54582 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 203 / Tuesday, October 21, 1997 / Rules and Regulations

number of small entities under the

criteria of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

List of Subjects in 14 CFR Part 97

Air Traffic Control, Airports,

Navigation (air).

Issued in Washington, DC on July 11, 1997.

Thomas E. Stuckey,

Acting Director, Flight Standards Service.

Adoption of the Amendment

Accordingly, pursuant to the

authority delegated to me, part 97 of the

Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR

part 97) is amended by establishing,

amending, suspending, or revoking

Standard Instrument Approach

Procedures, effective at 0901 UTC on

the dates specified, as follows:

PART 97—STANDARD INSTRUMENT

APPROACH PROCEDURES

1. The authority citation for part 97 is

revised to read as follows:

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 106(g), 40103, 40113,

40120, 44701; and 14 CFR 11.49(b)(2).

2. Part 97 is amended to read as

follows:

§§ 97.23, 97.25, 97.27, 97.29, 97.31, 97.33,

97.35 [Amended]

By amending: § 97.23 VOR, VOR/

DME, VOR or TACAN, and VOR/DME

or TACAN; § 97.25 LOC, LOC/DME,

LDA, LDA/DME, SDF, SDF/DME;

§ 97.27 NDB, NDB/DME; § 97.29 ILS,

ILS/DME, ISMLS, MLS, MSL/DME,

MLS/RNAV; § 97.31 RADAR SIAPs;

§ 97.33 RNAV SIAPs; and § 97.35

COPTER SIAPs, identified as follows:

