December 19, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Joint Board for the Enrollment of Actuaries gives notice of a meeting of the Advisory Committee on Actuarial Examinations (a portion of which will be open to the public) at the Internal Revenue Service, 1111 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC, on January 9-10, 2020.

This is a notice of the Presidential declaration of a major disaster for the State of Tennessee (FEMA-4471-DR), dated December 6, 2019, and related determinations.

This notice amends the notice of a major disaster declaration for the State of Florida (FEMA-4468-DR), dated October 21, 2019, and related determinations.

HRSA is seeking nominations of qualified candidates for consideration for appointment as members of the CDC/HRSA Advisory Committee on HIV, Viral Hepatitis and STD Prevention and Treatment (CHACHSPT). CHACHSPT advises the HHS Secretary, the CDC Director, and the HRSA Administrator on objectives, strategies, policies, and priorities for HIV, viral hepatitis, and STD prevention and treatment efforts. These include surveillance of HIV infection, viral hepatitis, other STDs, and related behaviors; epidemiologic, behavioral, health services, and laboratory research on HIV, viral hepatitis, and other STDs; identification of policy issues related to HIV/viral hepatitis/ STD professional education, patient healthcare delivery, and prevention services; agency policies about prevention, treatment, healthcare delivery, and research and training relating to HIV, viral hepatitis and other STDs; strategic issues influencing the ability of CDC and HRSA to fulfill their missions of providing prevention and treatment services; programmatic efforts to prevent and treat HIV, viral hepatitis, and other STDs; and support to the agencies in their development of responses to emerging health needs related to HIV, viral hepatitis, and other STDs.

The Commission is noticing a recent Postal Service filing for the Commission's consideration concerning negotiated service agreements. This notice informs the public of the filing, invites public comment, and takes other administrative steps.

The Department of the Treasury will submit the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, on or after the date of publication of this notice. The public is invited to submit comments on this request.

The Postal Service gives notice of filing a request with the Postal Regulatory Commission to add a domestic shipping services contract to the list of Negotiated Service Agreements in the Mail Classification Schedule's Competitive Products List.

The Department of Defense is publishing the unclassified text of an arms sales notification.

On November 13, 2019, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule pertaining to the National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for lead and copper under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) and requested comments by January 13, 2020. In response to stakeholder requests, the EPA is extending the comment period an additional 30 days to February 12, 2020.

The Coast Guard is proposing to modify the operating schedules that govern the Route 1 & 9 Bridge, mile 1.8, and Route 7 Bridge, mile 3.1, both crossing the Hackensack River, at Jersey City, NJ. The bridge owner, the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT), submitted a request to allow two hours advance notice for nighttime transits due to infrequent bridge openings. This proposed rule would align the advance notice requirement for the PATH Bridge at mile 3.0.

NMFS has received a request from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Polar Programs on behalf of the University of Houston for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to the THOR project in the Amundsen Sea, Antarctica. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS is also requesting comments on a possible one-year renewal that could be issued under certain circumstances and if all requirements are met, as described in Request for Public Comments at the end of this notice. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorizations and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) is responding to objections that it received from the Center for Food Safety on the final rule entitled ``Listing of Color Additives Exempt from Certification; Soy Leghemoglobin,'' which published on August 1, 2019. The final rule amended the color additive regulations to provide for the safe use of soy leghemoglobin as a color additive in ground beef analogue products. After reviewing the objections, FDA has concluded that the objections do not raise issues of material fact that justify a hearing or otherwise provide a basis for revoking the amendment to the regulations. We are also providing notice that the administrative stay of the effective date for this color additive regulation is now lifted.

The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (collectively, ``the Departments'') propose to amend their respective regulations governing the bars to asylum eligibility. The Departments also propose to clarify the effect of criminal convictions and to remove their respective regulations governing the automatic reconsideration of discretionary denials of asylum applications.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is correcting a direct final rule that appeared in the Federal Register on November 1, 2019. The document is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the State of New Hampshire's Underground Storage Tank (UST) program submitted by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES). This action also codifies EPA's approval of New Hampshire's state program and incorporates by reference those provisions of the State regulations that meet the requirements for approval.

Under the authority of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), we, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), determine threatened status for the Hawaiian goose (nene) (Branta sandvicensis). This rule changes the listing status of the nene from an endangered species to a threatened species on the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife. We call this ``reclassifying'' or ``downlisting'' the species. We are also adopting a rule under the authority of section 4(d) of the Act (a ``4(d) rule'') to enhance conservation of the species through range expansion and management flexibility. This final rule is based on a thorough review of the best available scientific data, which indicate that the threats to this species have been reduced to the point that it no longer meets the definition of endangered under the Act, but that it is likely to become an endangered species within the foreseeable future. In addition, this rule corrects the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife to reflect that Nesochen is not currently a scientifically accepted generic name for this species, and acknowledges the Hawaiian name ``nene'' as an alternative common name.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is revising regulations that are designed to reduce the risk of accidental releases of hazardous chemicals. These regulations are part of the EPA's Risk Management Program (RMP), which the Agency established under authority in the Clean Air Act and recently amended on January 13, 2017. After a process of reconsidering several parts of the 2017 rule, EPA has concluded that a better approach is to improve the performance of a subset of facilities by achieving greater compliance with RMP regulations instead of imposing additional regulatory requirements on the larger population of facilities that is generally performing well in preventing accidental releases. For this and other reasons, EPA is rescinding recent amendments to these regulations that we no longer consider reasonable or practicable relating to safer technology and alternatives analyses, third-party audits, incident investigations, information availability, and several other minor regulatory changes. EPA is also modifying regulations relating to local emergency coordination, emergency response exercises, and public meetings. In addition, the Agency is changing compliance dates for some of these provisions.