Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 52 / Thursday, March 19, 2009 / Proposed Rules 11699 

3. The disclosure of the information 

would inhibit the voluntary provision of 

that type of information; 

4. The receipt of that type of 

information aids in fulfilling the FAA’s 

safety and security responsibilities; and 

5. Withholding such information from 

disclosure, under the circumstances 

provided in this part, will be consistent 

with the FAA’s safety and security 

responsibilities. 

Description of the Proposed 

Information Sharing Program 

In an effort to monitor and analyze the 

hazards presented by wildlife to aircraft 

operations, the FAA actively solicits 

voluntary wildlife strike reports from a 

variety of sources such as pilots, air 

traffic controllers, air carrier personnel, 

and airport operations personnel. With 

this data, the FAA is able to analyze 

trends in order to develop better 

wildlife management strategies for 

individual airports and all civil/military 

aviation communities. These trends 

include seasonal strike fluctuations, 

diurnal/nocturnal strike comparisons, 

species identification, frequency, 

geographical distribution, effect on 

flight and damage incurred. Monitoring 

strikes also provides useful data 

regarding their frequency of occurrence 

during a specific phase of flight, 

altitude, and distance from airport. The 

information may also be used by the 

FAA to develop aircraft certification 

standards that take into account the 

unique hazard posed by wildlife threats. 

The FAA has been collecting 

voluntarily submitted data from the 

public since 1990. During this time, the 

number of strikes annually reported 

more than quadrupled from 1,759 in 

1990 to a record 7,666 in 2007. The 

increase in reports from 1990 to 2007 

was likely the result of several factors: 

1. An increased awareness of the 

wildlife strike issue, an increase in 

aircraft operations; 

2. An increase in populations of 

hazardous wildlife species; and 

3. An increase in the number of 

strikes. 

Overall, there are over 100,000 

wildlife strikes that have been 

submitted from civil and military 

aircraft strikes. As a result of these 

collection efforts, the FAA has a wildlife 

strike database that is unparalleled. 

When the FAA began collecting this 

data, it assured the entities submitting 

the data that the submissions would not 

be made available to the public. At that 

time, the FAA did not have the 

authority to provide part 193 protection. 

However, the FAA has relied upon other 

voluntary disclosure programs to obtain 

needed safety data prior to the 

enactment of 49 U.S.C. 40123 and these 

other programs are presently covered by 

part 193. The FAA believes that it is 

appropriate to extend this formal 

protection to the bird strike database as 

well. The Agency is concerned that 

there is a serious potential that 

information related to bird strikes will 

not be submitted because of fear that the 

disclosure of raw data could unfairly 

cast unfounded aspersions on the 

submitter. 

The collection of this safety 

information has been successful not 

only in part due to an increase in 

awareness and improved strikereporting technology but due to the fact 

that the reporting of strikes is 

nonpunitive to airports and airlines. 

There are almost 100 separate data 

fields in the strike database that allows 

the FAA to understand wildlife strike 

hazards to aviation better. Cooperative 

analyses between the FAA, the United 

States Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) and USDA’s Animal and Plant 

Health Inspection Service Branch 

summarized this data into an annual 

report made available to the public. 

Such analyses are critical to 

determining: 

1. The economic cost of wildlife 

strikes; 

2. The magnitude of safety issues; and 

most important; and 

3. The nature of the problems (e.g., 

wildlife species involved, types of 

damage, height and phase of flight 

during which strikes occur, and 

seasonal patterns). 

The information obtained from these 

analyses provides the foundation for 

refinements in the development, 

implementation, and justification of 

integrated research and management 

efforts to reduce wildlife strikes. The 

FAA redacts certain information from 

the data that is available to the public 

based on relevance or its sensitivity. 

For example, while the FAA collects 

wildlife strike data for specific airports, 

which it uses in its regulatory and 

oversight activities for that individual 

airport, the FAA does not release data 

regarding the submitter of the report. 

Here again, the FAA seeks to encourage 

the open provision of data for use in its 

regulatory activities. Drawing 

comparisons between airports is 

difficult because of the unevenness of 

reporting. Other factors that must be 

considered between airports and strike 

reporting are their different geographies, 

operations, structures, onsite/offsite 

habitats, and personnel to name a few. 

