Agricultural Marketing Service – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard proposes to amend its regulations to implement Section 901(c) of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010 that grants the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) the authority to issue a waiver allowing a documented vessel with only a registry endorsement or a foreign-flagged vessel to be used in certain aquaculture operations. Specifically, those operations include the treatment and/or protection of aquaculture fish from disease, parasitic infestation, or other threats to their health. The proposed part would establish the requirement for an owner or operator of a vessel who is issued a waiver by the Secretary of DOT to notify the Coast Guard that the vessel owner or operator has been issued a waiver that allows the vessel to conduct certain aquaculture support operations. The proposed part would also establish operational and geographic requirements for vessels that are issued such a waiver.

The Coast Guard will enforce the events outlined in Tables 1 and 2 taking place throughout the Sector Northern New England Captain of the Port (COTP) Zone. This action is necessary to protect marine traffic and spectators from the hazards associated with powerboat races, regattas, boat parades, rowing and paddling boat races, swim events, and fireworks displays. During the enforcement period, no person or vessel may enter the special local regulation area or safety zone without permission of the COTP.

At various times throughout the month of July, the Coast Guard will enforce certain safety zones. This action is necessary and intended for the safety of life and property on navigable waters during this event. During each enforcement period, no person or vessel may enter the respective safety zone without the permission of the Captain of the Port Buffalo.

The Coast Guard will enforce a safety zones in the Captain of the Port Boston Zone on the specified dates and times listed below. This action is necessary to ensure the protection of the maritime public and event participants from the hazards associated with this annual recurring event. No person or vessel, except for the safety vessels assisting with the event may enter the safety zones unless given permission from the COTP or the designated on-scene representative. The Coast Guard may be assisted by other Federal, State, or local law enforcement agencies in enforcing this regulation.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on Lake Erie, North Coast Harbor, Cleveland, OH. This safety zone is intended to restrict vessels from a portion of the North Coast Harbor during the Cleveland Triathlon. This temporary safety zone is necessary to protect mariners and vessels from the navigational hazards associated with a large scale swimming event.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on the waters of the Detroit River in the vicinity of Detroit, MI. This zone is intended to restrict and control the movement of vessels in a portion of the Detroit River. This zone is necessary to protect spectators and vessels from the hazards associated with an air show.

At various times throughout the month of August, the Coast Guard will enforce certain safety zones located in the Captain of the Port Buffalo Zone. This action is necessary and intended for the safety of life and property on navigable waters during this event. During each enforcement period, no person or vessel may enter the respective safety zone without the permission of the Captain of the Port Buffalo.

The Coast Guard is establishing a safety zone around the Big Foot Tension Leg Platform construction site, located in Walker Ridge Block 29 on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the Gulf of Mexico. The purpose of this interim rule is to include the construction area and protect the facility and all operations during the construction phase from all vessels operating outside the normal shipping channels and fairways that are not providing services to or working with the facility. Placing a safety zone around the facility while under construction that includes the construction site will significantly reduce the threat of allisions, collisions, security breaches, oil spills, releases of natural gas, and thereby protect the safety of life, property, and the environment.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the U.S. Coast Guard intends to submit an Information Collection Request (ICRs) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), requesting approval of a revision of a currently approved collection: 1625-0004, United States Coast Guard Academy Application and Supplemental Forms. Our ICR describes the information we seek to collect from the public. Before submitting this ICR to OIRA, the Coast Guard is inviting comments as described below.

The Coast Guard will enforce the safety zone for the Chicago Air and Water Show on a portion of Lake Michigan, on August 13, 2015 through August 18, 2015. This action is necessary and intended to ensure safety of life on the navigable waters of the United States immediately prior to, during, and immediately after the air and water show. During the enforcement period listed below, the Coast Guard will enforce restrictions upon, and control movement of, vessels in the safety zone. No person or vessel may enter the safety zone while it is being enforced without permission of the Captain of the Port Lake Michigan.

