April 12, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, will be submitting the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The proposed information collection was previously published in the Federal Register on Thursday, December 21, 2017, allowing a 60-day comment period. Following publication of the 60-day notice, the Bureau of Justice Statistics received three requests for the survey instrument, a statement of support for the collection, and a question regarding arrest-related deaths, which are outside of the scope of the PPCS.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a revision to the Alaska regional haze State Implementation Plan (SIP), submitted by the State of Alaska on March 10, 2016. Alaska submitted its Regional Haze Progress Report (``progress report'' or ``report'') and a negative declaration stating that further revision of the existing regional haze SIP is not needed at this time. Alaska submitted both the progress report and the negative declaration in the form of implementation plan revisions as required by federal regulations. The progress report addresses the federal Regional Haze Rule requirements under the Clean Air Act to submit a report describing progress in achieving reasonable progress goals established for regional haze and a determination of the adequacy of the state's existing plan addressing regional haze. We are also approving minor updates to the Enhanced Smoke Management Plan, Long-Term Strategy, and Commitment to Future 308 Plan Revision sections of the regional haze SIP, submitted concurrently with the progress report.

In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018, signed by the President on March 23, 2018, Congress provided at least $55 million in budget authority for the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014 (WIFIA) program to cover the subsidy required to provide a much larger amount of credit assistance. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that this budget authority may provide approximately $5.5 billion in credit assistance and may finance approximately $11 billion in water infrastructure investment, while covering increased costs associated with implementing a larger program. The purpose of this notice of funding availability (NOFA) is to solicit letters of interest (LOIs) from prospective borrowers seeking credit assistance from EPA.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), propose to list the island marble butterfly (Euchloe ausonides insulanus) as an endangered species and designate critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). In total, approximately 812 acres (329 hectares) on the south end of San Juan Island, San Juan County, Washington, fall within the boundaries of the proposed critical habitat designation. If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would extend the Act's protections to this species and its critical habitat. The effect of this rule will be to add this species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and to designate critical habitat for the island marble butterfly under the Act. We also announce the availability of a draft economic analysis (DEA) of the proposed designation of critical habitat for the island marble butterfly.

In accordance with Executive Order 13771 of January 30, 2017, which addresses agency review of existing regulations, including those that may be outmoded or ineffective, the State Department is repealing the regulations on Benefits for Hostages in Iraq, Kuwait, or Lebanon. The current regulations, which relate to hostage benefits for U.S. nationals in Iraq, Kuwait, or Lebanon were established in 1990, and are outdated as the program funding has been eliminated.