18796 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 67 / Wednesday, April 8, 2015 / Proposed Rules 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

49 CFR Part 611 

[Docket No. FTA–2015–0007] 

RIN 2132–ZA03 

Notice of Availability of Proposed 

Interim Policy Guidance for the Capital 

Investment Grant Program 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration 

(FTA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of availability of 

proposed interim policy guidance; 

request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA) invites public 

comment on interim policy guidance 

the agency is proposing for the Capital 

Investment Grant (CIG) program. The 

proposed interim guidance has been 

placed in the docket and posted on the 

FTA Web site. If adopted, this proposed 

interim policy guidance will 

complement FTA’s regulations that 

govern the CIG program by providing a 

deeper level of detail about the methods 

for applying the project justification and 

local financial commitment criteria for 

rating and evaluating New Starts, Small 

Starts, and Core Capacity Improvement 

projects, and the procedures for getting 

through the steps in the process 

required by law. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before May 8, 2015. Any comments 

received beyond this deadline will be 

considered to the extent practicable. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

to DOT docket number FTA–2015–0007 

by any of the following methods: 

Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and follow 

the online instructions for submitting 

comments. 

U.S. Mail: Docket Management 

Facility, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE., West Building, Room W12– 

140, Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. 

Fax: 202–493–2251. 

Instructions: You must include the 

agency name (Federal Transit 

Administration) and docket number 

(FTA–2015–0007) for this notice at the 

beginning of your comments. You must 

submit two copies of your comments if 

you submit them by mail. If you wish 

to receive confirmation FTA received 

your comments, you must include a 

self-addressed, stamped postcard. Due 

to security procedures in effect since 

October 2001, mail received through the 

U.S. Postal Service may be subject to 

delays. Parties submitting comments 

may wish to consider using an express 

mail firm to ensure prompt filing of any 

submissions not filed electronically or 

by hand. 

All comments received will be posted, 

without charge and including any 

personal information provided, to 

http://www.regulations.gov, where they 

will be available to internet users. You 

may review DOT’s complete Privacy Act 

Statement published in the Federal 

Register on April 11, 2000, at 65 FR 

19477. For access to the docket and to 

read background documents and 

comments received, go to http://

regulations.gov at any time or to the U.S. 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE., Docket 

Management Facility, West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Elizabeth Day, FTA Office of Planning 

and Environment, telephone (202) 366– 

5159 or Elizabeth.Day@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant 

to 49 U.S.C. 5309(g)(5), FTA is obliged 

to publish policy guidance on the 

review and evaluation process and 

criteria for projects eligible for Federal 

funding under the CIG program each 

time the agency makes significant 

changes to the process and criteria, and 

in any event, at least once every two 

years. Also, FTA is obliged to invite 

public comment on the guidance, and to 

publish its response to comments. In 

brief, the policy guidance that FTA 

periodically issues for the discretionary 

Capital Investment Grant (‘‘CIG’’) 

program complements the FTA 

regulations that govern the CIG program, 

codified at 49 CFR part 611. The 

regulations set forth the process that 

grant applicants must follow to be 

considered eligible for discretionary 

funding under the CIG program, and the 

procedures and criteria FTA uses to rate 

and evaluate the projects eligible for 

that discretionary funding. The policy 

guidance provides a greater level of 

detail about the methods FTA uses to 

apply the criteria for both project 

justification and local financial 

commitment, and the sequential steps a 

sponsor must follow in developing a 

project. 

The interim policy guidance FTA is 

proposing today is available in its 

entirety on the agency’s public Web site 

at http://www.fta.dot.gov, and in the 

docket at http://www.regulations.gov. It 

is approximately 100 typewritten pages 

in length, arranged in three stand-alone 

chapters for each of the three types of 

projects eligible for CIG funds: New 

Starts, Small Starts, and Core Capacity 

Improvements. Each chapter provides a 

short introduction, a discussion of 

eligibility for that type of project, a 

summary of the requirements for entry 

into and getting through each step of the 

CIG process, information on each of the 

project evaluation criteria, and an 

explanation of how FTA will determine 

the overall rating for a project. Each type 

of project in the CIG program—a New 

Start, Small Start, or Core Capacity 

Improvement—is governed by a unique 

set of requirements, although there are 

many similarities amongst the three sets 

of requirements. 

Most importantly, the guidance 

proposed today addresses four subjects 

not addressed in either the regulations 

or previous policy guidance for the CIG 

program. These are, specifically: (1) The 

measures and breakpoints for the 

congestion relief criterion applicable to 

New Starts and Small Starts projects; (2) 

the evaluation and rating process for 

Core Capacity Improvement projects, 

including the measures and breakpoints 

for all the project justification and local 

financial commitment criteria 

applicable to those projects; (3) the 

prerequisites for entry into each phase 

of the CIG process for each type of 

project in the CIG program, and the 

requirements for completing each phase 

of that process; and (4) ways in which 

certain New Starts, Small Starts, and 

Core Capacity Improvement projects can 

qualify for ‘‘warrants’’ entitling them to 

automatic ratings on some of the 

evaluation criteria. Readers should 

please direct their comments to these 

four subjects. All the other material in 

this guidance document has been 

developed through public notice-andcomment for the regulations at 49 CFR 

part 611 or the previous policy guidance 

for the CIG program. The newly 

proposed requirements are clearly 

identified in the text of each chapter, 

and in an accompanying table, for easy 

reference. 

This proposed policy guidance is 

characterized as ‘‘interim’’ in that, in the 

near future, FTA will initiate a 

rulemaking to amend the regulations at 

49 CFR part 611 to fully carry out the 

authorization statute for the CIG 

program, 49 U.S.C. 5309, as amended by 

the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 

21st Century Act (Pub. L. 112–141; July 

6, 2012) (‘‘MAP–21’’). The information 

gained through the public comment 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 67 / Wednesday, April 8, 2015 / Proposed Rules 18797 

process on this proposed interim policy 

guidance will inform the future 

rulemaking. After reviewing and 

responding to the comments received on 

this proposed guidance, FTA will issue 

a final iteration of the interim guidance, 

and then initiate the rulemaking. 

Therese W. McMillan, 

Acting Federal Transit Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2015–08063 Filed 4–7–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

[Docket No. 140611492–5308–01] 

RIN 0648–BE30 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; SnapperGrouper Fishery Off the Southern 

Atlantic States; Regulatory 

Amendment 20 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes regulations to 

implement Regulatory Amendment 20 

to the Fishery Management Plan for the 

Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South 

Atlantic Region (FMP) (Regulatory 

Amendment 20), as prepared and 

submitted by the South Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council (Council). If 

implemented, this proposed rule would 

revise the snowy grouper annual catch 

limits (ACLs), commercial trip limit, 

and recreational fishing season. The 

purpose of this rule is to help achieve 

optimum yield (OY) and prevent 

overfishing of snowy grouper while 

enhancing socio-economic 

opportunities within the snappergrouper fishery in accordance with the 

requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act). 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before May 8, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on the proposed rule, identified by 

‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2015–0003’’ by either 

of the following methods: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

www.regulations.gov/

#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2015- 

0003, click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments. 

• Mail: Submit written comments to 

Nikhil Mehta, Southeast Regional 

Office, NMFS, 263 13th Avenue South, 

St. Petersburg, FL 33701. 

Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method, to any other address or 

individual, or received after the end of 

the comment period, may not be 

considered by NMFS. All comments 

received are a part of the public record 

and will generally be posted for public 

viewing on www.regulations.gov 

without change. All personal identifying 

information (e.g., name, address, etc.), 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive information 

submitted voluntarily by the sender will 

be publicly accessible. NMFS will 

accept anonymous comments (enter ‘‘N/ 

A’’ in the required fields if you wish to 

remain anonymous). 

Electronic copies of the regulatory 

amendment, which includes an 

environmental assessment and an initial 

regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA), 

may be obtained from the Southeast 

Regional Office Web site at http://

sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_

fisheries/s_atl/sg/2015/reg_am20/

index.html. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Nikhil Mehta, telephone: 727–824– 

5305, or email: nikhil.mehta@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Snowy 

grouper is in the snapper-grouper 

fishery of the South Atlantic and is 

managed under the FMP. The FMP was 

prepared by the Council and is 

implemented through regulations at 50 

CFR part 622 under the authority of the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act. 

Background 

The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires 

NMFS and regional fishery management 

councils to achieve on a continuing 

basis the OY from federally-managed 

fish stocks. This mandate is intended to 

ensure that fishery resources are 

managed for the greatest overall benefit 

to the nation, particularly with respect 

to providing food production and 

recreational opportunities, and 

protecting marine ecosystems. 

Management Measures Contained in 

This Proposed Rule 

This proposed rule would revise the 

snowy grouper ACLs for both the 

commercial and recreational sectors, 

revise the commercial trip limits, and 

revise the recreational fishing season. 

All weights described in the preamble of 

this proposed rule are in gutted weight. 

Snowy Grouper Commercial and 

Recreational ACLs 

In 2013, a standard stock assessment 

for snowy grouper was conducted using 

the Southeast Data, Assessment, and 

Review (SEDAR) process (SEDAR 36). 

SEDAR 36 indicates the snowy grouper 

stock is no longer undergoing 

overfishing, remains overfished, and is 

rebuilding. 

Snowy grouper is in a rebuilding plan 

and catch levels are currently being held 

constant as the stock rebuilds. While the 

amendment states that it is changing the 

rebuilding strategy, the effect of the 

action is to adopt the acceptable 

biological catch (ABC) chosen by the 

Council as recommended by the 

Council’s Scientific and Statistical 

Committee (SSC) based upon the stock 

assessment. The Council’s SSC 

recommended an ABC equal to the yield 

at 75 percent of the fishing mortality at 

maximum sustainable yield (FMSY), 

which would allow ABC to increase as 

the stock rebuilds. 

The current ABC is 87,254 lb (39,578 

kg), which equals the total allowable 

catch specified by the rebuilding 

strategy in Amendment 15A to the FMP. 

As described in Regulatory Amendment 

20, the ABC would increase to 139,098 

lb (63,094 kg) in 2015; 151,518 lb 

(68,727 kg) in 2016; 163,109 lb (73,985 

kg) in 2017; 173,873 lb (78,867 kg) in 

2018; and 185,464 lb (84,125 kg) in 2019 

and subsequent fishing years. 

SEDAR 36 updated the historical 

landings data for snowy grouper from 

the Marine Recreational Fisheries 

Statistical Survey (MRFSS) to the 

Marine Recreational Information 

Program (MRIP). Additionally, 

recreational landings from Monroe 

County, Florida, which encompasses the 

islands of the Florida Keys, were 

included in the SEDAR 36 stock 

assessment. The recreational landings 

data from Monroe County were not 

included in the first stock assessment 

conducted for snowy grouper in 2004 

(SEDAR 4) because it was not possible 

at that time to separate out the data from 

Monroe County from the landings data 

for the rest of the west coast of Florida. 

However, in 2013, a method was 

developed for extracting and separating 

the recreational landings from Monroe 

County from the rest of the west coast 

of Florida and therefore, the Monroe 

County recreational data were included 

in SEDAR 36. When applying the 

existing allocation formula for snowy 

grouper to the change in landings from 

the SEDAR 36 assessment, a shift results 

in the sector ACLs from 95 percent 

commercial and 5 percent recreational 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS