Department of Defense February 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On Tuesday, February 28, 2006, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., the Committee will discuss various aspects of the military pay and benefits system, such as compensation that recognizes danger, risk, and hardship that members experience; the appropriate balance between in-service and post-service compensation; the appropriate balance between cash and non-cash compensation; and the structure, level, and relevance of compensation for the Reserve and Guard, considering their changed utilization. Members of the Public may attend but participation in Committee discussions by the Public will not be permitted. Written submissions of data, information, and views may be sent to the Committee contact person at the address shown. Submissions should be received by close of business February 27, 2006 to allow time for distribution to the committee members prior to the meeting. Persons attending are advised that the Committee is not responsible for providing access to electrical outlets.

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) is amending a system of records notice in its existing inventory of record systems subject to the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a), as amended.

The Department of Defense Historical Advisory Committee was renewed, effective January 23, 2006, in consonance with the public interest, and in accordance with the provisions of the ``Federal Advisory Committee Act.'' The Committee shall provide the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the Military Departments independent advice and recommendations on matters regarding the professional standards, historical methodology, program priorities, liaison with professional groups and institutions, and adequacy of resources of the various historical programs and associated activities of the Department of Defense. The DoD Historical Advisory Committee will continue to be well balanced in terms of the interest groups represented and functions to be performed. The members include distinguished representatives from academia, current U.S. Government and private sector historians, authors and librarians, and retired general officers of general/flag rank.

Ispat Inland Mining (Ispat) has applied to the St. Paul District, Corps of Engineers (Corps) for a permit to discharge dredged or fill material into wetlands to facilitate the construction and operation of a taconite mine consisting of two conventional open pits in a deposit known as the East Reserve (formerly known as the J&L East Reserve) between Biwabik and McKinley in St. Louis County, MN. The combined area of the two open pits would be 364 acres. The proposed pits contain an estimated 116,000,000 long tons of ore. The ore would be hauled by truck approximately 1.9 miles on a proposed new haul road spur and then an additional 5.5 miles on an existing haul road to Ispat's currently permitted and operating Minorca taconite processing facility north of Virginia, MN. Tailing waste would be disposed of in Ispat's currently permitted and operating Minorca and Upland tailings basins. The mining process would require the construction of overburden, waste rock, and lean ore stockpiles on the north side of the proposed pits. The total stockpile area would cover approximately 375 acres. Project plans call for the mining of an average of just over six million long tons of crude ore per year over the proposed 18-year life of the mine. The project would allow mining operations and taconite processing at the Minorca Plant to continue until 2024. The project would require the discharge of dredged or fill material into approximately 75.7 acres of wetlands. While some of the wetlands may be isolated, the majority of the wetlands are adjacent to an unnamed tributary to the Embarrass River, which is a tributary to the St. Louis River, which is a navigable water of the U.S., or the wetlands are adjacent to an unnamed tributary to the Pike River, which is a navigable water of the United States. Ispat proposes to utilize wetland credits from the existing Ispat Inland wetland mitigation bank in Aitkin County, MN to compensate for the lost wetland functions and values that would be caused by the proposed project. The discharge of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States requires a permit issued by the Corps under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. The final environmental impact statement will be used as a basis for the permit decision and to ensure compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a currently approved information collection requirement concerning the Central Contractor Registration database. The clearance currently expires on June 30, 2006. Public comments are particularly invited on: Whether this collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of functions of the FAR, and whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate, and based on valid assumptions and methodology; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, through the use of appropriate technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

The U.S. Army announces its intent to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the construction and operation of new USAMRIID facilities and the decommissioning and demolition or reuse of existing USAMRIID facilities at Fort Detrick. This EIS is being prepared and considered in accordance with requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, regulations of the President's Council on Environmental Quality (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), and the Army's implementation of NEPA (32 CFR part 651), 29 March 2002. The proposed new USAMRIID facilities will provide biocontainment laboratory space, animal facilities, and administrative offices, as well as operational and administrative support facilities. These new facilities will be located adjacent to the existing USAMRIID facilities within the National Interagency Biodefense Campus on Area A of Fort Detrick and near the biomedical research facilities of mission partners, including the Agricultural Research Service Foreign Disease Weed Research Unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the planned National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' Integrated Research Facility, and the Department of Homeland Security's National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center. The existing USAMRIID facilities on Area A will be decommissioned and either demolished or reused following occupancy of the new USAMRIID facilities. The construction will occur in two stages. Stage 1 will provide approximately 700,000 gross square feet (gsf) of new building space for the replacement of outdated and compressed existing USAMRIID facilities in order to sustain the current mission and to expand medical testing and evaluation (T&E) capacity in support of immediate Department of Defense (DoD) and national demand. Stage 2 will encompass approximately 400,000 gsf of new building space for the balance of USAMRIID's expanded mission and for additional capacity to meet intensified national requirements for medical test and evaluation in support of biodefense research as well as to accommodate increased collaborative efforts among USAMRIID's mission partners. In addition, approximately 200,000 gsf of the existing USAMRIID facilities may be renovated and reused for laboratory or non-laboratory use, to be determined by evolving biodefense requirements.

This Notice is provided pursuant to section 2905(b)(7)(B)(ii) of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990. It provides a partial list of military installations closing or realigning pursuant to the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) Report. It also provides a corresponding listing of the Local Redevelopment Authorities (LRAs) recognized by the Secretary of Defense, acting through the Department of Defense Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA), as well as the points of contact, addresses, and telephone numbers for the LRAs for those installations. Representatives of state and local governments, homeless providers, and other parties interested in the redevelopment of an installation should contact the person or organization listed. The following information will also be published simultaneously in a newspaper of general circulation in the area of each installation. There will be additional Notices providing this same information about LRAs for other closing or realigning installations where surplus government property is available as those LRAs are recognized by the OEA.

