39988 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 156 / Monday, August 13, 2018 / Notices 

1Notice of Availability of a Final Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement for the East 

Region of the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband 

Network, 82 FR 49785 (Oct. 27, 2017); See also 

Notice of Availability of a Final Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement for the South 

Region of the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband 

Network, 82 FR 45806 (Oct. 5, 2017); See also 

Notice of Availability of a Final Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement for the Central 

Region of the Nationwide Public Safety Broadband 

Network, 82 FR 41594 (Sept. 1, 2017); Notice of 

Availability of a Final Programmatic Environmental 

Impact Statement for the West Region of the 

Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network, 82 

FR 33870 (July 21, 2017); Notice of Availability of 

a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact 

Statement for the Non-Contiguous Region of the 

Nationwide Public Safety Broadband Network, 82 

FR 29825 (June 30, 2017). 

2Revised National Environmental Policy Act 

Procedures and Categorical Exclusions, 82 FR 

28621 (June 23, 2017) (proposing and seeking 

public comment on revised FirstNet Authority 

Procedures for Implementing NEPA). 

3Notice of Intent To Prepare a Supplemental 

Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement and 

Conduct Scoping for the Nationwide Public Safety 

Broadband Network, 82 FR 44556 (Sept. 25, 2017). 

4FirstNet Authority, Final Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statement and Record of 

Decisions for West Region, Central Region, South 

Region, East Region, and Non-Contiguous Region, 

https://website.azurewebsites.us/network/peiscontent (discussing the intent to prepare a SPEIS in 

section 3.4.1—Tiered Site Specific Analysis of each 

ROD). 

5Revised National Environmental Policy Act 

Procedures and Categorical Exclusions, 83 FR 4632 

(Feb. 1, 2018) (responding to comments and 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XG406 

Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management 

Council (MAFMC); Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council’s Surfclam and 

Ocean Quahog Advisory Panel will hold 

a public meeting. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Wednesday, September 5, 2018, from 10 

a.m. until 4 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Embassy Suites by Hilton— 

Philadelphia Airport, 9000 Bartram 

Ave., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 

telephone: (215) 365–4500. 

Council address: Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council, 800 N State 

Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901; 

telephone: (302) 674–2331; 

www.mafmc.org. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christopher M. Moore, Ph.D., Executive 

Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council, telephone: (302) 

526–5255. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The MidAtlantic Fishery Management Council’s 

(MAFMC’s) Surfclam and Ocean 

Quahog Advisory Panel will meet to 

provide feedback on the Public Hearing 

Document for the Surfclam and Ocean 

Quahog Excessive Shares Amendment. 

An agenda and background documents 

will be posted at the Council’s website 

(www.mafmc.org) prior to the meeting. 

The meeting is physically accessible to 

people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aid should be directed to M. 

Jan Saunders, (302) 526–5251, at least 5 

days prior to the meeting date. 

Dated: August 8, 2018. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–17326 Filed 8–10–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Telecommunications and 

Information Administration 

First Responder Network Authority 

[Docket Number 131219999–8730–04] 

RIN 0660–XC009 

Withdrawal of Notice of Intent To 

Prepare Supplemental Environmental 

Impact Statements and Amendment of 

Record of Decisions for Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statements 

AGENCY: First Responder Network 

Authority, National 

Telecommunications and Information 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of intent; withdrawal. 

SUMMARY: The First Responder Network 

Authority (FirstNet Authority) is (1) 

withdrawing its Notice of Intent to 

Prepare Supplemental Programmatic 

Environmental Impact Statements 

(SPEISs) and Conduct Scoping for the 

Nationwide Public Safety Broadband 

Network (NPSBN), and (2) amending 

five (5) records of decision to remove 

the references to the FirstNet 

Authority’s intent to prepare the SPEISs. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eli 

Veenendaal, First Responder Network 

Authority, National 

Telecommunications and Information 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Commerce, 3122 Sterling Circle, Suite 

100, Boulder, CO 80301 or 

elijah.veenendaal@firstnet.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job 

Creation Act of 2012 (47 U.S.C. 1401 et 

seq.) created and authorized the FirstNet 

Authority to take all actions necessary 

to ensure the building, deployment, and 

operation of an interoperable NPSBN. 

