

The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires each State Implementation Plan (SIP) to contain adequate provisions prohibiting air emissions that will have certain adverse air quality effects in other states. On October 20, 2015, the State of Oregon made a submittal to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to address these requirements. The EPA is approving the submittal as meeting the requirements that each SIP contain adequate provisions to prohibit emissions that will contribute significantly to nonattainment or interfere with maintenance of the 2008 lead (Pb) and 2010 nitrogen dioxide (NO2) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in any other state.

NMFS issues this final rule for the 2016 Pacific whiting fishery under the authority of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP), the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act), and the Pacific Whiting Act of 2006. This final rule announces the 2016 U.S. Total Allowable Catch (TAC) of 367,553 metric tons of Pacific whiting, establishes the tribal allocation of 64,322 metric tons, establishes a set-aside for research and bycatch of 1,500 metric tons, and announces the allocations of Pacific whiting to the non-tribal fishery for 2016. This rule will ensure that the 2016 Pacific whiting fishery is managed in accordance with the goals and objectives of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the FMP, the Pacific Whiting Act of 2006, and other applicable laws.

The Surface Transportation Board (Board or STB) is proposing to amend its arbitration procedures to conform to the requirements of the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all The Boeing Company Model 757 airplanes. This AD was prompted by a report of cracking in the fuselage frame. This AD requires inspections for cracking in the fuselage frame, left and right sides, and repair if necessary. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct fuselage frame fatigue cracking. Such cracking could result in loss of structural integrity and the inability to sustain loading conditions.

This document is issued under the joint authority of DOD, GSA, and NASA. This Small Entity Compliance Guide has been prepared in accordance with section 212 of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. It consists of a summary of the rules appearing in Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-88, which amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). An asterisk (*) next to a rule indicates that a regulatory flexibility analysis has been prepared. Interested parties may obtain further information regarding these rules by referring to FAC 2005-88, which precedes this document. These documents are also available via the Internet at https:// www.regulations.gov.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement section 814 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. `Buck' McKeon National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 that requires the head of the contracting activity to approve any determinations to select more than five offerors to submit phase-two proposals for a two-phase design- build construction acquisition that is valued at greater than $4 million.

DoD, GSA, and NASA are issuing a final rule to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement a section of U.S. Code which establishes a higher simplified acquisition threshold for overseas acquisitions in support of humanitarian or peacekeeping operations.

This document summarizes the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) rules agreed to by the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) in this Federal Acquisition Circular (FAC) 2005-88. A companion document, the Small Entity Compliance Guide (SECG), follows this FAC. The FAC, including the SECG, is available via the Internet at https://www.regulations.gov.