September 29, 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This interim final rule revises the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's (CSB) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) rule. The purpose of this revision is to ensure consistency with the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 and to update certain other provisions of the CSB's current rule. This interim final rule supersedes all previous CSB rules and guidance that supplement and implement the CSB FOIA Program.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to approve the state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) on behalf of the State of Maryland in response to EPA's February 3, 2017 Findings of Failure to Submit for various requirements relating to the 2008 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). This SIP revision is specific to nonattainment new source review (NNSR) requirements. In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State'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 description of the state submittal and EPA's evaluation is included in a 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 or is also available electronically within the Docket for this rulemaking action. 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 If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule.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.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing withdrawal of the federal implementation plan (FIP) provisions that require affected electricity generating units (EGUs) in Texas to participate in Phase 2 of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) trading programs for annual emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX). Withdrawal of the FIP requirements is intended to address a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) remanding the CSAPR Phase 2 SO2 budget for Texas to the EPA for reconsideration. With this action, the EPA is also determining that, following withdrawal of the FIP requirements, sources in Texas do not contribute significantly to nonattainment in, or interfere with maintenance by, any other state with regard to the 1997 national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Accordingly, we are also determining that the EPA has no obligation to issue new FIP requirements for Texas sources to address transported PM2.5 pollution under Clean Air Act (CAA) section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) with regard to that NAAQS. Finally, the EPA is also affirming the continued validity of the Agency's 2012 determination that participation in CSAPR meets the Regional Haze Rule's criteria for an alternative to the application of source- specific best available retrofit technology (BART). The EPA has determined that changes to CSAPR's geographic scope resulting from the actions EPA has taken or expects to take in response to the D.C. Circuit's remand do not affect the continued validity of participation in CSAPR as a BART alternative, because the changes in geographic scope would not have adversely affected the results of the air quality modeling analysis upon which the EPA based the 2012 determination.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking direct final action to approve elements of a State Implementation Plan (SIP) submission, for the 2012 Annual Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). Infrastructure SIPs address the applicable requirements of Clean Air Act (CAA) section 110, which requires that each state adopt and submit a SIP for the implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of each new or revised NAAQS promulgated by the EPA. These SIPs are commonly referred to as ``infrastructure'' SIPs. The infrastructure requirements are designed to ensure that the structural components of each state's air quality management program are adequate to meet the state's responsibilities under the CAA.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving New York's regional haze progress report, submitted on June 16, 2015, as a revision to its State Implementation Plan (SIP). New York's SIP revision addresses requirements of the Clean Air Act and the EPA's rules that require each state to submit periodic reports describing progress towards reasonable progress goals established for regional haze and a determination of the adequacy of the state's existing regional haze SIP. The EPA is approving New York's determination that the State's regional haze SIP is adequate to meet these reasonable progress goals for the first implementation period which extends through 2018.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is withdrawing the following regulatory guides (RGs): RG 5.13, ``Conduct of Nuclear Material Physical Inventories,'' Revision 0, published in June 1973, and RG 5.33, ``Statistical Evaluation of Material Unaccounted For,'' Revision 0, published in June 1974. These RGs are being withdrawn because the guidance has been incorporated into RG 5.88, ``Physical Inventories and Material Balances at Fuel Cycle Facilities.''

The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC or Commission) rescinds its current Environmental and Historic Preservation Policies and Procedures (2004 Policies) and hereby adopts new rules governing NCPC's implementation of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

This SNPRM provides interested parties the opportunity to comment on the proposed revisions to the FHWA and FTA joint regulations implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Section 4(f) requirements. The FHWA, FRA, and FTA (hereafter referred to as ``the Agencies'') propose these revisions after the enactment of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which requires a rulemaking to address programmatic approaches in environmental reviews and makes other changes to existing law that should be addressed in a rulemaking. In this SNPRM the Agencies also propose to add FRA to regulations governing environmental impact and related procedures and the parks, recreation areas, wildlife and waterfowl refuges, and historic site, making those regulations FRA's NEPA implementing procedures and FRA's Section 4(f) implementing regulations, respectively. This SNPRM proposes to modify the FHWA/FTA Environmental Impact and Related Procedures due to changes to the environmental review process made by the FAST Act and to modify the Parks, Recreation Areas, Wildlife and Waterfowl Refuges, and Historic Sites regulations due to new exceptions created by the FAST Act. Lastly, the Agencies request comments regarding the current FHWA and FTA definition of ``existing operational right-of-way'' in their respective categorical exclusion sections. The Agencies seek comments on the proposals in this document.

This interim final rule implements the primary features of section 701 and partially implements several other sections of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (NDAA-17). The law makes significant changes to the TRICARE program, especially to the health maintenance organization (HMO)-like health plan, known as TRICARE Prime; to the preferred provider organization (PPO) health plan, previously called TRICARE Extra which is to be replaced by TRICARE Select; and to the third health care option, known as TRICARE Standard, which will be terminated as of December 31, 2017, and also replaced by TRICARE Select. The statute also adopts a new health plan enrollment system under TRICARE and new provisions for access to care, high value services, preventive care, and healthy lifestyles. In implementing the statutory changes, this interim final rule makes a number of improvements to TRICARE.

Washington State's workers' compensation system runs several promising early intervention programs including the Centers of Occupational Health and Education (COHE) and the Early Return to Work and the Stay at Work programs, which provide early intervention and return-to-work services for individuals with work-related health conditions and their employers. The President's FY2018 budget proposed that the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) jointly conduct a demonstration testing the effects of implementing key features of these programs in other states and/or for a broader population beyond workers' compensation. To do that, we anticipate funding two to three states to operate projects with key elements drawn from the Washington State programs mentioned above, with an increased emphasis on access to employment-related supports, or fund the expansion of existing programs to include increased access to employment-related supports. The ultimate policy goal is to increase employment and labor force participation of individuals who have or are developing work disabilities. This request for information (RFI) seeks public input on how the proposed demonstration projects can best be designed to promote labor force attachment, coordinate employment and health services, and support injured and ill workers in returning to and remaining at work. The input we receive will inform our deliberations about the possible design of a future demonstration project.

In accordance with the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), notice is hereby given that the Surface Transportation Board intends to renew the charter of the National Grain Car Council (NGCC).