* * * Effective August 14, 1997

Champaign-Urbana, IL, University of IllinoisWillard, VOR RWY 18, Orig

Champaign-Urbana, IL, University of IllinoisWillard, GPS RWY 18, Orig

Champaign-Urbana, IL, University of IllinoisWillard, GPS RWY 36, Orig

Kendallville, IN, Kendallville Muni, VOR or

GPS–A, Amdt 6, CANCELLED

Kendallville, IN, Kendallville Muni, VOR/

DME–A, Orig

La Porte, IN, La Porte Muni, VOR or GPS–

A, Amdt 6

La Porte, IN, La Porte Muni, LOC RWY 2,

Orig

La Porte, IN, La Porte Muni, VOR/DME

RNAV or GPS RWY 20, Amdt 5

Fort Worth, TX, Fort Worth Alliance, ILS

RWY 16L, Amdt 3

Houston, TX, William P. Hobby, VOR/DME

RWY 17, Amdt 1

* * * Effective September 11, 1997

Burbank, CA, Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena,

GPS–A, Orig

Upland, CA, Cable, GPS RWY 6, Orig

Victorville, CA, Southern California

International, GPS RWY 17, Orig

Montrose, CO, Montrose Regional, GPS RWY

13, Orig

Montrose, CO, Montrose Regional, GPS RWY

17, Orig

Montrose, CO, Montrose Regional, GPS RWY

35, Orig

Deland, FL, Deland Muni-Sidney H Taylor

Field, VOR or GPS RWY 23, Amdt 2

West Palm Beach, FL, Palm Beach Intl, LOC

BC RWY 27R, Amdt 12A, CANCELLED

Agana, Guam, Guam International, GPS RWY

6L, Orig

Agana, Guam, Guam International, GPS RWY

24R, Orig

Houlton, ME, Houlton Intl, VOR RWY 5,

Amdt 10

Des Moines, IA, Des Moines Intl, RADAR-1,

Amdt 17, CANCELLED

Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, Marshall

Islands Intl, GPS RWY 7, Orig

Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, Marshall

Islands Intl, GPS RWY 25, Orig

Sand Island, Midway Islands, Midway AtollHenderson Field, GPS RWY 6, Orig

Sand Island, Midway Islands, Midway AtollHenderson Field, GPS RWY 24, Orig

Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl/

Wold-Chamberlain, NDB or GPS RWY 30L,

Amdt 24

Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl/

Wold-Chamberlain, NDB or GPS RWY 30R,

Amdt 12

Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl/

Wold-Chamberlain, ILS RWY 4, Amdt 26

Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl/

Wold-Chamberlain, ILS RWY 22, Amdt 5

Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl/

Wold-Chamberlain, ILS RWY 12L, Amdt 4

Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl/

Wold-Chamberlain, ILS RWY 30R, Amdt 8

Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl/

Wold-Chamberlain, ILS RWY 12R, Amdt 6

Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis-St. Paul Intl/

Wold-Chamberlain, ILS RWY 30L, Amdt

42

Rochester, NY, Greater Rochester Intl,

RADAR 1, Amdt 14, CANCELLED

Rota Island, North Mariana Islands, Rota Intl,

GPS RWY 9, Orig

Rota Island, North Mariana Islands, Rota Intl,

GPS RWY 27, Orig

Saipan Island, North Mariana Islands, Saipan

Intl, GPS RWY 7, Orig

Saipan Island, North Mariana Islands, Saipan

Intl, GPS RWY 25, Orig

Tinian Island, North Mariana Islands, West

Tinian, GPS RWY 8, Orig

Tinian Island, North Mariana Islands, West

Tinian, GPS RWY 26, Orig

John Day, OR, John Day State, GPS RWY 9,

Orig

Babelthuap Island, Palau, Babelthuap/Koror,

GPS RWY 9, Orig

Babelthuap Island, Palau, Babelthuap/Koror,

GPS RWY 27, Orig

Charleston, SC, Charleston AFB/Intl, VOR/

DME or TACAN or GPS RWY 3, Amdt 13

Charleston, SC, Charleston AFB/Intl, VOR/

DME or TACAN or GPS RWY 21, Amdt 13

Laurens, SC, Laurens County, GPS RWY 8,

Orig

Kosrae Island, States of Micronesia, Kosrae,

GPS RWY 5, Orig

Kosrae Island, States of Micronesia, Kosrae,

GPS RWY 23, Orig

Pohnpei Island, States of Micronesia,

Pohnpei Intl, GPS RWY 9, Orig

Pohnpei Island, States of Micronesia,

Pohnpei Intl, GPS RWY 27, Orig

Weno Island, States of Micronesia, Chuuk

International, GPS RWY 4, Orig

Weno Island, States of Micronesia, Chuuk

International, GPS RWY 22, Orig

Yap Island, States of Micronesia, Yap

International, GPS RWY 7, Orig

Yap Island, States of Micronesia, Yap

International, GPS RWY 25, Orig

[FR Doc. 97–27743 Filed 10–20–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–13–M

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS

ADMINISTRATION

36 CFR Parts 1228 and 1234

RIN 3095–AA70

Transfer of Electronic Records to the

National Archives

AGENCY: National Archives and Records

Administration (NARA).

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This rule revises NARA

regulations relating to the transfer of

permanent electronic records to the

National Archives of the United States.

The rule clarifies the timing of transfers

and expands the forms of acceptable

transfer media. The rule affects Federal

agencies.

DATES: Effective November 20, 1997.

The incorporation by reference of

certain publications listed in the rule is

approved by the Director of the Federal

Register as of November 20, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Thomas E. Brown at 301–713–6630.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NARA

published a notice of proposed

rulemaking on July 29, 1996 (61 FR

39373) for a 60-day comment period.

Comments were received from four

agencies.

One agency expressed concern that

the regulation does not change the

requirement that records be transferred

in either ASCII (American National

Standard Code for Information

Interchange) or EBCDIC (Extended

binary-coded decimal interchange

code). While the regulation expands the

media which NARA will accept, we are

unwilling at this time to expand the

coding formats for transfer beyond

ASCII or EBCDIC. However NARA

continues to explore additional formats

which will meet our long-term

preservation and access needs. To

ensure the ability to access the records

over time, the archival format is ASCII

or EBCDIC. Conversion to these formats

is easier while the records are in their

creating systems rather than outside of

the creating systems after transfer.

Therefore, we have not modified the
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 203 / Tuesday, October 21, 1997 / Rules and Regulations 54583

requirement for data to be in ASCII or

EBCDIC format when being transferred

to NARA.

One comment stated that NARA

should accept relational database files

with embedded control characters

associated with a particular database

management system. Such a format

would be proprietary and dependent on

a particular software product. Following

the transfer to NARA, it would be

problematic as to whether the records

would be accessible. Rather the new

regulation calls for the export of tables

from a relational data base as software

independent files. The transfer format

is, in fact, the logical format used in a

relational database. Hence the

regulation outlines the procedure

through which NARA will accept

records from relational databases but

free of the proprietary control characters

which would limit access.

One comment recommended that

NARA should investigate adding to the

list of acceptable media CD–ROMs that

meet ISO standard 13346. As a result of

this comment, NARA technical staff has

begun investigating this standard to

determine whether NARA can process

records from a CD–ROM recorded in

this format. If this investigation proves

successful, NARA will further amend

the CFR.

