Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 237 / Wednesday, December 9, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 79135 

listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal 

Regulations. The Regulatory Information 

Service Center publishes the Unified 

Agenda in April and October of each 

year. The RIN contained in the heading 

of this document can be used to crossreference this action with the Unified 

Agenda. 

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 225 

Investigations, Penalties, Railroad 

safety, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

The Final Rule 

In consideration of the foregoing, FRA 

amends part 225 of chapter II, subtitle 

B of title 49, Code of Federal 

Regulations, as follows: 

PART 225—RAILROAD ACCIDENTS/ 

INCIDENTS: REPORTS 

CLASSIFICATION, AND 

INVESTIGATIONS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 225 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 103, 322(a), 20103, 

20107, 20901–20902, 21301, 21302, 21311; 

28 U.S.C. 2461, note; and 49 CFR 1.89. 

■ 2. In § 225.19, revise paragraphs (c) 

and (e) and remove the parenthetical 

authority citation at the end of the 

section to read as follows: 

§ 225.19 Primary groups of accidents/ 

incidents. 

* * * * * 

(c) Group II—Rail equipment. Rail 

equipment accidents/incidents are 

collisions, derailments, fires, 

explosions, acts of God, and other 

events involving the operation of ontrack equipment (standing or moving) 

that result in damages higher than the 

current reporting threshold to railroad 

on-track equipment, signals, tracks, 

track structures, or roadbed, including 

labor costs and costs for acquiring new 

equipment and material. 

* * * * * 

(e) Notice. No later than November 30 

of each year, the Administrator will 

publish a notice on FRA’s website 

announcing the reporting threshold that 

will take effect on January 1 of the 

following calendar year. 

■ 3. Appendix B to part 225 is revised 

to read as follows: 

Appendix B to Part 225—Procedure for 

Determining Reporting Threshold 

1. Wage data used in the calculation are 

collected from railroads by the Surface 

Transportation Board (STB) on Form A—STB 

Wage Statistics. Rail equipment data from the 

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor 

Statistics (BLS), LABSTAT Series reports are 

used in the calculation. The equation used to 

adjust the reporting threshold has two 

components: (a) The average hourly earnings 

of certain railroad maintenance employees as 

reported to the STB by the Class I railroads 

and Amtrak; and (b) an overall rail 

equipment cost index determined by the 

BLS. The wage component is weighted by 

40% and the equipment component by 60%. 

2. For the wage component, the average of 

the data from Form A—STB Wage Statistics 

for Group No. 300 (Maintenance of Way and 

Structures) and Group No. 400 (Maintenance 

of Equipment and Stores) employees is used. 

3. For the equipment component, 

LABSTAT Series Report, Producer Price 

Index (PPI) Series WPU 144 for Railroad 

Equipment is used. 

4. In the month of October, second-quarter 

and first-quarter wage data for the current 

year, and fourth-quarter and third-quarter 

wage data for the previous year are obtained 

from the STB. For equipment costs, the 

corresponding BLS railroad equipment 

indices for the same time period as the STB 

wage data are obtained. 

5. The wage data are reported in terms of 

dollars earned per hour, while the equipment 

cost data are indexed to a base year of 1982. 

6. The procedure for adjusting the 

reporting threshold is shown in the formula 

below. The wage and equipment components 

appear as fractional changes relative to the 

prior year. After performing the calculation, 

the result is rounded to the nearest $100. 

7. The weightings result from using STB 

wage data and BLS equipment cost data to 

produce a reasonable estimation of the 

reporting threshold that was calculated using 

the threshold formula in effect immediately 

before calendar year 2006, a formula that 

assumed damage repair costs, at levels at or 

near the threshold, were split approximately 

evenly between labor and materials. 

8. Formula: 

New Threshold = Prior Threshold × [1 + 

0.4(Wnew—Wprior)/Wprior + 

0.6(Enew¥Eprior)/Eprior] 

Where: 

Wnew = New average hourly wage rate ($). 

