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

This notice contains a summary of a petition seeking relief from specified requirements of 14 CFR. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities. Neither publication of this notice nor the inclusion or omission of information in the summary is intended to affect the legal status of the petition or its final disposition.

This notice announces actions taken by the FHWA, National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and other Federal agencies that are final within the meaning of 23 U.S.C. 139(l)(1). The actions relate to a proposed highway project, I-5: Fern Valley Interchange in Jackson County, Oregon. This action grants approval for the project.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FAA invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval to renew an information collection. The Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following collection of information was published on May 26, 2011, vol. 76, no. 102, page 30753. This collection of information is required of persons who must receive training and testing under 14 CFR 91.161 in order to fly within 60 nautical miles (NM) of the Washington, DC omni-directional range/ distance measuring equipment (DCA VOR/DME).

This notice announces the availability of one new and two revised consensus standards to previously accepted consensus standards relating to the provisions of the Sport Pilot and Light-Sport Aircraft rule issued July 16, 2004, and effective September 1, 2004. ASTM International Committee F37 on Light Sport Aircraft developed the revised standards with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) participation. By this notice, the FAA finds the new and revised standards acceptable for certification of the specified aircraft under the provisions of the Sport Pilot and Light-Sport Aircraft rule.

This action proposes to establish Class E Airspace at Bumpass, VA, to accommodate new Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) Standard Instrument Approach Procedures serving Lake Anna Airport. This action would enhance the safety and airspace management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations within the National Airspace System.

These special conditions are issued for the installation of an inflatable three-point restraint safety belt with an integrated airbag device at the pilot, co-pilot and passenger seats on the Cessna Aircraft Company airplane models LC40-550FG, LC41-550FG, and LC42- 550FG. These airplanes, as modified by the installation of these inflatable safety belts, will have novel and unusual design features associated with the upper-torso restraint portions of the three-point safety belts, which contain an integrated airbag device. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for this design feature. These special conditions contain the additional safety standards that the Administrator considers necessary to establish a level of safety equivalent to that established by the existing airworthiness standards.

This notice is a Request for Information (RFI) and comments that will be used to help identify focus areas for innovative techniques for delivering Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) learning. Feedback and comments on any aspect of the RFI are welcomed from all interested public, private, and academic entities. While all feedback is welcomed, USDOT is particularly interested in feedback on the questions provided in the last section of this RFI. RFI Guidelines: Responses to this RFI should be submitted by August 29, 2011. Responses to this RFI should be delivered electronically as an e-mail or as an attachment to an e-mail sent to pcbits@dot.gov. Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form a binding contract or issue a grant. Information obtained as a result of this RFI may be used by the government for program planning on a non-attribution basis. If you wish to submit any information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit via e- mail to the address given below under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, your complete submission, including the information you claim to be confidential commercial information. When you submit information containing information identified as confidential commercial information, you should include a cover letter setting forth the reasons you believe the information qualifies as ``confidential commercial information.'' (49 CFR 7.13(c)(4) and 7.17) If we receive a request to examine or copy this information, we treat it as any other request under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), but we will process the request in accordance with the procedures found in 49 CFR 7.17.

This action withdraws a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that proposed an airworthiness directive (AD) supersedure, applicable to Honeywell International Inc. TPE331-10 and TPE331-11 series turboprop engines. That action would have required adding 360 first stage turbine disk serial numbers (S/Ns) to the applicability. Since we issued that NPRM, we decided not to supersede AD 2009-17-05, but instead to issue a new NPRM for those additional 360 parts. Accordingly, we withdraw the proposed rule.

This action modifies Class E airspace at Alturas Municipal Airport, Alturas, CA. Controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate aircraft using Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) standard instrument approach procedures at Alturas Municipal Airport. This improves the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport.

This action modifies Class E airspace at Wokal Field/Glasgow International Airport, Glasgow, MT. Controlled airspace is necessary to accommodate aircraft using Area Navigation (RNAV) Global Positioning System (GPS) standard instrument approach procedures at the airport. This improves the safety and management of Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) operations at the airport. This action also updates the airport name.

On May 23, 2011, Delta Air Lines, Inc. (Delta) and US Airways, Inc. (US Airways) (together, the Joint Applicants or the carriers) submitted a joint request for the Department of Transportation (the Department) to waive a prohibition on purchasing operating authorizations (slots) at LaGuardia Airport (LGA). The carriers requested the waiver to allow them to consummate a transaction in which US Airways would transfer to Delta 132 slot pairs (265 slots) at LGA. In exchange, Delta would transfer to US Airways 42 slot pairs (84 slots) at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), convey route authority to operate certain flights to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and make a cash payment to US Airways. The Department (the Office of the Secretary and the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA) has evaluated the proposed transaction and tentatively determined that it affords significant benefits to the public. At the same time, we recognize that the transaction will result in an increase in market concentration that could negatively impact consumers. As a result, we have tentatively determined that the divestiture of a number of slots by the carriers is necessary for us to allow the transaction to proceed. We have tentatively concluded that the divestiture of 32 slots at LGA and 16 slots at DCA will reduce adverse impacts on consumers at DCA and LGA to a degree sufficient for us to conclude that the requested waiver is in the public interest. This Notice prescribes rules and procedures for the divestiture of those slots by the carriers to new entrant and limited incumbent carriers.