The complexity of the information 

warrants care with its interpretation; 

releasing this information without 

benefit of proper analysis would not 

only produce an inaccurate perception 

of the individual airports and airlines 

but also inaccurate and inappropriate 

comparisons between airports/airlines. 

Requests for data within the FAA 

National Wildlife Strike Database have 

typically been for specific data fields, 

individual airports or detailed portions 

of the database. Responses from the 

FAA have addressed each request 

individually and adequately. Airports 

voluntarily report bird strike data to 

understand their wildlife hazards better 

and to streamline allocating wildlife 

mitigation funding. Inaccurate 

portrayals of airports and airlines could 

have a negative impact on their 

participation in reporting bird strikes. It 

is the willingness of airports to 

participate, to better understand, and to 

better address their unique set of 

wildlife hazards that highlights why 

voluntary reporting works. 

In short, the FAA sees a direct 

correlation between the protection and 

provision of voluntary safety data. There 

is no question that the data collected 

over the last 19 years has improved 

safety throughout the world. It is 

imperative we do nothing to stifle this 

flow of information. Protecting this data 

under 49 U.S.C. 40123 and 14 CFR part 

193 will ensure this continued input. 

Proposed Designation 

Accordingly, the FAA proposes to 

designate the data in its Wildlife Strike 

Database to be protected under 49 

U.S.C. 40123 and 14 CFR part 193. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on March 12, 

2009. 

Catherine M. Lang, 

Acting Associate Administrator for Airports. 

[FR Doc. E9–5868 Filed 3–18–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 

Internal Revenue Service 

26 CFR Part 31 

[REG–158747–06] 

RIN 1545–BG45 

Withholding Under Internal Revenue 

Code Section 3402(t); Hearing 

AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 

Treasury. 

ACTION: Notice of public hearing on 

proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: This document provides 

notice of public hearing on a notice of 

proposed rulemaking relating to 

withholding under section 3402(t) of the 

Internal Revenue Code. The proposed 


pwalker on PROD1PC71 with PROPOSALS
11700 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 52 / Thursday, March 19, 2009 / Proposed Rules 

regulations reflect changes in the law 

made by the Tax Increase Prevention 

and Reconciliation Act of 2005 that 

require Federal, State, and local 

government entities to withhold income 

tax when making payments to persons 

providing property or services. These 

proposed regulations provide guidance 

to assist the government entities in 

complying with section 3402(t). The 

regulations also provide certain 

guidance to persons receiving payments 

for property or services from 

government entities. 

DATES: The public hearing is being held 

on April 16, 2009, at 10 a.m. The IRS 

must receive outlines of the topics to be 

discussed at the hearing by March 25, 

2009. 

ADDRESSES: The public hearing is being 

held in the auditorium, Internal 

Revenue Building, 1111 Constitution 

Avenue, NW., Washington, DC. Send 

submissions to: CC: PA: LPD: PR (REG– 

158747–06), room 5203, Internal 

Revenue Service, P.O. Box 7604, Ben 

Franklin Station, Washington, DC 

20044. Submissions may be handdelivered Monday through Friday 

between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. 

to CC: PA: LPD: PR (REG–158747–06), 

Courier’s Desk, Internal Revenue 

Service, 1111 Constitution Avenue, 

NW., Washington, DC. Alternatively, 

taxpayers may submit electronic 

outlines of oral comments via the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Concerning these proposed regulations, 

Jean Casey, (202) 622–6040; concerning 

submissions of comments, the hearing, 

and/or to be placed on the building 

access list to attend the hearing, Richard 

A. Hurst at 

Richard.A.Hurst@irscounsel.treas.gov or 

(202) 622–7180 (not toll-free numbers). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

subject of the public hearing is the 

notice of proposed rulemaking (REG– 

158747–06) that was published in the 

Federal Register on Friday, December 5, 

2008 (73 FR 74082). 

Persons, who wish to present oral 

comments at the hearing that submitted 

written comments, must submit an 

outline of the topics to be discussed and 

the amount of time to be devoted to 

each topic (signed original and eight (8) 

copies) by March 25, 2009. 