As part of NPSBN deployment, the 

FirstNet Authority is required to comply 

with the National Environmental Policy 

Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) 

(NEPA) and the implementing 

regulations issued by the Council on 

Environmental Quality (40 CFR parts 

1500–1508) (CEQ Regulations) to assess 

the environmental effects of its 

proposed actions prior to making a final 

decision and implementing the action. 

To support NEPA compliance, the 

FirstNet Authority prepared and 

finalized five regional programmatic 

environmental impact statements 

(PEISs) that analyze the potential 

environmental impacts of the 

deployment and operation of the 

NPSBN at a programmatic level.1

However, prior to completing the PEISs 

and issuing corresponding records of 

decision (RODs), the FirstNet Authority 

was still in the process of revising the 

FirstNet Authority Procedures for 

Implementing the National 

Environmental Policy Act (FirstNet 

Authority NEPA Procedures) and 

identified a potential need to account 

for these changes in the PEISs and 

RODs.2

Consequently, on September 25, 2017, 

the FirstNet Authority published a 

notice of intent (NOI) in the Federal 

Register to prepare SPEISs to address 

the potential impact of the FirstNet 

Authority NEPA Procedures as well as 

the process the FirstNet Authority 

would follow to assess potential 

environmental impacts of the NPSBN 

deployment at the site specific-level.3

Similarly, the FirstNet Authority also 

included comparable language relating 

to its intent to prepare SPEISs in each 

of the RODS.4

Subsequently, on February 1, 2018, 

following the issuance of the NOI and 

RODs for each region, the FirstNet 

Authority completed the regulatory 

process for and published in the Federal 

Register a notice responding to 

comments and finalizing its proposed 

modifications to the FirstNet Authority 

NEPA Procedures.5 The revised FirstNet 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 156 / Monday, August 13, 2018 / Notices 39989 

finalizing revisions to FirstNet Authority 

Procedures for Implementing NEPA). 

6FirstNet Procedures for Implementing the 

National Environmental Policy Act (January 2018), 

https://www.firstnet.gov/content/notice-revisednational-environmental-policy-act-procedures-andcategorical-exclusions. 

7See id. 

8The amended RODs for each of five regions are 

available at www.firstnet.gov. 

Authority NEPA Procedures describe 

the process and review criteria the 

FirstNet Authority will follow to 

comply with NEPA and CEQ 

Regulations for proposed actions related 

to NPSBN deployment.6 In particular, 

the FirstNet Authority NEPA Procedures 

define the roles and responsibilities of 

the FirstNet Authority and its applicants 

and describe the criteria and process for 

determining the appropriate level of 

NEPA review and making 

environmental determinations and final 

decisions for site-specific reviews of 

FirstNet Authority actions related to the 

NPSBN.7

Accordingly, the FirstNet Authority 

has reviewed and determined that the 

revisions to the FirstNet Authority 

NEPA Procedures do not significantly 

impact any of the environmental 

analyses in the PEISs and that the 

information anticipated to be presented 

in the SPEISs related to the process for 

conducting site-specific reviews has 

already been sufficiently included in the 

revised FirstNet Authority 

Implementing Procedures. Thus, to 

avoid duplicative analysis and the 

unnecessary use of resources, the 

FirstNet Authority is (1) withdrawing its 

Notice of Intent to Prepare SPEISs and 

Conduct Scoping for the NPSBN, and (2) 

amending five (5) records of decision to 

remove the references to the FirstNet 

Authority’s intent to prepare SPEISs, 

including section 3.4.1—Tiered Site 

Specific Analysis, in each of the 

documents.8

Dated: August 7, 2018. 

Elijah Veenendaal, 

Attorney-Advisor, First Responder Network 

Authority. 

