Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 133 / Monday, July 13, 1998 /Rules and Regulations 37499

Dated: June 30, 1998.

Nancy-Ann Min DeParle,

Administrator, Health Care Financing

Administration.

Dated: July 9, 1998.

Donna E. Shalala,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–18746 Filed 7–10–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4120–01–P

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS

COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 0 and 63

[FCC 98–127 ]

Notification of Common Carriers of

Service Disruptions

AGENCY: Federal Communications

Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This Order amends the

Commission’s rules that require carriers

to send final reports of certain telephone

network service outages to the Chief of

the Common Carrier Bureau. This order

amends the rules so that carriers

required to provide the Commission

with final reports of those outages will

be directed to send them to the Chief of

the Office of Engineering and

Technology instead of the Chief of the

Common Carrier Bureau.

EFFECTIVE DATE: July 13, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Robert Kimball, Office of Engineering

and Technology, (202) 418–2339.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a

summary of the Commission’s Order,

FCC 98–127, adopted June 19, 1998, and

released June 25, 1998. The full text of

this Commission decision is available

for inspection and copying during

normal business hours in the FCC

Reference Center (Room 239), 1919 M

Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., and also

may be purchased from the

Commission’s duplication contractor,

International Transcription Service,

(202) 857–3800, 1231 20th Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20036.

Summary of Order

The Commission’s rules require

wireline common carriers to send final

reports of certain telephone network

service outages to the Chief of the

Common Carrier Bureau. The Order

summarized here amends the rule so

that carriers required to provide the

Commission with final reports of those

outages will be directed to send them to

the Chief of the Office of Engineering

and Technology instead.

Since February 18, 1996, the Office of

Engineering and Technology has

coordinated the meetings and other

activities of the Network Reliability

Council, now called the Network

Reliability and Interoperability Council.

Previously this coordinating function

was carried out by the Common Carrier

Bureau. The receipt and tabulation of

outage reports, however, continues to be

carried out by the staff of the Common

Carrier Bureau. Since these outage

reports are relied upon by the Council

in the conduct of its research and since

tabulation and any analysis that may be

required is best conducted by those

most familiar with the best practice

recommendations of the Council, the

Council coordination function and the

receipt and tabulation function should

be consolidated in the same office.

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

The Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5

U.S.C. 601, et seq., does not apply to

this proceeding because the

Commission is adopting this rule

without notice and comment. See 5

U.S.C. 603(a) and 604(a). Notice and

comment are not required because the

Commission is modifying a ‘‘rule of

agency organization, procedure, or

practice.’’ See 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(A).

Moreover, the Commission has found

that notice and comment are

unnecessary here. See 5 U.S.C.

553(b)(B).

List of Subjects

47 CFR Part 0

Organization and functions

(government agencies).

47 CFR Part 63

Communications common carriers,

Reporting and recordkeeping

requirements.

Federal Communications Commission.

Magalie Roman Salas,

Secretary.

Rule Changes

For the reasons discussed in the

preamble, Parts 0 and 63 of Title 47 of

the Code of Federal Regulations are

amended as follows:

PART 0—COMMISSION

ORGANIZATION

1. The authority citation for part 0

continues to read as follows:

Authority: Secs. 5, 48 Stat. 1068, as

amended; 47 U.S.C. 155.

2. Section 0.31 is amended by revising

paragraph (j) to read as follows:

§ 0.31 Functions of the Office.

* * * * *

(j) To perform all engineering and

management functions of the

Commission with respect to formulating

rules and regulations, technical

standards, and general policies for parts

15, 18 and section 63.100 of this

chapter, and for type approval and

acceptance, and certification of radio

equipment for compliance with the

Rules.

* * * * *

PART 63—EXTENSION OF LINES AND

DISCONTINUANCE, REDUCTION,

OUTAGE AND IMPAIRMENT OF

SERVICE BY COMMON CARRIERS;

AND GRANTS OF RECOGNIZED

PRIVATE OPERATING AGENCY

STATUS

3. The authority citation for part 63

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 47 U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 154(j),

201–205, 218, 403 and 533, unless otherwise

noted.

4. Section 63.100, paragraphs (b), (c),

(d), and (h) are amended by revising the

last sentence of each paragraph and

paragraph (e) introductory text, is

amended by revising the ninth sentence

to read as follows:

§ 63.100 Notification of service outage.

* * * * *

(b) * * * Not later than thirty days

after the outage, the carrier shall file

with the Chief, Office of Engineering

and Technology, a Final Service

Disruption Report providing all

available information on the service

outage, including any information not

contained in its Initial Service

Disruption Report and detailing

specifically the root cause of the outage

and listing and evaluating the

effectiveness and application in the

immediate case of any best practices or

industry standards identified by the

Network Reliability Council to eliminate

or ameliorate outages of the reported

type.

(c) * * * Not later than thirty days

after the outage, the carrier shall file

with the Chief, Office of Engineering

and Technology, a Final Service

Disruption Report providing all

available information on the service

outage, including any information not

contained in its Initial Service

Disruption Report and detailing

specifically the root cause of the outage

and listing and evaluating the

effectiveness and application in the

immediate case of any best practices or

industry standards identified by the

Network Reliability Council to eliminate
37500 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 133 / Monday, July 13, 1998 /Rules and Regulations

1Section 2(a) of Executive Order 12770 states that

‘‘[t]he head of each executive department and

agency shall use * * * the metric system of

measurement in Federal Government procurements,

grants and other business-related activities. Other

business-related activities include all use of

measurement units in agency programs and

functions related to trade, industry, and

commerce.’’

or ameliorate outages of the reported

type.

