Department of Transportation March 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Clean Railroads Act of 2008 amended the law to restrict the jurisdiction of the Surface Transportation Board (Board or STB) over solid waste rail transfer facilities. The Clean Railroads Act also added three new statutory provisions that address the Board's regulation of such facilities, which is now limited to issuance of ``land-use-exemption permits'' in certain circumstances. Upon receiving a land-use-exemption permit issued by the Board, a solid waste rail transfer facility need not comply with State laws, regulations, orders, and other requirements affecting the siting of the facility, except to the extent that the Board requires compliance with any of those requirements. The Clean Railroads Act provides that a solid waste rail transfer facility must comply with all applicable Federal and State requirements respecting the prevention and abatement of pollution, the protection and restoration of the environment, and the protection of public health and safety, in the same manner as any similar solid waste management facility not owned or operated by or on behalf of a rail carrier, except for laws affecting the siting of the facility that are covered by the land-use-exemption permit. As required by the Clean Railroads Act, on January 14, 2009, the Board issued interim rules that were published in the Federal Register on January 27, 2009 (2009 interim rules). Based on the comments received and further evaluation, the Board now modifies the review process for land-use-exemption permits under the Clean Railroads Act and modifies other aspects of the 2009 interim rules, in the interest of clarity and efficiency. The Board requests comments on the modifications contained in the interim rules.

This action prohibits flight operations within the Tripoli (HLLL) Flight Information Region (FIR) by all U.S. air carriers; U.S. commercial operators; persons exercising the privileges of a U.S. airman certificate, except when such persons are operating a U.S.- registered aircraft for a foreign air carrier; and operators of U.S.- registered civil aircraft, except when such operators are foreign air carriers. The FAA finds this action necessary to prevent a potential hazard to persons and aircraft engaged in such flight operations.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes the nature of the information collections and their expected burden. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period was published on September 3, 2010 [FR Doc. 2010-22008].

The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of a meeting of RTCA Special Committee 205/EUROCAE WG-71: Software Considerations in Aeronautical Systems Agenda for the 16th meeting.

The Department of Transportation is directing all interested persons to show cause why it should not issue an order finding Air Charter, Inc. d/b/a Air Flamenco fit, willing, and able, and awarding it Commuter Air Carrier Authorization.

NHTSA published in the Federal Register of February 25, 2011 a request for comments notice detailing observations from an agency pilot study conducted to determine reasonable conditions for participation in a new consumer information program, as part of the New Car Assessment Program, to help caregivers find a child restraint system (``child safety seat'') that fits their vehicle. This document corrects the public comments submission due date.

This document announces a temporary moratorium on new requests, or changes to exemptions from certain sections of Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR) for the purpose of carrying passengers for compensation or hire on Living History Flight Experiences (LHFE). It explains the history of these exemptions and the reason for the temporary moratorium.

FMCSA announces its renewal of the exemption for Greyhound Lines, Inc. (Greyhound) regarding the placement of video event recorders at the top of the windshields on its buses. Greyhound will continue to use the video event recorders to increase safety through (1) identification and remediation of risky driving behaviors such as distracted driving and drowsiness; (2) enhanced monitoring of passenger behavior; and (3) enhanced collision review and analysis. The Agency believes that granting this exemption renewal will maintain a level of safety that is equivalent to, or greater than, the level of safety achieved without the exemption. However, the Agency requests comments on this issue, particularly from parties who believe the Greyhound exemption would not meet that standard.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above that would supersede an existing AD. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated 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: * * * * *

This action will amend existing Class E airspace at Pueblo Memorial Airport, Pueblo, CO, to facilitate vectoring of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) traffic from en route airspace to Pueblo Memorial Airport. The FAA is taking this action to enhance the safety and management of aircraft operations at the airport.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This proposed AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated 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:

This document responds to a petition for reconsideration of a final rule that upgraded the agency's safety standard on roof crush resistance. The petition was submitted by the National Truck Equipment Association (NTEA). After carefully considering the petition, we are denying it.

Notice is hereby given of a meeting of the Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee (RETAC), pursuant to Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, Public Law 92-463, as amended (5 U.S.C., App. 2).

