April 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS has determined that the Atlantic bluefin tuna (BFT) daily retention limit that applies to Highly Migratory Species (HMS) Angling category permitted vessels and HMS Charter/Headboat vessels (when fishing recreationally for BFT) should be adjusted for the remainder of 2021, based on consideration of the regulatory determination criteria regarding inseason adjustments. NMFS is adjusting the Angling category BFT daily retention limit from the default of one school, large school, or small medium BFT to: Two school BFT and one large school/small medium BFT per vessel per day/trip for private vessels with HMS Angling category permits; three school BFT and one large school/small medium BFT per vessel per day/trip for charter boat vessels with HMS Charter/ Headboat permits when fishing recreationally; and six school BFT and two large school/small medium BFT per vessel per day/trip for headboat vessels with HMS Charter/Headboat permits when fishing recreationally. These retention limits are effective in all areas, except for the Gulf of Mexico, where targeted fishing for BFT is prohibited.

In accordance with Executive Order 13992, ``Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation,'' issued by President Biden on January 20, 2021, this final rule rescinds the Railroad Retirement Board's rule on guidance.

The Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (Bureau) is issuing this final rule to delay until October 1, 2022 the mandatory compliance date for the final rule titled Qualified Mortgage Definition under the Truth in Lending Act (Regulation Z): General QM Loan Definition (General QM Final Rule). The Bureau is taking this action to help ensure access to responsible, affordable mortgage credit and to preserve flexibility for consumers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic effects.

This final rule approves sector operations plans and contracts, grants 19 regulatory exemptions for fishing years 2021 and 2022, allocates Northeast multispecies annual catch entitlements to approved sectors for fishing year 2021 including default specifications for seven stocks, and makes regulatory amendments necessary to administer electronic monitoring. This action is intended to allow limited access permit holders to continue to operate or form sectors and to exempt sectors from certain effort control regulations to improve the efficiency and economics of sector vessels. Approval of sector operations plans and contracts is necessary to allocate annual catch entitlements to the sectors in order for sectors to operate.

The Coast Guard proposes to change the operating schedule that governs the Welch Causeway (SR 699) Bridge, mile 122.8 at Madeira Beach, Florida. A request was made by the City of Madeira Beach, FL to place the drawbridge on a daily operating schedule to alleviate vehicle congestion due to on demand bridge openings. This change may be necessary to balance the needs of all modes of transportion due to the economic growth in the vicinity of the bridge. The Coast Guard is seeking comments from the public regarding these proposed changes.

The Coast Guard proposes to amend the regulations for recurring marine events and fireworks displays that take place within the Fifth Coast Guard District area of responsibility. We invite your comments on this rulemaking.

EPA is proposing significant new use rules (SNURs) under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for chemical substances which are the subject of premanufacture notices (PMNs). This action would require persons to notify EPA at least 90 days before commencing manufacture (defined by statute to include import) or processing of any of these chemical substances for an activity that is designated as a significant new use by this proposed rule. This action would further require that persons not commence manufacture or processing for the significant new use until they have submitted a Significant New Use Notice (SNUN), and EPA has conducted a review of the notice, made an appropriate determination on the notice, and has taken any risk management actions as are required as a result of that determination.

This document informs the public that the maximum penalty for violations of the Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act (ABLA) is being adjusted in accordance with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended. Prior to the publication of this document, any person who violated the provisions of the ABLA was subject to a civil penalty of not more than $21,039, with each day constituting a separate offense. This document announces that this maximum penalty is being increased to $21,663.