In accordance with the procedures governing the application for, and the processing of, special permits from the Department of Transportation's Hazardous Material Regulations (49 CFR part 107, subpart B), notice is hereby given that the Office of Hazardous Materials Safety has received the applications described herein. This notice is abbreviated to expedite docketing and public notice. Because the sections affected, modes of transportation, and the nature of application have been shown in earlier Federal Register publications, they are not repeated here. Requests for modification of special permits (e.g. to provide for additional hazardous materials, packaging design changes, additional mode of transportation, etc.) are described in footnotes to the application number. Application numbers with the suffix ``M'' denote a modification request. These applications have been separated from the new application for special permits to facilitate processing.

PHMSA is issuing this advisory bulletin to all owners and operators of gas and hazardous liquid pipelines to communicate the potential for damage to pipeline facilities caused by severe flooding. This advisory includes actions that operators should consider taking to ensure the integrity of pipelines in case of flooding.

By 12 p.m. prevailing local time on Friday, August 12, 2011, airport sponsors eligible to receive entitlement funds under the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) must notify, in writing, the designated representative in the appropriate FAA Regional or Airports District Office if they intend to submit a final grant application in support of eligible projects with their fiscal year 2011 and/or prior- year entitlement funds. This notice must address all entitlement funds apportioned for fiscal year 2011, regardless of whether the FAA has authority to obligate those funds. After that deadline, the FAA will carry over all remaining entitlement funds, and the funds will not be available again until at least the beginning of fiscal year 2012. This notification requirement does not apply to non-primary airports covered by the block-grant program.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announces the availability of discretionary Section 5309 Bus and Bus Facilities grant funds in support of the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility's (CCAM or Coordinating Council) Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI or Initiative). This grant opportunity will be funded using $30 million in unallocated Discretionary Bus and Bus Facilities Program funds, authorized by 49 U.S.C. 5309(b) of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy For Users (SAFETEA-LU), Public Law 109-59, August 10, 2005. This VTCLI grant opportunity makes funds available to local governmental agencies to finance capital costs of implementing, expanding, or increasing access to local One-Call/One-Click Transportation Resource Centers. These Centers simplify access to transportation for the public by connecting customers in one place to rides and transportation options provided in their locality by a variety of transportation providers and programs. This notice includes priorities established by the Coordinating Council's partnership for these discretionary funds, the criteria the interagency review panel will use to identify meritorious projects for funding, and describes how to apply. Additionally, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) will make mobility management training assistance and support available to Veteran's Affairs networks in communities selected for award. The Department of Labor (DOL) will make social communication technologies and training available to selected grantees in order to actively engage veterans, military service personnel and families as well as others in the community in the development of plans to better respond to the transportation needs of veterans and military service families. This announcement is available on the FTA's Web site, on the Veterans Transportation and Community Living initiative Web page at: https://www.fta.dot.gov/veterans. FTA will announce final selections on its Web site and in the Federal Register. A synopsis of this announcement will be posted in the FIND module of the government-wide electronic grants Web site at https://www.grants.gov. Proposals must be submitted to FTA, electronically, through the GRANTS.GOV ``APPLY'' function.

This notice amends FMCSA's June 29, 2011, notice announcing July and August, 2011, subcommittee meetings of the Agency's Motor Carrier Safety Advisory Committee (MCSAC). Because a final decision on the location for the August 1-2, 2011, MCSAC subcommittee meeting had not been made at the time the June 29, 2011, notice was published, the Agency amends the previous notice to provide that information. Also, in consideration of the complexity of the technical issues discussed by the subcommittee during the July 11-12, 2011, meeting, the meeting time is being extended on the first day of the August 1-2, 2011, meeting.

