December 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is correcting a final rule that was published in the Federal Register on October 7, 2020, and will be effective on December 7, 2020. The final rule corrected and updated regulations for source testing of emissions. This correction does not change any final action taken by the EPA on October 7, 2020; this action merely provides further clarification on the amendatory instructions for Method 311.

This action establishes Class D and Class E airspace designated as an extension to Class D or E surface area, and amends Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface for John C. Tune Airport, Nashville, TN, as a new air traffic control tower shall service the airport. This action also updates the geographic coordinates of the airport, as well as Music City Executive Airport, (formerly Sumner County Regional Airport), Lebanon Municipal Airport, and Murfreesboro Municipal Airport. In addition, this action establishes Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface for Vanderbilt University Hospital Heliport, as instrument approach procedures have been designed for the heliport. Controlled airspace is necessary for the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations in the area.

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Airbus SAS Model A330-200, A330-200 Freighter, A330-300, A340-200, A340-300, A340-500, and A340-600 series airplanes. This AD was prompted by a report that an airplane failed to extend its nose landing gear (NLG) using the free fall method, due to loss of the green hydraulic system. This AD requires repetitive tests of affected free fall actuators (FFA), and replacement of any affected FFA with a serviceable FFA, as specified in a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD, which is incorporated by reference. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

This final rule establishes the 2021 opening date for all Atlantic shark fisheries, including the fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. This final rule also establishes the shark fisheries quotas for the 2021 fishing year, with adjustments based on harvest levels during 2020, and establishes the large coastal shark (LCS) retention limits for directed shark limited access permit holders. NMFS may increase or decrease these retention limits for directed shark limited access permit holders during the year, in accordance with existing regulations, to provide equitable fishing opportunities for commercial shark fishermen in all regions and areas, to the extent practicable. These actions could affect fishing opportunities for commercial shark fishermen in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea.

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act, as amended (EPCA), prescribes energy conservation standards for various consumer products, including direct heating equipment (DHE). EPCA also requires the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to periodically determine whether more- stringent, amended standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified, and would result in significant energy savings. After carefully considering the available market and technical information for these products, DOE has tentatively concluded in this document that more-stringent standards for DHE would not save a significant amount of energy. Further, depending on the product class, more-stringent standards for DHE would not be technologically feasible or economically justified. As such, DOE has tentatively determined that amended energy conservation standards are not needed. DOE requests comment on this proposed determination, as well as the associated analyses and results.

We are proposing to amend our electronic records management regulations to add a subpart containing standards for digitizing permanent Federal records so that agencies may dispose of the original source records, where appropriate and in accordance with the Federal Records Act amendments of 2014. We are also making a minor revision to our records schedule review provisions to establish a requirement for agencies to review, every five years, all records schedules that are ten years old and older, based on the date the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) approved the schedule.

This document contains final regulations under sections 245A and 951A of the Internal Revenue Code (the ``Code'') that coordinate the extraordinary disposition rule under section 245A of the Code with the disqualified basis and disqualified payment rules under section 951A of the Code. This document also contains final regulations under section 6038 of the Code regarding information reporting to facilitate administration of the final regulations. The final regulations affect corporations that are subject to the extraordinary disposition rule and the disqualified basis rule or the disqualified payment rule. This document finalizes proposed regulations published on August 27, 2020.

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), announce a 12-month finding on a petition to list the peppered chub (Macrhybopsis tetranema) as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act). The peppered chub is a freshwater fish historically found in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas, and is now extirpated in all but approximately 6 percent of its historical range. After review of the best available scientific and commercial information, we find that listing the peppered chub is warranted due to a dramatic reduction in the species' range (a loss of all but one population) and the low resiliency level of the remaining population. The primary stressors affecting the peppered chub are habitat fragmentation and degradation resulting from several sources, as discussed in this document and its supporting materials. Because we have found the species is at risk of extinction, we propose to list the peppered chub as an endangered species under the Act. If we finalize this rule as proposed, it would add this species to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and extend the Act's protections to the species. We also propose to designate critical habitat for the peppered chub under the Act. The proposed critical habitat designation includes approximately 1,068 river miles (1,719 river kilometers) in four units in Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. We announce the availability of a draft economic analysis of the proposed critical habitat designation.

The Federal Trade Commission (``FTC'' or ``Commission'') is issuing this advance notice of proposed rulemaking (``ANPRM'') to gather information, related to seven topics, that will help to determine the path for future amendments to the premerger notification rules (``the Rules'') under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act (``the Act'' or ``HSR'').