This direct final rule updates the testing and third party conformity assessment body rules to incorporate by reference current versions of ISO/IEC 17025:2017(E) and ISO/IEC 17011:2017(E).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking this action to address interstate transport of ozone pollution under the ``good neighbor provision'' of the Clean Air Act (CAA). This final action is taken in response to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit's (D.C. Circuit) remand of the Cross- State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) Update in Wisconsin v. EPA on September 13, 2019. The CSAPR Update finalized Federal Implementation Plans (FIPs) for 22 states to address their good neighbor obligations for the 2008 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The D.C. Circuit found that the CSAPR Update, which was published on October 26, 2016 as a partial remedy to address upwind states' obligations prior to the 2018 Moderate area attainment date under the 2008 ozone NAAQS, was unlawful to the extent it allowed those states to continue their significant contributions to downwind ozone problems beyond the statutory dates by which downwind states must demonstrate their attainment of the air quality standards. On the same grounds, the D.C. Circuit also vacated the CSAPR Close-Out in New York v. EPA on October 1, 2019. This final rule resolves 21 states' outstanding interstate ozone transport obligations with respect to the 2008 ozone NAAQS. This action finds that for 9 of the 21 states for which the CSAPR Update was found to be only a partial remedy (Alabama, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wisconsin), their projected ozone precursor emissions in the 2021 ozone season and thereafter do not significantly contribute to a continuing downwind nonattainment and/or maintenance problem, and therefore the states' CSAPR Update FIPs (or the SIPs subsequently approved to replace certain states' CSAPR Update FIPs) fully address their interstate ozone transport obligations with respect to the 2008 ozone NAAQS. This action also finds that for the 12 remaining states (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia), their projected 2021 ozone season nitrogen oxides (NOX) emissions significantly contribute to downwind states' nonattainment and/or maintenance problems for the 2008 ozone NAAQS. In this final action, EPA is issuing new or amended FIPs for these 12 states to replace their existing CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 2 emissions budgets for electricity generating units (EGUs) with revised budgets via a new CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 3 Trading Program. EPA is requiring implementation of the revised emission budgets beginning with the 2021 ozone season. Based on EPA's assessment of remaining air quality issues and additional emission control strategies for EGUs and other emissions sources in other industry sectors (non-EGUs), EPA is further determining that these NOX emission reductions fully eliminate these states' significant contributions to downwind air quality problems for the 2008 ozone NAAQS. In this action, EPA is also finalizing an error correction of its June 2018 approval of Kentucky's good neighbor SIP.

The Federal Crop Insurance Corporation (FCIC) amends the Common Crop Insurance Regulations, Forage Seeding Crop Insurance Provisions. The intended effect of this action is to clarify that producers are able to purchase or change insurance coverage on spring seeded forage until the spring sales closing date if they did not plant any insurable fall seeded forage in the same crop year. The changes are to be effective for the 2022 and succeeding crop years.

NMFS announces approval by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) of collection-of-information requirements, which were contained in regulations to allow a Pacific whiting sector cooperative or group of vessels to develop a Salmon Mitigation Plan (SMP), in a final rule published on February 23, 2021. The intent of this rule is to inform the public of the effectiveness of the collection-of-information requirements associated with the submission and reporting requirements included in the February 23, 2021 final rule.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone for certain navigable waters of the Sabine River, extending the entire width of the river, adjacent to the public boat ramp located in Orange, TX. The safety zone is necessary to protect persons and vessels from hazards associated with a high-speed boat race competition in Orange, TX. This regulation prohibits persons and vessels from being in the safety zone unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Marine Safety Unit Port Arthur or a designated representative.

In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, signed by the President on December 27, 2020, Congress provided $5 million in budget authority solely for the cost of direct loans or guaranteed loans to state infrastructure financing authority borrowers for projects described in the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014 (WIFIA). The state infrastructure financing authority WIFIA (SWIFIA) program will use this amount to cover the subsidy required to provide a much larger amount of credit assistance. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) estimates that this budget authority may provide approximately $1 billion in credit assistance and may finance approximately $2 billion in water infrastructure investment. The purpose of this NOFA is to solicit letters of interest (LOIs) from prospective state infrastructure financing authority borrowers seeking credit assistance from EPA under the SWIFIA program. EPA will evaluate and select proposed projects described in the LOIs using the selection criteria established in the statute, and further described in this NOFA as well as the WIFIA program handbook. This NOFA explains budgetary scoring factors to determine budgetary scoring compliance and outlines the process that prospective borrowers should follow to be considered for SWIFIA credit assistance. In addition, EPA reserves the right to make additional awards under this announcement, consistent with Agency policy and guidance, if additional funding is available after the original selections are made.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) approves regional Reliability Standard BAL-002-WECC-3 (Contingency Reserve) submitted jointly by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization, and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC). In addition, the Commission directs NERC and WECC to submit an informational filing.

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) adopts final rules to provide direct, read-only access to Network Outage Reporting System (NORS) and Disaster Outage Reporting System (DIRS) filings to agencies of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, tribal nations, territories, and Federal Government that have official duties that make them directly responsible for emergency management and first responder support functions, including by: Allowing these agencies to share NORS and DIRS information with agency officials, first responders, and other individuals with a ``need to know'' who cannot directly access NORS and DIRS and yet play a vital role in preparing for, or responding to, events that threaten public safety; allowing participating agencies to publicly disclose aggregated and anonymized information derived from NORS or DIRS filings; conditioning a participating agency's direct access to NORS and DIRS filings on their agreement and ability to preserve the confidentiality of the filings and not disclose them absent a finding by the Commission allowing the disclosure; and establishing an application process that would grant eligible agencies access to NORS and DIRS after those agencies certify to certain requirements related to maintaining the confidentiality of the data and the security of the databases.