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD requires repetitive inspections for cracking of the left and right upper center skin panels of the horizontal stabilizer, and corrective action if necessary. This AD was prompted by a report of a crack found in the upper skin panel at the aft inboard corner of a right horizontal stabilizer. We are issuing this AD to detect and correct cracks in the upper center skin panels of the horizontal stabilizer. Uncorrected cracks might ultimately lead to the loss of overall structural integrity of the horizontal stabilizer.

We are superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to the products listed above. This AD results from mandatory continuing airworthiness information (MCAI) originated 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:

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:

We are adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for the products listed above. This AD requires measuring the electrical bond resistance between the motor operated valve (MOV) actuators and airplane structure for the main, center, auxiliary, and horizontal stabilizer fuel tanks, as applicable, and corrective action if necessary; revising the maintenance program to incorporate airworthiness limitation (AWL) No. 28-AWL-21 or AWL No. 28-AWL-27, as applicable; and replacing production-installed laminate phenolic spacers with metallic spacers between the fuel jettison MOV and the airplane structure, as applicable. This AD was prompted by fuel system reviews conducted by the manufacturer. We are issuing this AD to prevent electrical current from flowing through an MOV actuator into a fuel tank, which could create a potential ignition source inside the fuel tank. This condition, in combination with flammable fuel vapors, could result in a fuel tank explosion and consequent loss of the airplane.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection abstracted below has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. The nature of the information collection is described as well as its expected burden. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collection of information was published on December 15, 2010. No comments were received.

We propose to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD) that applies to Goodrich evacuation systems approved under TSO- C69b and installed on certain Model A330-200 and -300 series airplanes, Model A340-200 and -300 series airplanes, and Model A340-541 and -642 airplanes. The existing AD currently requires inspecting to determine the part number of the pressure relief valves on the affected Goodrich evacuation systems, and corrective action if necessary. Since we issued that AD, we have received reports that during workshop testing, certain pressure relief valves, which were required by the existing AD, did not seal and allowed the pressure in slides/rafts to fall below the minimum raft mode pressure for the unit. This proposed AD would require inspecting to determine the part number of the pressure relief valves on the affected Goodrich evacuation systems and replacing certain pressure relief valves. This proposed AD would also add airplanes to the applicability. We are proposing this AD to prevent loss of pressure in the escape slides/rafts after an emergency evacuation, which could result in inadequate buoyancy to support the raft's passenger capacity during ditching and increase the chance for injury to raft passengers.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this notice announces that the Information Collection Requirement (ICR) abstracted below is being forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comment. The ICR describes 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 collection of information was published on January 13, 2011 (76 FR 2441).

FMCSA announces its decision to renew the exemptions from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for 22 individuals. FMCSA has statutory authority to exempt individuals from the vision requirement if the exemptions granted will not compromise safety. The Agency has concluded that granting these exemption renewals will provide a level of safety that is equivalent to or greater than the level of safety maintained without the exemptions for these commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

FMCSA announces its decision to renew the exemptions from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for 8 individuals. FMCSA has statutory authority to exempt individuals from the vision requirement if the exemptions granted will not compromise safety. The Agency has concluded that granting these exemption renewals will provide a level of safety that is equivalent to or greater than the level of safety maintained without the exemptions for these commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers.

The FAA is issuing this notice to advise the public of the renewal of the RTCA Charter (FAA Order 1110.77T) for two years, effective April 2, 2011. The administrator is the sponsor of the committee. The objective of the advisory committee is to seek solutions to issues and challenges involving air transportation concepts, requirements, operational capabilities, and the associated use of technology and related considerations to aeronautical operations that impact the future Air Traffic Management System. RTCA provides the following two categories of recommendations to the FAA: Broad gauged policy and investment priority recommendations used by FAA when considering policy and program decisions; and minimum performance standards, reports, and guidance documents used by the FAA in regulatory decisions and rulemaking. Government regulatory and procurement practices reference or use RTCA standards (with or without change). The Secretary of Transportation has determined that that information and use of committee are necessary in the public interest in connection with the performance of duties imposed on the FAA by law.