(d) * * * Not later than thirty days

after the outage, the carrier shall file

with the Chief, Office of Engineering

and Technology, a Final Service

Disruption Report providing all

available information on the service

outage, including any information not

contained in its Initial Service

Disruption Report and detailing

specifically the root cause of the outage

and listing and evaluating the

effectiveness and application in the

immediate case of any best practices or

industry standards identified by the

Network Reliability Council to eliminate

or ameliorate outages of the reported

type.

(e) * * * Not later than thirty days

after the outage, the carrier shall file

with the Chief, Office of Engineering

and Technology, a Final Service

Disruption Report providing all

available information on the service

outage, including any information not

contained in its Initial Service

Disruption Report and detailing

specifically the root cause of the outage

and listing and evaluating the

effectiveness and application in the

immediate case of any best practices or

industry standards identified by the

Network Reliability Council to eliminate

or ameliorate outages of the reported

type.

* * * * *

(h) * * * Not later than thirty days

after the outage, the carrier shall file

with the Chief, Office of Engineering

and Technology, a Final Service

Disruption Report providing all

available information on the service

outage, including any information not

contained in its Initial Service

Disruption Report and detailing

specifically the root cause of the outage

and listing and evaluating the

effectiveness and application in the

immediate case of any best practices or

industry standards identified by the

Network Reliability Council to eliminate

or ameliorate outages of the reported

type.

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 98–18562 Filed 7–10–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6712–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs

Administration

49 CFR PARTS 191, 192, 193, 194, 195

[Docket PS–153; Amdt. 191–14; 192–85;

193–16; 194–3; 195–63.]

RIN 2137–AC98

Metric Equivalents

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs

Administration (RSPA), DOT.

ACTION: Final rule.

SUMMARY: This final rule amends the

pipeline safety regulations to provide

metric equivalents. The metric

equivalents are being provided for

informational purposes only. Operators

would continue to use the English

measures for purposes of compliance

and enforcement. No changeover to the

metric system of measurement is being

contemplated at this time. This may be

reconsidered in the future.

DATES: Effective July 13, 1998.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Marvin Fell, (202) 366–6205, or by email at marvin.fell@rspa.dot.gov

regarding the subject matter of this final

rule or regarding copies of this final rule

and other material in the docket.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

Executive Order 12770, titled ‘‘Metric

Usage in the Federal Government’’ (July

25, 1991), requires Federal agencies to

use metric measures in their businessrelated activities as a means to

implement the metric system of

measures as the preferred system of

weights and measures for the United

States.1 In order to explore its

responsibilities under this Executive

Order, RSPA published an Advance

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

(ANPRM) on October 23, 1996 (61 FR

55069). RSPA also held a public

meeting on January 10, 1997 in Dallas,

Texas. On March 11, 1997, RSPA

published an additional notice seeking

further comment on the metrication

issue, particularly on the publication of

metric equivalents for all numerical

measures in the pipeline safety

regulations. After considering the public

comments to the notice and the

opinions expressed at the public

meeting, RSPA published a Notice of

Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on

December 29, 1997 (62 FR 67602–

67607).

In its October 23, 1996, Notice of

Public Meeting, RSPA requested

comments on seven questions. These

questions concerned the best method for

providing metric conversion and the

cost impact of conversion on the

pipeline industry, including the impact

on small entities. The majority of

respondents were pipeline operators

who opposed metric-only regulations.

As an alternative, they favored

providing metric equivalents. They

cited the increased costs that could

result from metric conversion with no

increase in safety. Some operators

contended that metric-only regulations

might adversely impact small entities by

imposing training and administrative

costs that would not contribute to

pipeline safety. A few commenters were

in favor of metric only regulations.

RSPA received 13 comments to its

NPRM, including two from individuals

involved in metrication issues, three

trade associations representing propane

transporters and natural gas distribution

and transmission operators, and eight

hazardous liquid and gas pipeline

operators. There was near unanimous

agreement with RSPA’s proposal to

provide metric equivalents while

maintaining English as the measure to

be used for compliance. Several

operators stated that requiring a metric

only rulemaking would significantly

add to compliance costs without adding

any safety benefits. However, two

commenters suggested that operators be

able to choose whether to comply with

metric or English measures. RSPA

believes that these two commenters

have a good point. RSPA would like to

hear from any operator who would like

to comply in metric rather than English.

RSPA believes that this should add little

to the government compliance costs.

The NPRM proposed displaying the

metric measurement first, followed by

the English equivalent in parenthesis.

The comment cited most frequently

by commenters is that since English will

remain the measure for compliance

purposes it would be appropriate to

present the English measure first with

the metric in parentheses. RSPA

concurs with this comment. Therefore,

RSPA will present all English measures

with metric measures following in

parentheses.

Several commenters noted that RSPA

in its NPRM was not consistent in its

use of significant figures and that RSPA

use the American Society for Testing

and Material (ASTM) Standard for