The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is amending the Somalia Sanctions Regulations and reissuing them in their entirety to further implement an April 12, 2010 Somalia-related Executive order, and to implement a July 20, 2012 Somalia-related Executive order. This final rule replaces the regulations that were published in abbreviated form on May 5, 2010 and includes additional interpretive and definitional guidance, general licenses, statements of licensing policy, and other regulatory provisions that will provide further guidance to the public. Due to the number of regulatory sections being updated or added, OFAC is reissuing the Somalia Sanctions Regulations in their entirety.

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Pacific cod by catcher vessels using trawl gear in the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the B season apportionment of the 2021 Pacific cod total allowable catch (TAC) allocated to catcher vessels using trawl gear in the BSAI.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently issued a final rule that revised the migratory bird subsistence harvest regulations in Alaska. The final rule included an improperly worded amendatory instruction that resulted in the unintentional removal of regulatory text. This document corrects that inadvertent error and restores the regulations to their proper wording.

The FAA is superseding Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2016-08-20 for certain Airbus Helicopters (previously Eurocopter France) EC130B4 and EC130T2 helicopters. AD 2016-08-20 required repetitively inspecting the tail boom to Fenestron junction frame (junction frame) for a crack. This new AD continues to require inspecting the junction frame with the horizontal stabilizer removed, and expands the applicability, revises the compliance time and the inspection procedures for inspecting the junction frame, adds inspection procedures for certain helicopters, allows repair of the junction frame, and requires modifying and then repetitively inspecting the junction frame and reporting certain information. This AD was prompted by additional cracks and the availability of a design change that modifies the junction frame. The actions of this AD are intended to address an unsafe condition on these products.

We, the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSMRE), are announcing receipt of a proposed amendment to the Ohio regulatory program (Ohio program) under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977 (SMCRA or the Act). Ohio seeks to amend its regulatory program in order to remove the requirement that a resident agent's tax ID number or the last four digits of a resident agent's social security number must be provided in a coal mining application and to make a non-substantive administrative change to a paragraph reference. This document gives notice of the times when and locations where the Ohio program and this proposed Ohio program amendment will be available for public inspection, the comment period during which you may submit written comments on the amendment, and the procedures that we will follow for the public hearing, if one is requested.

This rule identifies communities where the sale of flood insurance has been authorized under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that are scheduled for suspension on the effective dates listed within this rule because of noncompliance with the floodplain management requirements of the program. If the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) receives documentation that the community has adopted the required floodplain management measures prior to the effective suspension date given in this rule, the suspension will not occur. Information identifying the current participation status of a community can be obtained from FEMA's Community Status Book (CSB) available at www.fema.gov/flood-insurance/work-with-nfip/community- status-book. Please note that per Revisions to Publication Requirements for Community Eligibility Status Information Under the National Flood Insurance Program, notifications such as this one for scheduled suspension will no longer be published in the Federal Register as of June 2021 but will be available at National Flood Insurance Community Status and Public Notification [bond] FEMA.gov. Individuals without internet access will be able to contact their local floodplain management official and/or State NFIP Coordinating Office directly for assistance.

This document contains corrections to the final regulations (Treasury Decision 9939), that were published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, December 16, 2020. The final regulations provide guidance regarding the elimination of the deduction for expenses related to certain transportation and commuting benefits provided by employers to their employees. The final regulations affect taxpayers who pay or incur such expenses.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to authorize changes to Georgia's hazardous waste program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). These changes were outlined in an application to the EPA and correspond to certain Federal rules promulgated between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2020. The EPA reviewed Georgia's application and has determined that these changes satisfy all requirements needed to qualify for final authorization. Therefore, in the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this Federal Register, we are authorizing Georgia for these changes as a direct final rule without a prior proposed rule. If we receive no adverse comment, we will not take further action on this proposed rule.

The FAA is correcting an airworthiness directive (AD) that was published in the Federal Register. That AD applies to certain Airbus Canada Limited Partnership Model BD-500-1A10 and BD-500-1A11 airplanes. As published, two references to a Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) AD number specified in the regulatory text are incorrect. This document corrects those errors. In all other respects, the original document remains the same.