The Coast Guard is establishing a 500-yard safety zone around each of five locations where the Block Island Wind Farm (BIWF) wind turbine generator (WTG) foundations will be constructed in the navigable waters of the Rhode Island Sound, RI. These safety zones are intended to safeguard mariners from the hazards associated with construction of the BIWF WTG foundations. Vessels are prohibited from entering into, transiting through, mooring, or anchoring within these safety zones while construction vessels and associated equipment are present, unless authorized by the Captain of the Port (COTP), Southeastern New England or the COTP's designated representative.

The Coast Guard proposes to establish a temporary safety zone on the waters of Indian River Bay adjacent to Millsboro, Delaware. The safety zone will restrict vessel traffic on Indian River Bay in the vicinity of a fireworks barge on August 22 and September 26, 2015, from 8:45 p.m. until 10:15 p.m. on each day. Should inclement weather require cancellation of the fireworks display on the above scheduled dates, the safety zone will be enforced from 8:45 p.m. to 10:15 p.m. on August 23 and September 27, 2015. This safety zone is necessary to protect the surrounding public and vessels from the hazards associated with a fireworks display.

The Coast Guard, at Sector Anchorage, announces receipt of a Letter of Intent (LOI) and Waterway Suitability Assessment (WSA) for a proposed project to construct a Marine Terminal as part of a Liquefaction Facility in Nikiski, Alaska, to export liquefied natural gas (LNG). The LOI and WSA were submitted by ExxonMobil Alaska LNG LLC on behalf of the Alaska LNG Project, the participants in which are Alaska Gasline Development Corporation, BP Alaska LNG LLC, ConocoPhillips Alaska LNG Company, ExxonMobil Alaska LNG LLC, and TransCanada Alaska Midstream LP. The Coast Guard is notifying the public of this action to solicit public comments on the proposed construction of the Marine Terminal.

The Coast Guard will enforce a segment of the Safety Zone; Brandon Road Lock and Dam to Lake Michigan including Des Plaines River, Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, Chicago River, Calumet-Saganashkee Channel, Chicago, IL, in the vicinity of the Brandon Road Lock and Dam between Mile Marker 286 and Mile Marker 286.5 at specified times from August 17, 2015, through September 18, 2015. This action is necessary to protect the waterway, waterway users, and vessels from the hazards associated with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's trial tests on the water for the Asian Carp studies. During the enforcement periods listed below, entry into, transiting, mooring, laying-up or anchoring within the enforced area of this safety zone by any person or vessel is prohibited unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Lake Michigan or her designated representative.

The Coast Guard is establishing a special local regulation on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in Bucksport, South Carolina during the Southeast Drag Boat Championships, a series of high-speed boat races. The event will take place from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. daily from July 24, 2015 through July 26, 2015. Approximately 50 high-speed race boats are expected to participate in the races. This special local regulation is necessary to provide for the safety of life and property on navigable waters of the United States during the event. Furthermore, this special local regulation will temporarily restrict vessel traffic in a portion of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. Persons and vessels that are not participating in the races will be prohibited from entering, transiting through, anchoring in, or remaining within the regulated area unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Charleston or a designated representative.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is announcing a meeting of the Plant Variety Protection Board (Board). The meeting is being held to discuss a variety of topics including, but not limited to, work and outreach plans, subcommittee activities, and proposals for procedure changes. The meeting is open to the public. This notice sets forth the schedule and location for the meeting.

Notice is hereby given of a public hearing to consider a proposed marketing agreement and order under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 to cover pecans grown in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas. The proposal was submitted on behalf of the pecan industry by the American Pecan Board, the proponent group which is comprised of pecan growers and handlers from across the proposed production area. The proposed order would provide authority to collect industry data and to conduct research and promotion activities. In addition, the order would provide authority for the industry to recommend grade, quality and size regulation, as well as pack and container regulation, subject to approval by the Department of Agriculture (USDA). The program would be financed by assessments on pecan handlers and would be locally administered, under USDA oversight, by a council of seventeen growers and shellers (handlers) nominated by the industry and appointed by USDA.