The study area is located within the Los Angeles Basin on a broad alluvial plain flanked by the Santa Monica Mountains, to the west, and by the San Gabriel Mountains to the northeast. The Los Angeles River flows from the headwaters of Bell Creek and Calabasas Creek in the San Fernando Valley community of Canoga Park southeast through the San Fernando Valley some 35 miles to downtown Los Angeles. From there it continues in a southerly direction until it empties into the Pacific Ocean at Long Beach. The specific study area comprises the 32 miles of the River within the City of Los Angeles that extends from Owensmouth Avenue, in the upper reaches of northwest San Fernando Valley, to the border of the City of Vernon, at the southern end of Downtown Los Angeles. The study proposes to consider a range of activities to restore riparian and aquatic habitat, and related habitat functions, in and adjacent to the Los Angeles River. Compatible activities to conserve cultural resources, and to provide recreational and interpretive amenities, will also be considered. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify a range of opportunities to improve the general environment of the Los Angeles River through ecosystem restoration and related measures. The study area includes several locations where potential exists for restoring a more natural riverine environment along the Los Angeles River, while maintaining and improving levels of flood protection. Creation of treatment wetlands in and around the river, to treat effluent river flows and to restore missing linkages of fragmented habitat, would also be pursued. Restored areas would provide natural riparian habitat to support indigenous wildlife and avifauna along a corridor transecting most of the San Fernando Valley, and extending into downtown Los Angeles. Other purposes include provision of public access to the river, identification of incidental recreation space, and delineation of trails. Site-specific Environmental Impact Statement-Environment Impact Reports (EIS/EIR) would be prepared in the future to evaluate and document individual projects that may result from this study.

In accordance with section 848 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2006, the Department of Defense (DoD), the U.S. Department of Education (DoED), and the Committee for Purchase From People Who Are Blind or Severely Disabled, are required to issue a joint policy statement and report relating to contracting with employers of persons with disabilities, and are seeking comments that will assist in identifying appropriate policy solutions for implementation of the Randolph-Sheppard Act (20 U.S.C. 107 et seq.) and the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act (41 U.S.C. 46 et seq.) as they pertain to both the operation and management of military dining facilities.

Under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Secretariat will be submitting to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve an extension of a currently approved information collection requirement concerning service contracting. This OMB clearance expires on June 30, 2006. Public comments are particularly invited on: Whether this collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of functions of the FAR, and whether it will have practical utility; whether our estimate of the public burden of this collection of information is accurate, and based on valid assumptions and methodology; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways in which we can minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, through the use of appropriate technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

The purpose of the meeting is to give the board an opportunity to review Air Force Institute of Technology's educational programs and to present to the Commandant a report of their findings and recommendations concerning these programs.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is issuing this notice to advise the public that the Final Supplement II to the Final Environmental Impact Statement has been completed for the City of Marion, Illinois, and is available for review and comment.

The Defense Science Board Task Force on Technology Vectors will meet in closed session on February 15 and 16, 2006; at Strategic Analysis, Inc. (SAI), 3601 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 500, Arlington, VA. This meeting will be a plenary meeting used to map the study's direction and begin discussion on what will be the Technology Vectors DoD will need for the 21st century. The mission of the Defense Science Board is to advise the Secretary of Defense and the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology & Logistics on scientific and technical matters as they affect the perceived needs of the Department of Defense. At these meetings, the Defense Science Board Task Force will: Review previous attempts by DoD to identify critical technologies in order to derive lessons that would help illuminate the current challenge; identify the National Security objectives for the 21st century and the operational missions that U.S. military will be called upon to support these objectives; identify new operational capabilities needed for the proposed missions; identify the critical science technology, and other related enablers of the desired capabilities; assess current S&T investment plans' relevance to the needed operational capabilities and enablers and recommend needed changes to the plans; identify mechanisms to accelerate and assure the transition of technology into U.S. military capabilities; and review and recommend changes as needed, the current processes by which national security objectives and needed operational capabilities are used to develop and prioritize science, technology, and other related enablers, and how those enablers are then developed. In accordance with Section 10(d) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, as amended (5 U.S.C. App. II), it has been determined that these Defense Science Board Task Force meetings concern matters listed in 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(1) and that, accordingly, the meetings will be closed to the public.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to analyze the direct, indirect and cumulative effects of two water supply projects being proposed collectively as the Halligan-Seaman Water Management Project. Construction of the proposed Project(s) will result in temporary and permanent impacts to jurisdictional waters of the United States, thereby requiring Clean Water Act Section 404 permits. The Cities of Fort Collins and Greeley (Cities), and six other water providers (Participants), have proposed the Project(s) to provide drought protection of existing and future water demands, more efficiency in managing Participants' existing or future water rights, some operational redundancy, and possibly environmental benefits. Construction of the proposed Project(s) involves enlargement of two existing reservoirs: Halligan Reservoir and Milton Seamen Reservoir (Seaman Reservoir), resulting in approximately 88,592 acre-feet of additional storage capacity in the Cache la Poudre River Basin. The Halligan-Seaman Water Management Project would be a non-federal project constructed, owned and operated by the Cities and/or Participants.