Department of Transportation February 12, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Section 6005 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) established a pilot program to allow the Secretary of Transportation to assign, and the State to assume, the Secretary's responsibilities under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for one or more highway projects. The Secretary may permit not more than five States (including the States of Alaska, California, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas) to participate in the program. Upon assigning NEPA responsibilities, the Secretary may further assign to the State all or part of the Secretary's responsibilities for environmental review, consultation or other action required under any Federal environmental law pertaining to the review of a specific project. In order to be selected for the pilot program a State must submit an application to the Secretary. Section 6005 requires the Secretary to promulgate rules that establish requirements relating to information required to be contained in an application by a State to participate in the pilot program. This final rule establishes these application requirements.

In accordance with the requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the BTS to request the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) approval for a new information collection related to the use of and satisfaction with the nation's transportation system.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirements (ICRs) abstracted below have been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICRs describe the nature of the information collection and its expected burden. The Federal Register notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collections of information was published on December 5, 2006 (71 FR 70581).

The Federal Transit Administration and the San Francisco Bay Water Transit Authority (WTA) are planning to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the proposed construction of a ferry terminal along the Berkeley/Albany waterfront that would link the San Francisco Ferry Terminal with communities in the East Bay. The project would serve commuters, visitors, and recreational users who desire an alternative way to cross San Francisco Bay to access nearby employment, entertainment, and recreational destinations. The EIS will be prepared in accordance with section 102(2)C of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) and pursuant to the Council on the Environmental Quality's regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-08) as well as provisions of the recently enacted Safe, Accountable, Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. (SAFETEA-LU). The purpose of this Notice of Intent (NOI) is to alert interested parties regarding the plan to prepare an EIS, to provide information on the proposed transit project, to invite participation in the EIS process, including comments on the scope of the EIS proposed in this notice, and to announce public scoping meetings will be conducted.

The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public that a meeting of the Federal Aviation Air Traffic Procedures Advisory Committee (ATPAC) will be held to review present air traffic control procedures and practices for standardization, clarification, and upgrading of terminology and procedures.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and its implementing regulations, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) hereby announces that it is seeking renewal of the following currently approved information collection activities. Before submitting these information collection requirements for clearance by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), FRA is soliciting public comment on specific aspects of the activities identified below.

This notice requests public participation in the OMB approval process regarding the renewal of an existing PHMSA information collection. This renewal of information complies with the hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipeline operator's annual report requirement. PHMSA is requesting OMB approval for renewal of this information collection under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. With this notice, PHMSA invites the public to submit comments over the next 60 days on ways to minimize the burden associated with the collection of information related to the hazardous liquid and carbon dioxide pipelines operator's annual report.

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) issued by an aviation authority of another country to identify and correct an unsafe condition on an aviation product. The MCAI describes the unsafe condition as:

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for Rolls-Royce Deutschland Ltd & Co KG (formerly Rolls-Royce plc) (RRD) Dart 528, 529, 532, 535, 542, and 552 series turboprop engines. This AD would require repetitive inspections of high pressure turbine (HPT) blade platforms and shrouds, and reworking the engines if the inspections reveal excessive gaps between blade shrouds. This AD results from reports of HPT disk rim failures. We are issuing this AD to prevent HPT disk rim failures resulting in the release of portions of the HPT disk, uncontained engine failure, and damage to the airplane.

This action proposes to modify the Phoenix (PHX), AZ, Class B airspace area. Specifically, this action proposes to lower the ceiling to 9,000 feet mean sea level (MSL) and expand the arrival extension boundaries to 30 Nautical Miles (NM) to ensure the containment of the PHX Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STAR) at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, and correct the inefficiencies of several existing areas identified during public meetings, and reviews of the airspace by the Phoenix Airspace Users Work Group (PAUWG) and Phoenix Terminal Radar Approach Control (TRACON P50). The FAA is proposing this action to improve the flow of air traffic, enhance safety, and reduce the potential for midair collision in the PHX Class B airspace area, while accommodating the concerns of airspace users. Further, this effort supports the FAA's national airspace redesign goal of optimizing terminal and en route airspace areas to reduce aircraft delays and improve system capacity.