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 FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that a Tier I Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) will be prepared for the proposed interstate conversion of U.S. Highway 41 in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Winnebago, Outagamie, and Brown Counties, Wisconsin by WisDOT in conformance with 40 CFR part 1500 and the FHWA regulations. The Project: The FHWA, in cooperation with the WisDOT, will prepare a Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for a proposal to convert U.S. Highway 41 (US 41) in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Washington, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Winnebago, Outagamie, and Brown Counties, Wisconsin, approximately 142 miles in length, from a principal arterial on the National Highway System to an Interstate Highway (IH). Under Sections 1304(b) and (c) of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient, Transportation Equity ActA Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) the 142-mile U.S. Highway 41 corridor between Interstate Route 94 via Interstate Route 894 and Highway 45 near Milwaukee and Interstate Route 43 near Green Bay was designated as a High Priority Corridor on the National Highway System and further, as a future part of the Interstate System. U.S. Highway 41 may be added to the Interstate System at such time as the Secretary determines that the segment meets the Interstate design standards in 23 U.S.C. 109(b). The proposed project is intended to address the requirements necessary to obtain FHWA concurrence to convert U.S. Highway 41 from a principal arterial to an Interstate Highway and officially sign the corridor as an Interstate facility. Improvements to upgrade the present US 41 corridor to interstate highway standards will be described in the Tier 1 EIS. The proposed improvements are intended to be environmentally sound. The proposed Tier 1 EIS project is intended to consider cumulative and indirect environmental impacts of the proposed IH system designation, including alternatives development and analysis. The Tier 1 environmental document will also inventory and document existing geometric, safety, operational and planning features, review existing geometric and safety standards and operational policy and standards, and determine the existing corridor's deficiencies as an Interstate facility. The Tier 1 EIS will be completed to a Record of Decision indicating a broad strategy for upgrading the existing corridor to IH standards. A scoping process will be initiated that involves all appropriate federal and state agencies. This will continue throughout the study as an ongoing process. A public information effort will be initiated in fall 2011 to include those agencies, local agencies, and private organizations and citizens who have previously expressed, or are known to have, interest in this proposal. This effort will also inform the public living in the study area. Public information meetings will be held across the study area to engage the regional community in the decision-making process and obtain public comment. In addition, public hearings will be held to present the findings of the Tier 1 EIS. Public notice will be given concerning the time and place of the informational meetings and public hearings. The Tier 1 EIS will be available for public and agency review and comment prior to the public hearings. To ensure that the full range of issues related to this proposed action are addressed and all significant issues identified, comments and suggestions are invited from all interested parties. Comments or questions concerning this proposed action and the Tier 1 EIS should be directed to FHWA or the Wisconsin Department of Transportation at the addresses provided under the heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. (Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Program Number 20.205, Highway Planning and Construction. The regulations implementing Executive Order 12372 regarding intergovernmental consultation on Federal programs and activities apply to this program.)

Section 5334(h) of the Federal Transit Laws, as codified, 49 U.S.C. 5301, et seq., permits the Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to authorize a recipient of FTA funds to transfer land or a facility to a public body for any public purpose with no further obligation to the Federal Government if, among other things, no Federal agency is interested in acquiring the asset for Federal use. Accordingly, FTA is issuing this Notice to advise Federal agencies that the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) intends to transfer a parcel of property to the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), a corporation organized under the Rail Passenger Service Act, recodified 48 U.S.C. 24101 et seq., and the laws of the District of Columbia, and having its principal place of business at 60 Massachusetts Avenue, NE., Washington, DC 20002. Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District currently owns the land. The property, which consists of 1.97 acres, is located at Amtrak South Bend Station, 2702 West Washington Street, South Bend, Indiana, 46628 and consists of approximately the following components: Station and Parking Lot Area of 1.13 acres, Undeveloped Land of 0.84 acres and Station Building of 5,890 square feet (the ``Property''). NICTD wishes to transfer ownership of the Property to Amtrak for Amtrak's continued use as their passenger station in South Bend, Indiana. Amtrak has used the Property since 1975 and wishes to continue to use it for an Amtrak station. NICTD has not used it since 1992. Because Amtrak seeks to make major renovations to the station to make it more usable for their passengers and Amtrak is the only entity using the Property, NICTD seeks to relinquish ownership of the Property to Amtrak.

On January 5, 2011, PHMSA published a final rule under Docket Number PHMSA-2009-0410 (HM-233B) that amended the Hazardous Materials Regulations to revise the application procedures for special permits. Specifically, the revisions required an applicant to provide additional information about its operation to enable the agency to better evaluate the applicant's ability to demonstrate an equivalent level of safety and the safety impact of operations that would be authorized in the special permit. In response to appeals submitted by entities affected by the January 5 final rule, this final rule amends requirements and provides additional clarification to the January 5 final rule.

This document advises the public of a recent decision by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) concerning the application of certain provisions of the regulations regarding fuel venting requirements.

These special conditions are issued for Boeing Model 747-8

This action proposes to establish Class E Airspace at

This action proposes to amend Class E Airspace at Cleveland,

These special conditions are for the Gulfstream GVI airplane.