Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 51 / Thursday, March 15, 2012 / Proposed Rules 15319 

deployment of Intelligent 

Transportation Systems and 

components; installation and 

improvement of safety and 

communications equipment, including 

hazard elimination and mitigation; and 

retrofitting existing transportation 

vehicles, facilities or structures. 

(6) Acquisition or transfer of an 

interest in real property that is not 

within or adjacent to recognized 

environmentally sensitive areas (e.g., 

wetlands, non-urban parks, wildlife 

management areas) and does not result 

in a substantial change in the functional 

use of the property or in substantial 

displacements, such as scenic 

easements and historic sites for the 

purpose of preserving the site. This CE 

extends only to acquisitions that will 

not limit the evaluation of alternatives. 

(7) Acquisition, rehabilitation and 

maintenance of vehicles or equipment, 

within or accommodated by existing 

facilities, that does not result in a 

change in functional use of the facilities, 

such as equipment to be located within 

existing facilities and with no 

substantial off-site impacts; and 

vehicles, including buses, rail cars, 

trolley cars, ferry boats and people 

movers that can be accommodated by 

existing facilities or by new facilities 

that qualify for categorical exclusion. 

(8) Maintenance and minimally 

intrusive rehabilitation and 

reconstruction of facilities that occupy 

substantially the same environmental 

footprint and do not result in a change 

in functional use, such as improvements 

to bridges, tunnels, storage yards, 

buildings, and terminals; and 

construction of platform extensions and 

passing track. 

(9) Assembly or construction of 

facilities that is consistent with existing 

land use and zoning requirements 

(including floodplain regulations), is 

minimally intrusive, and requires no 

special permits, permissions, and uses a 

minimal amount of undisturbed land, 

such as buildings and associated 

structures; bus transfers, busways and 

streetcar lines within existing 

transportation right-of-way; and parking 

facilities. 

(10) Development activities for transit 

and non-transit purposes, located on, 

above, or adjacent to existing transit 

facilities, that are not part of a larger 

transportation project and do not 

substantially enlarge such facilities, 

such as police facilities, daycare 

facilities, public service facilities, and 

amenities. 

(d) Additional actions which meet the 

criteria for a CE in the CEQ regulations 

(40 CFR 1508.4) and paragraph (a) of 

this section may be designated as CEs 

only after FTA approval. The applicant 

shall submit documentation which 

demonstrates that the specific 

conditions or criteria for these CEs are 

satisfied and that significant 

environmental effects will not result. 

Examples of such actions include but 

are not limited to: 

(1) Modernization of a highway by 

resurfacing, restoration, rehabilitation, 

reconstruction, adding shoulders, or 

adding auxiliary lanes (e.g., parking, 

weaving, turning, climbing). 

(2) Bridge rehabilitation, 

reconstruction or replacement or the 

construction of grade separation to 

replace existing at-grade railroad 

crossings. 

(3) Acquisition of land for hardship or 

protective purposes. Hardship and 

protective buying will be permitted only 

for a particular parcel or a limited 

number of parcels. These types of land 

acquisition qualify for a CE only where 

the acquisition will not limit the 

evaluation of alternatives, including 

shifts in alignment for planned 

construction projects, which may be 

required in the NEPA process. No 

project development on such land may 

proceed until the NEPA process has 

been completed. 

(i) Hardship acquisition is early 

acquisition of property by the applicant 

at the property owner’s request to 

alleviate particular hardship to the 

owner, in contrast to others, because of 

an inability to sell his property. This is 

justified when the property owner can 

document on the basis of health, safety 

or financial reasons that remaining in 

the property poses an undue hardship 

compared to others. 

(ii) Protective acquisition is done to 

prevent imminent development of a 

parcel which may be needed for a 

proposed transportation corridor or site. 

Documentation must clearly 

demonstrate that development of the 

land would preclude future 

transportation use and that such 

development is imminent. Advance 

acquisition is not permitted for the sole 

purpose of reducing the cost of property 

for a proposed project. 

(4) Acquisition of pre-existing railroad 

right-of-way pursuant to 49 U.S.C. 

