Department of Transportation December 17, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Under 49 U.S.C. 10502, the Board revokes the class exemption as it pertains to the local trackage rights described in Docket No. FD 35963 to permit the temporary trackage rights to expire at midnight on December 31, 2018, in accordance with the agreement of the parties,\1\ subject to the employee protective conditions set forth in Oregon Short Line RailroadAbandonment Portion Goshen Branch Between Firth & Ammon, in Bingham & Bonneville Counties, Idaho (Oregon Short Line), 360 I.C.C. 91 (1979).

The FHWA is issuing this notice to advise the public that we are rescinding the Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for roadway improvements proposed for South Rochford Road in Pennington County, South Dakota. The NOI was published in the Federal Register on January 30, 2012. A Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) was not released. This rescission is based on changes to the design standards that have brought the proposed action below the threshold of an EIS.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is correcting a final rule published on October 1, 2015. In that rule, the FAA amended its certification procedures and marking requirements for aeronautical products and articles. This action corrects the effective date of the final rule to permit an earlier implementation of the rule's provisions that allow production approval holders to issue authorized release documents for aircraft engines, propellers, and articles. It also permits an earlier implementation date for production certificate holders to manufacture and install interface components, and provides earlier relief from the current requirement that fixed-pitch wooden propellers be marked using an approved fireproof method.

This final rule amends the rear license plate holder requirements contained in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 108; ``Lamps, reflective devices, and associated equipment.'' The final rule expands upon the proposal in the NPRM and allows license plates on all motor vehicles to be mounted on a plane up to 30 degrees upward from vertical if the upper edge of the license plate is not more than 1.2 meters (47.25 inches) from the ground. Previously, the maximum allowable upward mounting angle was 15 degrees beyond vertical. This final rule increases harmonization with existing requirements in European regulations. Additionally, this final rule increases a manufacturer's design flexibility while providing opportunity to decrease cost without compromising safety.

We propose to supersede Airworthiness Directive (AD) 2012-24- 06 for certain Saab AB, Saab Aeronautics (formerly known as Saab AB, Saab Aerosystems) Model 340A (SAAB/SF340A) and SAAB 340B airplanes. AD 2012-24-06 requires replacing the stall warning computer (SWC) with a new SWC, which provides an artificial stall warning in icing conditions, and modifying the airplane for the replacement of the SWC. Since we issued AD 2012-24-06, a determination was made that airplanes with certain modifications were excluded from the AD applicability and are affected by the identified unsafe condition and the SWC required by AD 2012-24-06 contained erroneous logic. This proposed AD would add airplanes to the applicability, and would add requirements to replace the existing SWCs with new, improved SWCs and modify the airplane for the new replacement of the SWC. We are proposing this AD to prevent natural stall events during operation in icing conditions, which could result in loss of control of the airplane.