Wprior = Prior average hourly wage rate ($). 

Enew = New equipment average PPI value. 

Eprior = Prior equipment average PPI value. 

Issued in Washington, DC. 

Quintin C. Kendall, 

Deputy Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2020–25863 Filed 12–8–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

[Docket No. 200113–0013; RTID 0648– 

XA688] 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; 2020 

Commercial Closure for South Atlantic 

Snowy Grouper 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; closure. 

SUMMARY: NMFS implements an 

accountability measure for the 

commercial sector of snowy grouper in 

the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 

the South Atlantic. NMFS projects 

commercial landings of snowy grouper 

will reach the commercial annual catch 

limit (ACL) for the July through 

December season by December 12, 2020. 

Therefore, NMFS closes the commercial 

sector for snowy grouper in the South 

Atlantic EEZ on December 12, 2020. 

This closure is necessary to protect the 

snowy grouper resource. 

DATES: This temporary rule is effective 

at 12:01 a.m., local time, on December 

12, 2020, until 12:01 a.m., local time, on 

January 1, 2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mary Vara, NMFS Southeast Regional 

Office, telephone: 727–824–5305, email: 

mary.vara@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

snapper-grouper fishery of the South 

Atlantic includes snowy grouper and is 

managed under the Fishery 

Management Plan for the SnapperGrouper Fishery of the South Atlantic 

Region (FMP). The FMP was prepared 

by the South Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council and is 

implemented by NMFS under the 

authority of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) by 

regulations at 50 CFR part 622. 

All weights described in this 

temporary rule are in gutted weight. 

The commercial ACL (commercial 

quota) for snowy grouper in the South 

Atlantic is divided into two 6-month 

fishing seasons. The total commercial 

ACL for snowy grouper is allocated 70 

percent, or 107,754 lb (48,876 kg), for 

the January through June commercial 

fishing season, and 30 percent, or 

46,181 lb (20,947 kg), for the July 

through December fishing season, as 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with RULES
79136 Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 237 / Wednesday, December 9, 2020 / Rules and Regulations 

specified in 50 CFR 622.190(a)(1)(i) and 

(ii). 

After the January through June 2020 

fishing season, 3,048 lb (1,382 kg) of the 

snowy grouper commercial quota 

remained unharvested. As specified in 

50 CFR 622.190(a)(1)(iii), NMFS added 

this unused portion of the snowy 

grouper commercial quota to the 

commercial quota for the July through 

December 2020 fishing season. 

Therefore, the snowy grouper 

commercial quota for the July through 

December 2020 fishing season is 49,229 

lb (22,329 kg). Any unused commercial 

quota for the July through December 

fishing season becomes void and will 

not be added to any subsequent quota 

(622.190(a)(1)(iii)). 

Under 50 CFR 622.193(b)(1), NMFS is 

required to close the commercial sector 

for snowy grouper when the commercial 

quota specified in 50 CFR 622.190(a)(1) 

is reached or is projected to be reached, 

by filing a notification to that effect with 

the Office of the Federal Register. NMFS 

projects that commercial landings of 

South Atlantic snowy grouper, as 

estimated by the Science and Research 

Director, will reach the adjusted July 

through December 2020 commercial 

quota by December 12, 2020. 

Accordingly, the commercial sector for 

South Atlantic snowy grouper is closed 

effective at 12:01 a.m., local time, on 

December 12, 2020, and remains closed 

until the start of the next January 

through June fishing season on January 

1, 2021. 

The operator of a vessel with a valid 

commercial vessel permit for South 

Atlantic snapper-grouper having snowy 

grouper on board must have landed and 

bartered, traded, or sold such snowy 

grouper prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, 

on December 12, 2020. During the 

commercial closure, harvest and 

possession of snowy grouper in or from 

the South Atlantic EEZ is limited to the 

bag and possession limits, as specified 

in § 622.187(b)(2)(ii) and (c)(1). Also 

during the commercial closure, the sale 

or purchase of snowy grouper taken 

from the EEZ is prohibited. The 

prohibition on sale or purchase does not 

apply to the sale or purchase of snowy 

grouper that were harvested, landed 

ashore, and sold prior to 12:01 a.m., 

local time, on December 12, 2020, and 

were held in cold storage by a dealer or 

processor. 

For a person on board a vessel for 

which a Federal commercial or charter 

vessel/headboat permit for South 

Atlantic snapper-grouper has been 

issued, the bag and possession limits 

and the sale and purchase provisions 

during the commercial closure for 

snowy grouper apply regardless of 

whether the fish are harvested in state 

or Federal waters, as specified in 50 

CFR 622.190(c)(1)(ii). 

Classification 

NMFS issues this action pursuant to 

section 305(d) of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act. This action is required by 50 CFR 

622.193(b)(1), which was issued 

pursuant to section 304(b) of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act, and is exempt 

from review under Executive Order 

12866. 

These measures are exempt from the 

procedures of the Regulatory Flexibility 

Act because the temporary rule is issued 

without opportunity for prior notice and 

comment. 

Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), there 

is good cause to waive prior notice and 

an opportunity for public comment as 

such procedures are unnecessary and 

contrary to the public interest. Such 

procedures are unnecessary because the 

regulations associated with the 

commercial quota for South Atlantic 

snowy grouper have already been 

subject to notice and comment, and all 

that remains is to notify the public of 

the commercial closure for the 

remainder of the July through December 

2020 fishing season. Prior notice and 

opportunity for public comment on this 

action is contrary to the public interest 

because of the need to immediately 

implement the commercial closure to 

protect South Atlantic snowy grouper, 

because the capacity of the fishing fleet 

allows for rapid harvest of the 

commercial quota. Prior notice and 

opportunity for public comment would 

require time and would potentially 

result in a harvest that exceeds the 

commercial quota. 

For the aforementioned reasons, there 

is good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3) 

to waive the 30-day delay in the 

effective date of this action. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq. 

Dated: December 4, 2020. 

Jennifer M. Wallace, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2020–27064 Filed 12–7–20; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 635 

[Docket No. 120627194–3657–02] 

RTID 0648–XA629 

Atlantic Highly Migratory Species; 

North Atlantic Swordfish Fishery 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Temporary rule; inseason 

Swordfish General Commercial permit 

retention limit adjustment. 

SUMMARY: NMFS is adjusting the 

Swordfish General Commercial permit 

retention limits for the Northwest 

Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and U.S. 

Caribbean regions for January through 

June of the 2021 fishing year, unless 

otherwise later noticed. The Swordfish 

General Commercial permit retention 

limit in each of these regions is 

increased from the regulatory default 

limit (either two or three fish) to six 

swordfish per vessel per trip. The 

Swordfish General Commercial permit 

retention limit in the Florida Swordfish 

Management Area will remain 

unchanged at the default limit of zero 

swordfish per vessel per trip, as 

discussed in more detail below. These 

adjustments apply to Swordfish General 

Commercial permitted vessels and to 

Highly Migratory Species (HMS) 

Charter/Headboat permitted vessels 

with a commercial endorsement when 

on a non-for-hire trip. This action is 

based upon consideration of the 

applicable inseason regional retention 

limit adjustment criteria. 

DATES: The adjusted Swordfish General 

Commercial permit retention limits in 

the Northwest Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, 

and U.S. Caribbean regions are effective 

from January 1, 2021, through June 30, 

2021. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sarah McLaughlin, sarah.mclaughlin@

noaa.gov 978–281–9260, Lauren 

Latchford, lauren.latchford@noaa.gov 

301–427–8503, or Larry Redd, 

larry.redd@noaa.gov 301–427–8503. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Regulations implemented under the 

authority of the Atlantic Tunas 

Convention Act (ATCA; 16 U.S.C. 971 et 

seq.) and the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act; 16 U.S.C. 1801 

et seq.) governing the harvest of North 

Atlantic swordfish by persons and 


jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with RULES