February 13, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is proposing to amend and update its VA Acquisition Regulation (VAAR) in phased increments to revise or remove any policy superseded by changes in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), to remove procedural guidance internal to VA into the VAAM, and to incorporate any new agency specific regulations or policies. These changes seek to streamline and align the VAAR with the FAR and remove outdated and duplicative requirements and reduce burden on contractors. The VAAM incorporates portions of the removed VAAR as well as other internal agency acquisition policy. VA will rewrite certain parts of the VAAR and VAAM, and as VAAR parts are rewritten, will publish them in the Federal Register. VA will combine related topics, as appropriate. This rulemaking revises VAAR coverage concerning Administrative Matters, Publicizing Contract Actions, and Termination of Contracts, as well as an affected part concerning Solicitation Provisions and Contract Clauses.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) approves Reliability Standard CIP-012-1 (Cyber SecurityCommunications between Control Centers). The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization, submitted Reliability Standard CIP-012-1 for Commission approval in response to a Commission directive. In addition, the Commission directs NERC to develop modifications to the CIP Reliability Standards to require protections regarding the availability of communication links and data communicated between bulk electric system Control Centers.

Pursuant to the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) is finalizing approval of revisions to the Texas (TX) State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted on February 22, 2019, that revised the State's New Source Review (NSR) permitting rules contained in Title 30 of the Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 116 Control of Air Pollution by Air Permits for New Construction or Modification. Our final action on the February 22, 2019, submittal also addresses portions of an April 16, 2014, SIP submittal pertaining to the permitting of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions that were subsequently invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court. The February 22, 2019, submittal appropriately removes these provisions from the Texas SIP.

This rule revises U.S. Department of the Interior regulations implementing the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to provide for annual adjustments of civil penalties to account for inflation under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 and Office of Management and Budget guidance. The purpose of these adjustments is to maintain the deterrent effect of civil penalties and to further the policy goals of the underlying statutes.

This interim rule with request for public comment adds a new part to our regulations to implement the Regioinal Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). RCPP enhances conservation and promotes coordination between NRCS and its partners to help producers and landowners increase the restoration and sustainable use of soil, water, and wildlife on a regional or watershed scale. NRCS, an agency of the USDA, administers RCPP, which is funded through CCC. RCCP is reauthorized by the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the 2018 Farm Bill), which streamlined RCPP administration, including elimination of ``covered program'' financial transfers and replacement of covered program contracts with RCPP contracts and programmatic partnership agreements. Section 2504 of the 2018 Farm Bill authorizes NRCS to implement RCPP through an Availability of Program Funding (APF) announcement in FY 2019 without issuing a regulation. This interim administration authority expired September 30, 2019, and section 1271E(e) of the RCPP statute, as amended, requires NRCS to administer RCPP through a regulation going forward. Therefore, NRCS is publishing this interim rule to incorporate the 2018 Farm Bill changes to RCPP program administration.

The Coast Guard is issuing non-substantive technical, organizational, and conforming amendments to existing regulations in parts 1, 100, 110, and 165 of Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations. These amendments update and clarify general regulations in part 1, and update regulations for Field Districts 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, and 17 to reflect the current status of regulated navigation areas, special local regulations, anchorages, safety zones, and security zones. This rule will have no substantive effect on the regulated public.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve in part and conditionally approve in part revisions to the Imperial County Air Pollution Control District (ICAPCD or ``District'') portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern the ICAPCD's Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) requirements for the 2008 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) and negative declarations for several source categories. We are approving the local SIP revisions to demonstrate that RACT is implemented as required under the Clean Air Act (CAA or ``the Act'').