Agencies and Commissions August 17, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commission hereby gives notice that it will proceed with a full review pursuant to section 751(c)(5) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1675(c)(5)) to determine whether revocation of the antidumping duty order on canned pineapple fruit from Thailand would be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury within a reasonably foreseeable time. A schedule for the review will be established and announced at a later date. For further information concerning the conduct of this review and rules of general application, consult the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure, part 201, subparts A through E (19 CFR part 201), and part 207, subparts A, D, E, and F (19 CFR part 207).

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is considering adopting for itself and the distributors of TVA power certain metering and interconnection standards. The standards being considered are the Time- based Metering & Communications (hereinafter called ``Smart Metering''), Interconnection, and Net Metering standards listed in section 111(d) of the Public Utility Regulatory Act of 1978 (Pub. L. 95-617) as amended by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Pub. L. 109-58). The standards will be considered on the basis of their effect on conservation of energy, efficient use of facilities and resources, equity among electric consumers, and the objectives of the Tennessee Valley Authority Act. In addition, the Smart Metering standard will be considered in light of whether the benefits to the electric utility and its consumers are likely to exceed the costs of new metering and communications. Comments are requested from the public on whether TVA should adopt these standards or any variations on them.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) publishes for public comment proposed policy guidance on Title VI's prohibition against national origin discrimination as it affects limited English proficient persons.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is issuing interim regulations concerning pay actions for employees affected by a pandemic health crisis. The interim regulations clarify the rules for determining an employee's official worksite when he or she teleworks from an alternative worksite during an emergency situation, such as a pandemic health crisis. In addition, the interim regulations permit an agency to provide evacuation payments to an employee who is ordered to evacuate from his or her regular worksite and directed to work from home (or an alternative location mutually agreeable to the agency and the employee) during a pandemic health crisis. These regulations are issued as part of OPM's efforts to provide agencies with guidance to ensure they are able to fulfill their critical missions while at the same time protect their employees should a pandemic health crisis occur.