One agency stated that NARA must

not permit public access to nonpermanent software on a CD–ROM

unless (1) NARA has appropriate

permission to use and the public has

permission to reproduce the software

and (2) the software is necessary to

access permanent records. We agree that

the public should not be allowed to

reproduce copyrighted software without

permission. NARA will establish

internal controls for managing the

research complex to prevent

unauthorized reproduction of CD–ROMs

which contain copyrighted software.

However, section 109 of the Copyright

Act of 1976 outlined the ‘‘first sale

doctrine.’’ This provision allows

NARA’s researchers to use copyrighted

software in the NARA research complex

for access to records on a CD–ROM.

One comment stated that NARA

should not provide access to temporary

files. This comment led us to reconsider

the proposed use of CD–ROMs in

NARA’s research complex, and we

concluded that we will not provide

access to temporary records. If an

agency transfers both permanent and

temporary records on a CD–ROM,

NARA will copy only the permanent

records and return the CD–ROM to the

agency or destroy it. In this final rule,

we have amended 36 CFR

1228.188(c)(2)(ii) to reflect this policy.

One comment objected that NARA

permits but does not require agencies to

submit textual documents including

formatting codes, because such codes

may carry essential structural

information. NARA agrees with this

comment. Section 1228.188(d)(2) of the

regulation adds an option for

transferring electronic documents that

contain formatting codes. At this time,

only SGML formats can be preserved

permanently. NARA will explore other

possibilities to preserve structure and

format of electronic documents. We

have not changed the regulation in

response to this comment.

One comment stated that the

regulations encourage the use of CD–

ROMs for the storage of electronic

records. It went on to conclude that the

proposed regulation may cause

technical personnel to argue that CD–

ROM is an appropriate storage media.

36 CFR 1228.188 concerns the use of

CD–ROMs for the transfer of records to

the NARA. It does not address the use

of any media for the storage of records.

The selection of storage media for

electronic records is addressed in 36

CFR 1234.30. An agency may store

records on any media but must be able

to migrate permanent records to media

acceptable for transfer to the National

Archives. To clarify the scope of the

regulation, we have modified

§ 1228.188(c) to state: ‘‘This section

covers the transfer of permanent records

to the National Archives; it does not

apply to the use and storage of records

in agency custody. See 36 CFR 1234.30

for the requirements governing the

selection of electronic records storage

media.’’ We are also clarifying 36 CFR

1234.30 to reinforce this distinction

between storage and transfer media.

One comment noted that a distinction

exists between storing records and

disseminating information. Specifically,

the comment stated that WORM (Write

Once—Read Many Times) technology

should be used to store records, and

CD–ROM technology should be used to

disseminate information. NARA agrees

that there is a difference between the

storage of records and the dissemination

of records. Since dissemination of

information can include the transfer of

records to the National Archives, the

comment endorses our proposed change

in the regulations. This change in the

regulation does not cover the storage of

records. See 36 CFR 1234.28 for the

requirements governing the selection of

electronic records storage media. This

latter regulation does not dictate storage

media for the records while in agency

use; the regulation makes clear that it is

an agency option. NARA will, however,

continue to monitor the status of

standardization of WORM technology.

One comment objected that export of

tables from a relational database to flat

files is expensive because it requires

application programming. Most records

schedules for permanent databases

require periodic transfers, but special

programming would only have to be

done once, if at all. Special

programming is not necessary in many

cases because the files could be

exported using any of a variety of offthe-shelf tools for data extraction.

Export costs can also be minimized by

including migration in the design of

those databases that contain permanent

records.

One comment thought that NARA

should accept imaged documents on

WORM media. This raises two issues:

(1) acceptance of image formats, and (2)

acceptance of WORM media. Currently,

with the exception of the CCITT format

for digital facsimile (FAX)

transmissions, ANSI and ISO standards

do not exist for any image format or for

any WORM disk. Consequently the

acceptance of image documents on

WORM media would result in the

archival records being stored in a

proprietary format dependant on a

proprietary retrieval system. The result

would be either the loss of information

as a result of technological obsolescence

or extremely expensive preservation

costs to migrate the images and storage

media to new technologies.

In § 1228.188(c)(2)(i), we have

provided more complete identification

of the cited industry standard for CD–

ROMs that is incorporated by reference.