This rule implements a recommendation from the Cranberry Marketing Committee (Committee) to revise the determination of sales history provisions currently prescribed under the cranberry marketing order (order). The Committee, which consists of 13 growers and 1 public member, locally administers the order regulating the handling of cranberries grown in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Long Island in the State of New York. Under the order, there are two different sales history calculations that have been established for this program. This action clarifies when the different methods for calculating sales history will be used. This action also removes the fresh fruit exemption from one of the calculations.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is adopting, as a final rule, without change, an interim rule that changed the reporting requirements for commodities exempt from import regulations under section 608(e) (hereinafter referred to as ``8e'') of the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 by adding an option to electronically file an ``Importer's Exempt Commodity Form'' (FV-6 form). These changes were needed to bring the import regulations into conformance with the current practice of filing FV-6 forms electronically using the Marketing Order Online System (MOLS), an internet-based application that was implemented in 2008. The interim rule also changed the import regulations for dates and raisins by moving the FV-6 form-filing procedures for these two commodities to the safeguard procedure regulations for specialty crops and by making other administrative updates. These changes to the import regulations were also required to support the International Trade Data System (ITDS), a key White House economic initiative that will automate the filing of import and export information by the trade. All government agencies that are participating in the ITDS initiative, including AMS, are required by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (hereinafter referred to as ``CBP'') to make updates to import and export regulations to provide for the electronic entry of shipment data.

This document addresses the 2015 Sunset Review submitted to the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary) through the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) National Organic Program (NOP) by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) following the NOSB's May and October 2014 meetings. The 2015 Sunset Review pertains to the NOSB's review of the need for the continued allowance for seven substances on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances (National List). Consistent with the NOSB's review, this publication provides notice on the renewal of three synthetic and two nonsynthetic substances on the National List, along with any restrictive annotations. For substances that have been renewed on the National List, this document completes the 2015 National List Sunset Process.

This proposed rule would adjust the number of members on the United Soybean Board (Board) to reflect changes in production levels that have occurred since the Board was last reapportioned in 2012. As required by the Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information Act (Act), membership on the Board is reviewed every 3 years and adjustments are made accordingly. This proposed change would result in an increase in Board membership for three States, increasing the total number of Board members from 70 to 73. These changes would be reflected in the Soybean Promotion and Research Order (Order) and would be effective for the 2016 appointment process.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is proposing to amend the 2013 proposed rule for a Hardwood Lumber and Hardwood Plywood Promotion, Research and Information Order (Order). In that 2013 proposed rule, USDA requested comments on a proposed industry-funded, national research and promotion program for hardwood lumber and hardwood plywood that would be administered by a board of industry members selected by the Secretary of Agriculture (Secretary). USDA is reopening the comment period only with respect to specific issues identified in this proposed rule. USDA is taking this action in response to the extensive comments received in response to that 2013 proposed rule.

This rulemaking invites comments on three proposed amendments to Marketing Order No. 925 (order), which regulates the handling of table grapes grown in a designated area of southeastern California. Two amendments are based on proposals made by the California Desert Grape Administrative Committee (Committee), which is responsible for the local administration of the order. These proposed amendments would increase term lengths for Committee members and alternates from one to four fiscal periods and would allow new members and alternates to agree to accept their nominations prior to selection. The proposals are intended to increase the Committee's effectiveness and bolster industry participation in Committee activities. In addition to the Committee's proposals, the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) proposes an amendment that would add authority for periodic continuance referenda to allow producers to indicate whether or not there exists continuing support for the order.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice announces the Agricultural Marketing Service's (AMS) intention to request a revision to the currently approved information collection for the Regulations Governing the Inspection and Grading Services of Manufactured or Processed Dairy Products, and the Certification of Sanitary Design and Fabrication of Equipment Used in the Slaughter, Processing, and Packaging of Livestock and Poultry Products.

The Department of Agriculture (USDA) is adopting, as a final rule, without change, an interim rule implementing a recommendation from the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Area No. 3 (Committee) that relaxed the minimum quantity exception for potatoes handled under the Colorado potato marketing order, Area No. 3 (order). The Committee locally administers the order and is comprised of producers and handlers of potatoes operating within the production area. This rule increases the quantity of potatoes that may be handled under the order without regard to the order's handling regulation requirements from 1,000 to 2,000 pounds. This action is expected to benefit producers and handlers.