[FR Doc. 2018–17225 Filed 8–10–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–TL–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

Patent and Trademark Office 

[Docket No.: PTO–P–2018–0050] 

Office Patent Trial Practice Guide, 

August 2018 Update 

AGENCY: United States Patent and 

Trademark Office, Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The United States Patent and 

Trademark Office (‘‘Office’’) issued an 

update to the Office Patent Trial 

Practice Guide (‘‘TPG’’) in August 2018 

to provide updated guidance to the 

public on standard practices before the 

Patent Trial and Appeal Board 

(‘‘Board’’) in the post-grant trial 

procedures implemented following the 

Leahy-Smith America Invents Act 

(‘‘AIA’’). The Office publishes the TPG 

to provide practitioners with guidance 

on typical procedures and times for 

taking action in AIA trials, as well as to 

ensure consistency of procedure among 

panels of the Board. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Tierney and William Fink, Vice 

Chief Administrative Patent Judges, by 

telephone at (571) 272–9797. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Office 

issued an update to the TPG in August 

2018, to update the guidance set forth in 

the TPG by incorporating the Board’s 

current practices and provide further 

explanation of certain aspects of the 

Board’s practices to the public. The TPG 

is divided into sections, each directed to 

a particular stage of a typical AIA trial 

proceeding or a specific issue 

commonly encountered during such 

proceedings. As such, the TPG contains 

informative material and outlines the 

current procedures that panels of the 

Board typically follow in appropriate 

cases in the normal course of an AIA 

trial proceeding. In order to expedite 

these updates and provide guidance to 

the public as quickly as possible, the 

Office has chosen to issue updates to the 

Practice Guide on a section-by-section, 

rolling basis, rather than a single, 

omnibus update addressing all aspects 

of the current Practice Guide. The Office 

anticipates releasing further revisions to 

the remaining sections of the TPG on a 

periodic basis, to take into account 

feedback received from stakeholders, 

changes in controlling precedent or 

applicable regulations, or the further 

refinement of the Board’s practices over 

time. 

The August 2018 update revises 

Sections I.G. (Expert Testimony), II.A.3. 

(Word Count and Page Limits), II.D.2. 

(Considerations in Instituting a Review), 

II.I. (Reply to Patent Owner Response 

and Reply for a Motion to Amend; SurReplies), II.K. (Challenging 

Admissibility; Motions to Exclude; 

Motions to Strike), II.M. (Oral Hearing), 

and Appendix A (Sample Scheduling 

Order). 

The August 2018 update of the TPG, 

containing only the revised sections, 

may be viewed or downloaded free of 

charge from the USPTO website at 

https://go.usa.gov/xU7GP. The full 

version of the August 2012 TPG 

continues to be available for reference 

on the USPTO website at https://

go.usa.gov/xU7GK. 

Dated: August 8, 2018. 

Andrei Iancu, 

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 

Property and Director of the United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2018–17315 Filed 8–10–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING 

COMMISSION 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Notice of Intent To Extend 

Collection 3038–0101, Registration of 

Foreign Boards of Trade 

AGENCY: Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Commodity Futures 

Trading Commission (CFTC) is 

announcing an opportunity for public 

comment on the proposed renewal of a 

collection of certain information by the 

agency. Under the Paperwork Reduction 

Act (PRA), Federal agencies are required 

to publish notice in the Federal Register 

concerning each proposed collection of 

information, including proposed 

extension of an existing collection of 

information, and to allow 60 days for 

public comment. This notice solicits 

comments on collections of information 

provided for by Commission regulation 

Part 48, Registration of Foreign Boards 

of Trade. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before October 12, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by ‘‘FBOT Registration’’ or 

‘‘OMB Control No. 3038–0101’’ by any 

of the following methods: 

• The Agency’s website, at http://

comments.cftc.gov/. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments 

through the website. 

• Mail: Christopher Kirkpatrick, 

Secretary of the Commission, 

Commodity Futures Trading 

Commission, Three Lafayette Centre, 

1155 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC 

20581. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: Same as 

Mail above. 

Please submit your comments using 

only one method. All comments must be 

submitted in English, or if not, 

accompanied by an English translation. 

Comments will be posted as received to 

http://www.cftc.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Duane C. Andresen, Associate Director, 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES