Department of Transportation 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces actions taken by FHWA and the other Federal agencies that are final. The actions relate to a proposed widening of Interstate 26 from U. S. 25 near Hendersonville to the I- 40/240 Interchange in Asheville, also known as State Transportation Improvement Program Project I-4400/I-4700, in Henderson and Buncombe Counties, North Carolina. Those actions grant licenses, permits, and approvals for the project.

FMCSA corrects the entry-level driver training (ELDT) final rule published on March 6, 2019, titled ``Commercial Driver's License Upgrade from Class B to Class A.'' The March 6, 2019 final rule contained an error in the amendatory instruction that is being corrected in order to ensure the regulatory text matches the discussion of the change being made in the preamble to the document.

This notice contains a summary of a petition seeking relief from specified requirements of Federal Aviation Regulations. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, the FAA's exemption process. 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.

The Secretary of Transportation, as represented by the Maritime Administration (MARAD), is authorized to grant waivers of the U.S.-build requirements of the coastwise trade laws to allow the carriage of no more than twelve passengers for hire on vessels, which are three years old or more. A request for such a waiver has been received by MARAD. The vessel, and a brief description of the proposed service, is listed below.

The Secretary of Transportation, as represented by the Maritime Administration (MARAD), is authorized to grant waivers of the U.S.-build requirements of the coastwise trade laws to allow the carriage of no more than twelve passengers for hire on vessels, which are three years old or more. A request for such a waiver has been received by MARAD. The vessel, and a brief description of the proposed service, is listed below.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice announces that the Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below is being forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and comments. A Federal Register Notice with a 60-day comment period soliciting comments on the following information collection was published on December 17, 2018.

The Secretary of Transportation, as represented by the Maritime Administration (MARAD), is authorized to grant waivers of the U.S.-build requirements of the coastwise trade laws to allow the carriage of no more than twelve passengers for hire on vessels, which are three years old or more. A request for such a waiver has been received by MARAD. The vessel, and a brief description of the proposed service, is listed below.

We propose to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Bombardier, Inc., Model DHC-8-400 series airplanes. This proposed AD was prompted by a report of a cracked outboard spoiler actuator mounting bracket. This proposed AD would require repetitive inspections of the outboard spoiler actuator mounting brackets, replacement of any cracked bracket, and eventual replacement of all brackets with a re-designed part that would terminate the repetitive inspections. We are proposing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products.

This action proposes to amend the Class D airspace and Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface at Richard Lloyd Jones Jr. Airport, Tulsa, OK, and the Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface at William R. Pogue Municipal Airport, Sand Springs, OK, which is contained within the Tulsa, OK, airspace legal description. The FAA is proposing this action as the result of the decommissioning of the Glenpool VHF omnidirectional range (VOR) navigation aid, which provided navigation information for the instrument procedures at these airports, as part of the VOR Minimum Operational Network (MON) Program. The geographic coordinates of the Richard Lloyd Jones Jr. Airport would also be updated to coincide with the FAA's aeronautical database.

This action proposes to amend Class E airspace extending upward from 700 feet above the surface in Isbell Field Airport, Fort Payne, AL, to accommodate airspace reconfiguration due to the decommissioning of the Fort Payne non-directional radio beacon and cancellation of the NDB approach. Controlled airspace is necessary for the safety and management of instrument flight rules (IFR) operations at this airport. This action also would update the airport name and geographic coordinates of this airport. In addition, this action would update the name and geographic coordinates of Dekalb Regional Medical Center Heliport, which is contained within the legal description of the Isbell Field Airport airspace.

This action proposes to establish restricted area R-7205 on the island of Guam, GU. The US Army has been operating a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) radar system in direct support of national defense initiatives. The system has operated within a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) for over five years. The restricted area is necessary to protect aviation from hazardous electro-magnetic radiation and segregate non-participating aircraft.

The Surface Transportation Board published a document in the Federal Register of March 6, 2016, giving notice of one vacancy on its Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee and soliciting suggestions from the public for candidates to fill the vacancy. The published document contained an incorrect description of the vacancy.

This document announces the availability of the FAA National Facilities Realignment and Consolidation Report, Parts 4 & 5. The report was developed in response to Section 804 of the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012. The report and recommendations contained therein have been developed collaboratively with the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) and the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists (PASS) labor unions and with input from stakeholders. The FAA seeks comments on this report.

Nuro, Inc. (Nuro) has petitioned NHTSA for a temporary exemption from certain requirements in Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) No. 500, which establishes standards for ``Low-speed vehicles,'' on the basis that an exemption would make the development or field evaluation of a low-emission vehicle easier without unreasonably lowering the safety of that vehicle. The vehicle for which Nuro requests an exemption is a low-speed, highly automated delivery vehicle intended to be operated without any human occupants and thus designed without any seating. Specifically, Nuro requests exemptions from the requirements in FMVSS No. 500 that its vehicle be equipped with rearview mirrors, a windshield that complies with FMVSS No. 205, and a rear visibility (backup camera) system that complies with FMVSS No. 111. Nuro states that the absence of human occupants, combined with the vehicle's various safety design features, including the vehicle's Automated Driving System (ADS), make compliance with these provisions of FMVSS No. 500 either unnecessary for, or detrimental to, the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. NHTSA is publishing this document in accordance with statutory and administrative provisions, and requests comments on this document and the petition submitted by Nuro. NHTSA will assess the merits of the petition and decide whether to grant or deny it after receiving and considering the public comments on this notice, the petition, public responses to the questions in this notice and such additional information as Nuro may provide.

This notice announces final environmental actions taken by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for projects in Tarrant, Dallas, and Collin Counties, Texas and Marion County, Indiana. The purpose of this notice is to announce publicly the environmental decisions by FTA on the subject projects and to activate the limitation on any claims that may challenge these final environmental actions.

This action extends, with modifications to reflect changed conditions in Libya, the Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) prohibiting certain flight operations in the Tripoli Flight Information Region (FIR) (HLLL) by all: United States (U.S.) air carriers; U.S. commercial operators; persons exercising the privileges of an airman certificate issued by the FAA, except when such persons are operating U.S.-registered aircraft for a foreign air carrier; and operators of U.S.-registered civil aircraft, except where the operator of such aircraft is a foreign air carrier. This action extends the prohibition of U.S. civil flight operations in the Tripoli FIR (HLLL) at altitudes below Flight Level (FL) 300 to safeguard against continuing hazards to U.S. civil aviation. However, this action also reduces the scope of the prohibition, permitting U.S. civil aviation overflights of the Tripoli FIR (HLLL) at altitudes at and above FL300 to resume, due to the reduced risk to U.S. civil aviation operations at those altitudes. The FAA also republishes, with minor revisions, the approval process and exemption information for this SFAR, consistent with other recently published flight prohibition SFARs; makes a minor editorial change to the title of the rule; and makes other minor revisions for consistency with other recently published flight prohibition SFARs.

The Board hereby gives notice of an upcoming vacancy on RSTAC for a small shipper representative. The Board seeks suggestions for candidates to fill this vacancy.

The Department of Transportation (DOT) invites public comments about our intention to request the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)'s approval to renew an information collection. The collection involves a classification of air carriers known as air taxi operators and their filings of a one-page form that enables them to obtain economic authority from DOT. The information to be collected is necessary for DOT to determine whether an air taxi operator meets DOT's criteria for an economic authorization in accordance with DOT rules. We are required to publish this notice in the Federal Register by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

This notice advises U.S. carriers holding blanket open-skies route authority that effective July 9, 2019, Samoa will be removed from the Department of Transportation's list of Open Skies Agreements Currently Being Applied. This notice invites carriers seeking to provide scheduled foreign air transportation to Samoa after that date to file applications for exemption authority.

In a decision served on March 11, 2019, the Board proposed to adopt 1.005 (0.5% per year) as the measure of average (geometric mean) change in railroad productivity for the 2013-2017 (five-year) period. This represents an increase of 0.9% from the average for the 2012-2016 period. The Board's March 11, 2019 decision in this proceeding stated that comments may be filed addressing any perceived data and computational errors in the Board's calculation. The decision also stated that unless a further order is issued postponing the effective date, this decision is effective on March 29, 2019.

This notice announces the availability of FAA's CORSIA Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification Program. This voluntary program will fulfill the responsibilities of the United States under the Chicago Convention to implement the ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices for the monitoring, reporting, and verification of CO2 emissions from international flights pursuant to Annex 16, Volume IVCarbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), of the Chicago Convention.

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 collection involves the B4UFLY smartphone app that provides situational awareness of flight restrictionsincluding locations of airports, restricted airspace, special use airspace, and temporary flight restrictionsbased on a user's current or planned flight location. In order to maintain NAS safety in proximity to airports, authorization is now required from recreational Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) pilots to operate in controlled airspace The data collected will assist the FAA with determining the best processes to authorize recreational UAS pilots and inform air traffic control personnel of a UAS pilot's intended flight in order to assess whether the UAS may disrupt or endanger manned air traffic.

This rule amends, suspends, or removes Standard Instrument Approach Procedures (SIAPs) and associated Takeoff Minimums and Obstacle Departure Procedures for operations at certain airports. These regulatory actions are needed because of the adoption of new or revised criteria, or because of changes occurring in the National Airspace System, such as the commissioning of new navigational facilities, adding new obstacles, or changing air traffic requirements. These changes are designed to provide for the safe and efficient use of the navigable airspace and to promote safe flight operations under instrument flight rules at the affected airports.