5324(c). No project development on the 

acquired railroad right-of-way may 

proceed until the NEPA process for such 

project development, including the 

consideration of alternatives, has been 

completed. 

(e) Where a pattern emerges of 

granting CE status for a particular type 

of action, the Administration will 

initiate rulemaking proposing to add 

this type of action to the appropriate list 

of categorical exclusions in this section. 

9. Amend § 771.119 by adding a new 

paragraph (k) to read as follows: 

§ 771.119 Environmental assessments. 

* * * * * 

(k) For FTA actions: If the applicant 

selects a contractor to prepare the EA, 

the contractor’s final scope of work for 

the preparation of the EA will not be 

determined until the informal scoping 

process is completed, and the scope of 

study has been approved by FTA in 

consultation with the applicant. 

10. Amend § 771.123 by deleting 

paragraph (j) and by adding the 

following sentence at the end of 

paragraph (d) to read as follows: 

§ 771.123 Draft environmental impact 

statements. 

* * * * * 

(d) * * *. For FTA actions, the 

contractor’s final scope of work for the 

preparation of the EIS will not be 

determined until scoping has been 

completed, and the scope of study has 

been approved by FTA in consultation 

with the applicant. 

§ 771.133 [Amended] 

11. Amend § 771.133 in its final 

sentence by replacing the word 

‘‘Administration’s’’ with the word 

‘‘FHWA’s’’ and by adding the following 

text at the end of the paragraph: ‘‘FTA’s 

approval of an environmental document 

constitutes its finding of compliance 

with the requirements of 49 U.S.C. 

5323(b) and 49 U.S.C. 5324(b).’’ 

Issued on: March 7, 2012. 

Peter Rogoff, 

Administrator, Federal Transit 

Administration. 

Victor M. Mendez, 

Administrator, Federal Highway 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2012–6327 Filed 3–14–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Internal Revenue Service 

26 CFR Part 1 

[REG–130777–11] 

RIN 1545–BK45 

Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities 

Issued at a Premium; Hearing 

Cancellation 

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 

Treasury. 

ACTION: Cancellation of notice of public 

hearing on proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: This document cancels a 

public hearing on proposed regulations 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS-1
15320 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 51 / Thursday, March 15, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

(REG–130777–11), providing guidance 

on the tax treatment of Treasury 

Inflation-Protected Securities issued 

with more than a de minimis amount of 

premium. 

DATES: The public hearing originally 

scheduled for March 28, 2012 at 10 a.m., 

is cancelled. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Funmi Taylor of the Publications and 

Regulations Branch, Legal Processing 

Division, Associate Chief Counsel 

(Procedure and Administration), at (202) 

622–7180 (not a toll-free number). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A notice 

of proposed rulemaking by crossreference to temporary regulations and 

notice of public hearing that appeared 

in the Federal Register on Monday, 

December 5, 2011 (76 FR 75829), 

announced that a public hearing was 

scheduled for March 28, 2012, at 10 

a.m., in the IRS Auditorium, Internal 

Revenue Service Building, 1111 

Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, 

DC. The subject of the public hearing is 

under section 1275 of the Internal 

Revenue Code. 

The public comment period for these 

regulations expired on March 7, 2012. 

The notice of proposed rulemaking by 

cross-reference to temporary regulations 

and notice of public hearing, instructed 

those interested in testifying at the 

public hearing to submit a request to 

speak and an outline of the topics to be 

addressed. As of Monday, March 12, 

2012, no one has requested to speak. 

Therefore, the public hearing scheduled 

for March 28, 2012, is cancelled. 

LaNita Van Dyke, 

Chief, Publications and Regulations Branch, 

Legal Processing Division, Associate Chief 

Counsel (Procedures and Administration). 