In § 1228.188(d)(3), we have provided

more complete identification of the

cited standard for digital spatial data

files and its ordering source.

We recognize the concerns that this

regulation is narrow in scope and does

not fully address the needs of Federal

agencies for NARA guidance in an

increasingly electronic environment.

Impressive developments in technology

for creating records have not been

matched by technological developments

for managing them. Because of these

constraints, NARA has taken a

conservative approach in this regulation

to ensure that the electronic records we

accession today are usable 25 and 50

years from now when current software,

hardware, and media are no longer

available. NARA is working to expand

our capabilities to handle electronic

formats and media that Federal agencies

are using today. We are developing a

successor to NARA’s Archival

Preservation System (APS) for electronic

records, and in FY 1999, we will

increase APS processing capacity to
54584 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 203 / Tuesday, October 21, 1997 / Rules and Regulations

50,000 files per year. NARA plans to

develop the capability for preserving

document image files in FY 2000,

textual electronic records by FY 2001,

and raster and vector files by FY 2002.

We will seek the involvement and

assistance of agencies in this effort.

This rule is a significant regulatory

action for the purposes of Executive

Order 12866, and has been reviewed by

OMB. As required by the Regulatory

Flexibility Act, it is hereby certified that

this rule will not have a significant

impact on small entities. This rule is not

a major rule as defined in 5 U.S.C.

Chapter 8, Congressional Review of

Agency Rulemaking.

List of Subjects in 36 CFR Parts 1228

and 1234

Archives and records, Computer

technology, Incorporation by reference.

For the reasons set forth in the

preamble, Chapter XII of title 36, Code

of Federal Regulations, is amended as

follows:

PART 1228—DISPOSITION OF

FEDERAL RECORDS

1. The authority citation for part 1228

continues to read:

Authority: 44 U.S.C. chs. 21, 29, and 33.

2. Section 1228.188 is revised to read

as follows:

§ 1228.188 Electronic records.

(a) Timing of transfers. Each agency is

responsible for the integrity of the

records it transfers to the National

Archives. To ensure that permanently

valuable electronic records are

preserved, each Federal agency shall

transfer electronic records to NARA

promptly in accordance with the

agency’s records disposition schedule.

Furthermore, if the agency cannot

provide proper care and handling of the

media (see part 1234 of this chapter), or

if the media are becoming obsolete and

the agency cannot migrate the records to

newer media, the agency shall contact

NARA to arrange for timely transfer of

permanently valuable electronic

records, even when sooner than

provided in the records schedule.

(b) Temporary retention of copy. Each

agency shall retain a second copy of any

permanently valuable electronic records

that it transfers to the National Archives

until it receives official notification

from NARA that the transfer was

successful and that NARA has assumed

responsibility for continuing

preservation of the records.

(c) Transfer media. This paragraph

covers the transfer of permanent records

to the National Archives; it does not

apply to the use or storage of records in

agency custody. See 36 CFR 1234.30 for

the requirements governing the

selection of electronic records storage

media. The agency shall use only media

that is sound and free from defects for

such transfers; the agency shall choose

reasonable steps to meet this

requirement. The media forms that are

approved for transfer are open reel

magnetic tape, magnetic tape cartridge,

and Compact-Disk, Read Only Memory

(CD–ROM), as described in paragraphs

(c) (1) and (2) of this section.

(1) Magnetic tape. Agencies may

transfer electronic records to the

National Archives on magnetic tape

using either open-reel magnetic tape or

tape cartridges. Open-reel magnetic tape

shall be on 1⁄2 inch 9-track tape reels

recorded at 1600 or 6250 bpi that meet

ANSI X3.39–1986, American National

Standard: Recorded Magnetic Tape for

Information Interchange (1600 CPI, PE)

or ANSI X3.54–1986, American

National Standard: Recorded Magnetic

Tape for Information Interchange (6250

CPI, Group Coded Recording),

respectively. Tape cartridges shall be

18-track 3480-class cartridges recorded

at 37,871 bpi that meet ANSI X3.180–

1990, American National Standard:

Magnetic Tape and Cartridge for

Information Interchange—18-Track,

Parallel, 1⁄2 inch (12.65 mm), 37871 cpi

(1491 cpmm), Group-Coded—

Requirements for Recording. The data

shall be blocked at no more than 32,760

bytes per block. The standards cited in

this paragraph are available from the

American National Standards Institute,

(ANSI), Inc., 11 West 42nd Street, New

York, NY 10036. They are also available

for inspection at the Office of the

Federal Register, 800 North Capitol

Street, NW., Suite 700, Washington,

D.C. This incorporation by reference

was approved by the Director of the

Federal Register in accordance with 5

U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. These

materials are incorporated by reference

as they exist on the date of approval and

a notice of any change in these materials

will be published in the Federal

Register.

