Department of Transportation November 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Before a Federal agency can collect certain information from the public, it must receive approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Under procedures established by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), before seeking OMB approval, Federal agencies must solicit public comment on proposed collections of information, including extensions and reinstatements of previously approved collections. This document describes an Information Collection Request (ICR) for which NHTSA intends to seek OMB approval.

These special conditions are issued for Airbus Model A350-900 series airplanes. These airplanes will have novel or unusual design features, associated with flight-envelope protection in icing and non- icing conditions, that use low-speed incidence protection and an alpha- floor function that automatically advances throttles whenever the airplane angle of attack reaches a predetermined value. The applicable airworthiness regulations do not contain adequate or appropriate safety standards for these design features. 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.

The Surface Transportation Board (Board) hereby gives notice of two vacancies on its Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee (RETAC) for a representative of the downstream segment of the domestic petroleum industry (e.g., refiners, petrochemical producers, natural gas liquids (NGL) producers/distributors, logistics service providers, and other downstream participants) and for a representative of the electric utility industry. The Board is soliciting suggestions from the public for candidates to fill these two vacancies.

FMCSA announces its decision to renew the exemptions from the vision requirement in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for 17 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 that it has received an application from B.R. Kreider & Son, Inc., (Kreider) for an exemption from the requirement that drivers of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) must be released from work within 12 consecutive hours in order to take advantage of the exception to the record of duty status (RODS) rule for short-haul operations. Drivers qualifying for the short-haul exception are subject to the hours of service limits but are not required to maintain a RODS during the duty day. Kreider asks that its drivers be allowed to operate under the short-haul exception when their duty day exceeds 12 hours, and states that the same level of safety would be achieved with the exemption in place as would be achieved without the exemption.

This notice is to advise interested persons that on Wednesday, November 12, 2014, PHMSA will conduct a public meeting to discuss proposals in preparation for the 46th session of the United Nations Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (UNSCOE TDG) to be held December 1 to December 9, 2014, in Geneva, Switzerland. During this meeting, PHMSA is also soliciting comments relative to potential new work items, which may be considered for inclusion in its international agenda. Also, on Wednesday, November 12, 2014, the Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will conduct a public meeting (see Docket No. OSHA-H022k-2006-0062) to discuss proposals in preparation for the 28th session of the United Nations Sub-Committee of Experts on the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (UNSCEGHS) to be held December 9 to December 11, 2014, in Geneva, Switzerland. Time and Location: Both meetings will be held at the DOT Headquarters Conference Center, West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. PHMSA public meeting: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon EST, Conference Room 4. OSHA public meeting: 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. EST, Conference Room 4. Advanced Meeting Registration: The DOT requests that attendees pre- register for these meetings by completing the form at https:// www.surveymonkey.com/s/9WWZWR2. Attendees may use the same form to pre- register for both the PHMSA and the OSHA meetings. Failure to pre- register may delay your access to the DOT Headquarters building. If participants are attending in person, arrive early to allow time for security checks necessary to obtain access to the building. Conference call-in and ``live meeting'' capability will be provided for both meetings. Specific information on call-in and live meeting access will be posted when available at https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/ hazmat/regs/international and at https://www.osha.gov/dsg/hazcom/.

This action extends the comment period for the Notice of availability of proposed revision to Advisory Circular for Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) that was published on September 5, 2014. In that document, the FAA proposed to clarify FAA policy, facilitate achievement of an ASAP's safety goals, and encourage wider participation in the program. Multiple industry groups have requested that the FAA extend the comment period closing date to allow time to prepare comments.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces the intention of the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to renew the following information collection:

Pursuant to the Federal pipeline safety laws, PHMSA is publishing this notice of special permit renewal requests that we have received from two natural gas transmission pipeline operators, seeking relief from compliance with certain requirements in the Federal pipeline safety regulations. This notice seeks public comments on these requests, including comments on any safety or environmental impacts the renewal of these permits would have. For each listed Special Permit renewal request, an Environmental Assessment is also available for review and comment. At the conclusion of the 30-day comment period, PHMSA will evaluate the comments and the technical analysis of the renewal requests, to determine whether to grant or deny the renewals.

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 action confirms the effective date of the direct final rule published on July 28, 2014, and responds to the comments received on that direct final rule. The rule permits the pilot in command of a helicopter air ambulance to assess the weather at a departure point where current weather observations are not available and allows the pilot to depart if the observed ceiling and visibility is greater than certain weather minimums. This action will allow a pilot to utilize the minimum takeoff visibilities depicted in a published obstacle departure procedure, or in the absence of such a procedure, when the pilot observed ceiling and visibility is greater than the minimum ceiling and visibility limitations required by specific helicopter air ambulance rules. This change to the current regulation will permit helicopter air ambulance flights to enter the National Airspace System (NAS) under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) when visibilities and ceilings are below Visual Flight Rules (VFR), thus increasing the safety of the flight.

The Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Secretary (OST), Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) announces the opportunity for: (1) Business centered community- based organizations; (2) transportation-related trade associations; (3) colleges and universities; (4) community colleges or; (5) chambers of commerce, registered with the Internal Revenue Service as 501 C(6) or 501 C(3) tax-exempt organizations, to compete for participation in OSDBU's Small Business Transportation Resource Center (SBTRC) program in the Capital Region (District of Columbia, Stafford County (VA), Fauquier County (VA), Prince William County (VA), Manassas County (VA), Loudoun County (VA), Fairfax County (VA), Charles County (MD), Prince Georges County (MD) and Montgomery County (MD)). OSDBU will enter into Cooperative Agreements with these organizations to provide outreach to the small business community in their designated region and provide financial and technical assistance, business training programs, business assessment, management training, counseling, marketing and outreach, and the dissemination of information, to encourage and assist small businesses to become better prepared to compete for, obtain, and manage DOT funded transportation- related contracts and subcontracts at the federal, state and local levels. Throughout this notice, the term ``small business'' will refer to: 8(a), small disadvantaged businesses (SDB), disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE), women owned small businesses (WOSB), HubZone, service disabled veteran owned businesses (SDVOB), and veteran owned small businesses (VOSB). Throughout this notice, ``transportation- related'' is defined as the maintenance, rehabilitation, restructuring, improvement, or revitalization of any of the nation's modes of transportation. Funding Opportunity Number: USDOT-OST-OSDBU-SBTRC-2014-16 Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number: 20.910 Assistance to small and disadvantaged businesses. Type of Award: Cooperative Agreement Grant. Award Ceiling: $150,000. Award Floor: $135,000. Program Authority: DOT is authorized under 49 U.S.C. 332 (b) (4), (5) & (7) to design and carry out programs to assist small disadvantaged businesses in getting transportation-related contracts and subcontracts; develop support mechanisms, including management and technical services, that will enable small disadvantaged businesses to take advantage of those business opportunities; and to make arrangements to carry out the above purposes.

In accordance with the requirements of 49 U.S.C. 5117(c), PHMSA is publishing the following list of special permit applications that have been in process for 180 days or more. The reason(s) for delay and the expected completion date for action on each application is provided in association with each identified application.