[FR Doc. 2012–6212 Filed 3–14–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4830–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

SECURITY 

Coast Guard 

33 CFR Part 100 

[Docket No. USCG–2012–0109] 

RIN 1625–AA08 

Special Local Regulations for Marine 

Events; Temporary Change of Dates 

for Recurring Marine Events in the 

Fifth Coast Guard District, Bogue 

Sound; Morehead City, NC 

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard proposes to 

temporarily change the enforcement 

period of a special local regulation for 

a recurring marine event in the Fifth 

Coast Guard District. This change 

applies only to the ‘‘Crystal Coast Super 

Boat Grand Prix’’ conducted on the 

waters of Bogue Sound near Morehead 

City, North Carolina. This Special Local 

Regulation is necessary to provide for 

the safety of life on navigable waters 

during the event, which has been 

rescheduled from the fourth or last 

Sunday in September to the third 

Saturday and Sunday in September. 

This regulation would close a portion of 

the waters of Bogue Sound to vessel 

traffic during the boat race. 

DATES: Comments and related material 

must be received by the Coast Guard on 

or before April 16, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

identified by docket number USCG– 

2012–0109 using any one of the 

following methods: 

(1) Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

http://www.regulations.gov. 

(2) Fax: 202–493–2251. 

(3) Mail: Docket Management Facility 

(M–30), U.S. Department of 

Transportation, West Building Ground 

Floor, Room W12–140, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590– 

0001. 

(4) Hand delivery: Same as mail 

address above, between 9 a.m. and 

5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal holidays. The telephone number 

is 202–366–9329. 

To avoid duplication, please use only 

one of these four methods. See the 

‘‘Public Participation and Request for 

Comments’’ portion of the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 

below for instructions on submitting 

comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If 

you have questions on this proposed 

rule, call or email BOSN3 Joseph M. 

Edge, Coast Guard Sector North 

Carolina, Coast Guard; telephone 252– 

247–4525, email 

Joseph.M.Edge@uscg.mil. If you have 

questions on viewing or submitting 

material to the docket, call Renee V. 

Wright, Program Manager, Docket 

Operations, telephone 202–366–9826. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Public Participation and Request for 

Comments 

We encourage you to participate in 

this rulemaking by submitting 

comments and related materials. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change to http:// 

www.regulations.gov and will include 

any personal information you have 

provided. 

Submitting Comments 

If you submit a comment, please 

include the docket number for this 

rulemaking (USCG–2012–0109), 

indicate the specific section of this 

document to which each comment 

applies, and provide a reason for each 

suggestion or recommendation. You 

may submit your comments and 

material online (via http:// 

www.regulations.gov) or by fax, mail, or 

hand delivery, but please use only one 

of these means. If you submit a 

comment online via 

www.regulations.gov, it will be 

considered received by the Coast Guard 

when you successfully transmit the 

comment. If you fax, hand deliver, or 

mail your comment, it will be 

considered as having been received by 

the Coast Guard when it is received at 

the Docket Management Facility. We 

recommend that you include your name 

and a mailing address, an email address, 

or a telephone number in the body of 

your document so that we can contact 

you if we have questions regarding your 

submission. 

To submit your comment online, go to 

http://www.regulations.gov, click on the 

‘‘submit a comment’’ box, which will 

then become highlighted in blue. In the 

‘‘Document Type’’ drop down menu 

select ‘‘Proposed Rule’’ and insert 

‘‘USCG–2012–0109’’ in the ‘‘Keyword’’ 

box. Click ‘‘Search’’ then click on the 

balloon shape in the ‘‘Actions’’ column. 

If you submit your comments by mail or 

hand delivery, submit them in an 

unbound format, no larger than 81⁄2 by 

11 inches, suitable for copying and 

electronic filing. If you submit 

comments by mail and would like to 

know that they reached the Facility, 

please enclose a stamped, self-addressed 

postcard or envelope. We will consider 

all comments and material received 

during the comment period and may 

change the rule based on your 

comments. 

Viewing Comments and Documents 

To view comments, as well as 

documents mentioned in this preamble 

as being available in the docket, go to 

http://www.regulations.gov, click on the 

‘‘read comments’’ box, which will then 

become highlighted in blue. In the 

‘‘Keyword’’ box insert ‘‘USCG–2012– 

0109’’ and click ‘‘Search.’’ Click the 

‘‘Open Docket Folder’’ in the ‘‘Actions’’ 

column. You may also visit the Docket 

Management Facility in Room W12–140 

on the ground floor of the Department 

of Transportation West Building, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, 

DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 


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