A period of 10 minutes is allotted to 

each person for presenting oral 

comments. After the deadline for 

receiving outlines has passed, the IRS 

will prepare an agenda containing the 

schedule of speakers. Copies of the 

agenda will be made available, free of 

charge, at the hearing or in the Freedom 

of Information Reading Room (FOIA RR) 

(Room 1621) which is located at the 

11th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 

entrance, 1111 Constitution Avenue, 

NW., Washington, DC. 

Because of access restrictions, the IRS 

will not admit visitors beyond the 

immediate entrance area more than 30 

minutes before the hearing starts. For 

information about having your name 

placed on the building access list to 

attend the hearing, see the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

LaNita Van Dyke, 

Chief, Publications and Regulations Branch, 

Legal Processing Division, Associate Chief 

Counsel (Procedure and Administration). 

[FR Doc. E9–5951 Filed 3–18–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4830–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR 

Office of Labor-Management 

Standards 

29 CFR Parts 403 and 408 

RIN 1215–AB62 

Labor Organization Annual Financial 

Reports 

AGENCY: Office of Labor-Management 

Standards, Employment Standards 

Administration, Labor. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed extension of 

effective date and applicability date. 

SUMMARY: This notice seeks public 

comment on a proposal to delay for 180 

days the April 21, 2009 effective date of 

the rule Labor Organization Annual 

Financial Reports, published in the 

Federal Register on January 21, 2009, 

and extended by a document published 

February 20, 2009; and delay the 

applicability date of the rule, now set 

for July 1, 2009, until January 1, 2010. 

The rule revised the Labor Organization 

Annual Report Form LM–2 and 

established a procedure whereby the 

Department of Labor may revoke, when 

warranted, the authorization to file the 

simplified Labor Organization Annual 

Report Form LM–3. 

DATES: Following notice and comment, 

the Department delayed the subject rule, 

Labor Organization Annual Financial 

Reports, published in the Federal 

Register on January 21, 2009, and 

scheduled to take effect on February 20, 

2009, from taking effect until April 21, 

2009 (74 FR 7814). This notice proposes 

to further delay the effective date until 

October 19, 2009. Additionally, the rule 

published on January 21, 2009, applied 

to labor organizations with fiscal years 

beginning on or after July 1, 2009. This 

notice also proposes to delay the 

applicability date of the rule to labor 

organizations reporting on fiscal years 

beginning on or after January 1, 2010. 

The comment period for the proposed 

delay of the effective date and 

applicability date will close on April 7, 

2009. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 1215–AB62, only by 

the following methods: 

Internet—Federal eRulemaking Portal. 

Electronic comments may be submitted 

through http://www.regulations.gov. To 

locate the proposed rule, use key words 

such as ‘‘Labor-Management Standards’’ 

or ‘‘Labor Organization Annual 

Financial Reports’’ to search documents 

accepting comments. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Please be advised that comments 

received will be posted without change 

to http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided. 

Delivery: Comments may also be 

hand-delivered or mailed to: Denise M. 

Boucher, Director of the Office of Policy, 

Reports and Disclosure, Office of LaborManagement Standards, U.S. 

Department of Labor, 200 Constitution 

Avenue, NW., Room N–5609, 

Washington, DC 20210. Because of 

security precautions the Department 

continues to experience delays in U.S. 

mail delivery. You should take this into 

consideration when preparing to meet 

the deadline for submitting comments. 

The Office of Labor-Management 

Standards (OLMS) recommends that 

you confirm receipt of your delivered 

comments by contacting (202) 693–0123 

(this is not a toll-free number). 

Individuals with hearing impairments 

may call (800) 877–8339 (TTY/TDD). 

Only those comments submitted 

through http://www.regulations.gov, 

hand-delivered, or mailed will be 

accepted. Comments will be available 

for public inspection at http:// 

www.regulations.gov and during normal 

business hours at the above address. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Denise M. Boucher, Director, Office of 

Policy, Reports and Disclosure, Office of 

Labor-Management Standards, 

Employment Standards Administration, 

U.S. Department of Labor, 200 

Constitution Avenue, NW., Room N– 

5609, Washington, DC 20210, (202) 693– 

1185 (this is not a toll-free number), 

(800) 877–8339 (TTY/TDD). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Department published a notice (74 FR 

5899) on February 3, 2009, seeking 

public comment on whether or not it 

should delay for 60 days the effective 


pwalker on PROD1PC71 with PROPOSALS