(2) Compact-Disk, Read Only Memory

(CD–ROM). Agencies may use CD–

ROMs to transfer electronic records

scheduled to be preserved in the

National Archives. The files on such a

CD–ROM must comply with the format

and documentation requirements

specified in paragraphs (d) and (e) of

this section.

(i) CD–ROMs used for this purpose

must conform to ANSI/NISO/ISO 9660–

1990, American National Standard for

Volume and File Structure of CD–ROM

for Information Exchange. The standard

is available from the National

Information Standards Organization

(NISO), P.O. Box 1056, Bethesda, MD or

the American National Standards

Institute, 11 West 42nd Street, 13th

floor, New York NY 10036. It is also

available for inspection at the Office of

the Federal Register, 800 North Capitol

Street, NW., Suite 700, Washington,

D.C. This incorporation by reference

was approved by the Director of the

Federal Register in accordance with 5

U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. These

materials are incorporated by reference

as they exist on the date of approval and

a notice of any change in these materials

will be published in the Federal

Register.

(ii) Permanently valuable electronic

records must be stored in discrete files.

The CD–ROMs transferred may contain

other files, such as software or

temporary records, but all permanently

valuable records must be in files that

contain only permanent records.

Agencies should indicate at the time of

transfer if a CD–ROM contains

temporary records and, if so, where

those records are located on the CD–

ROM. The agency must also specify

whether NARA should return the CD–

ROM to the agency or dispose of it after

copying the permanent records to an

archival medium.

(iii) In some cases, permanently

valuable electronic records that an

agency disseminates on CD–ROM exist

on other media, such as magnetic tape.

In such cases, the agency and NARA

will mutually agree on the most

appropriate medium for transfer of the

records to the National Archives.

(d) Formats. The agency may not

transfer to the National Archives

electronic records that are in a format

dependent on specific hardware and/or

software. The records shall be written in

ASCII or EBCDIC with all control

characters and other non-data characters

removed (except as specified in

paragraphs (d) (1), (2), and (3) of this

section). The records must not be

compressed unless NARA has approved

the transfer in the compressed form in

advance. In such cases, NARA may

require the agency to provide the

software to decompress the records.

(1) Data files and databases. Data files

and databases shall be transferred to the

National Archives as flat files or as

rectangular tables; i.e., as twodimensional arrays, lists, or tables. All

‘‘records’’ (within the context of the

computer program, as opposed to a

Federal record) or ‘‘tuples,’’ i.e., ordered

collections of data items, within a file or

table should have the same logical

format. Each data element within a

record should contain only one data

value. A record should not contain
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 203 / Tuesday, October 21, 1997 / Rules and Regulations 54585

nested repeating groups of data items.

The file should not contain extraneous

control characters, except record length

indicators for variable length records, or

marks delimiting a data element, field,

record, or file. If records or data

elements in different files need to be

linked or combined, then each record

must contain one or more data elements

that constitute primary and/or foreign

keys enabling valid linkages between

the related records in separate files.

(2) Textual documents. Electronic

textual documents shall be transferred

as plain ASCII files; however, such files

may contain Standard Generalized

Markup Language (SGML) tags.

(3) Digital spatial data files. Digital

spatial data files shall be transferred to

NARA in accordance with the Spatial

Data Transfer Standard (SDTS) as

defined in the Federal Information

Processing Standard 173–1 (June 10,

1994) which is incorporated by

reference. Digital geospatial data files

created on systems procured prior to

February 1994 which do not have a

SDTS capability are exempt from this

requirement. Agencies should consult

with NARA for guidance on transferring

noncompliant digital geospatial data

files created between February 1, 1994

and the effective date of this paragraph.

The standard cited in this paragraph is

available from the National Technical

Information Service, Department of

Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161.

When ordering, cite FIPSPUB173–1,

Spacial Data Transfer Standard (SDTS).

This standard is also available for

inspection at the Office of the Federal

Register, 800 North Capitol Street, NW.,

Suite 700, Washington, D.C. This

incorporation by reference was

approved by the Director of the Federal

Register in accordance with 5 U.S.C.

552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. These

materials are incorporated by reference

as they exist on the date of approval and

a notice of any change in these materials

will be published in the Federal

Register.

(4) Other categories of electronic

records. Agencies should identify any

foreseeable problems in the possible

transfer of potentially permanent

electronic records in accordance with

paragraphs (d) (1), (2), and (3) of this

section at the time the records are

scheduled. Special transfer

requirements agreed upon by NARA and

the agency shall be included in the

disposition instructions.

(5) NARA consultation. The agency

shall consult with NARA for guidance

on the transfer of types of electronic

records other than those prescribed in

paragraphs (d) (1), (2), and (3) of this

section.

(e) Documentation. Documentation

adequate to identify, service and

interpret electronic records that have

been designated for preservation by

NARA shall be transferred with the

records. This documentation shall

include completed NARA Form 14097,

Technical Description for Transfer of

Electronic Records, and a completed

NARA Form 14028, Information System

Description Form, or their equivalents.

Where possible, agencies should submit

required documentation in an electronic

form that conforms to the provisions of

this section.

(1) Data files. Documentation for data

files and data bases must include record

layouts, data element definitions, and

code translation tables (codebooks) for

coded data. Data element definitions,

codes used to represent data values and

interpretations of these codes must

match the actual format and codes as

transferred.

(2) Digital spatial data files. Digital

spatial data files shall include the

documentation specified in paragraph

(e)(1) of this section. In addition,

documentation for digital spatial data

files may include metadata that

conforms to the Federal Geographic

Data Committee’s Content Standards for

Digital Geospatial Metadata, as specified

in Executive Order 12906 of April 11,

1994 (3 CFR, 1995 Comp., p. 882).

(3) Documents containing SGML tags.

Documentation for electronic files

containing textual documents with

SGML tags shall include a table for

interpreting the SGML tags, when

appropriate.

PART 1234—ELECTRONIC RECORDS

MANAGEMENT

3. The authority citation for part 1234

continues to read:

Authority: 44 U.S.C. 2904, 3101, and 3105

4. In § 1234.30, paragraph (a)(4) is

revised to read:

§ 1234.30 Selection and maintenance of

electronic records storage media.

(a) * * *

(4) If the media contains permanent

records and does not meet the

requirements for transferring permanent

records to NARA as outlined in

§ 1228.188 of this chapter, permit the

migration of the permanent records at

the time of transfer to a medium which

does meet the requirements.

* * * * *

Dated: October 15, 1997.

John W. Carlin,

Archivist of the United States.

[FR Doc. 97–27822 Filed 10–20–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 7515–01–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[VA079–5020a; FRL–5909–9]

Approval and Promulgation of Air

Quality Implementation Plans;

Virginia—General Conformity Rule

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

SUMMARY: EPA is approving a State

Implementation Plan (SIP) revision

submitted by the Commonwealth of

Virginia. This revision consists of

Virginia’s regulation for General

Conformity which sets forth policy,

criteria, and procedures for

demonstrating and assuring conformity

of non-transportation related federal

projects to all applicable

implementation plans. The intended

effect of this action is to approve

Virginia’s General Conformity Rule as a

SIP revision.

DATES: This action is effective December

22, 1997 unless notice is received on or

before November 20, 1997 that adverse

or critical comments will be submitted.

If the effective date is delayed, timely

notice will be published in the Federal

Register.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to

David L. Arnold, Chief, Ozone/CO &

Mobile Sources Section, Mailcode

3AT21, U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, Region III, 841 Chestnut

Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

19107. Copies of the documents relevant

to this action are available for public

inspection during normal business

hours at the Air, Radiation, and Toxics

Division, U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, Region III, 841 Chestnut

Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

19107; the Air and Radiation Docket

and Information Center, Environmental

Protection Agency, 401 M. Street, S.W.,

Washington, D.C. 20460; and the

Virginia Department of Environmental

Quality, 629 East Main Street,

Richmond, Virginia 23219.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rose

Quinto, (215) 566–2182, at the EPA

Region III office or via e-mail at

quinto.rose@epamail.epa.gov. While

information may be requested via email, comments must be submitted in

writing to the above Region III address.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On

January 27, 1997, the Virginia

Department of Environmental Quality

(DEQ) submitted a formal revision to its

State Implementation Plan (SIP) to EPA

for the purpose of meeting the