48780 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2017 / Proposed Rules 

rights is treated as a transfer of an 

amount equal to the excess of the fair 

market value of all interests held by the 

transferor, determined as if the voting or 

liquidation rights were nonlapsing, over 

the fair market value of such interests 

after the lapse. In addition, under 

section 2704(b) certain restrictions on 

liquidation are disregarded in 

determining the fair market value of the 

transferred interest. Section 2704(b)(4) 

authorizes the Secretary to provide by 

regulation that other restrictions may be 

disregarded if the restriction has the 

effect of reducing the value of an 

interest transferred to a member of the 

transferor’s family for estate, gift, or GST 

tax purposes but does not ultimately 

reduce the value of such interest to the 

transferee. 

On August 4, 2016, the Treasury 

Department and the IRS published in 

the Federal Register (81 FR 51413) a 

notice of proposed rulemaking under 

section 2704 (REG–163113–02), relating 

to restrictions on the liquidation of an 

interest in a corporation or a 

partnership. The proposed regulations 

sought to amend the existing 

regulations: (1) To address what 

constitutes control of a limited liability 

company or other entity or arrangement 

that is not a corporation, partnership, or 

limited partnership; (2) to address the 

effect of deathbed transfers that result in 

the lapse of a liquidation right; (3) to 

clarify the treatment of a transfer that 

results in the creation of an assignee 

interest; (4) to address the effect of 

restrictions created by state law; (5) to 

address restrictions on withdrawal from 

an entity and the liquidation of an 

interest in an entity; and (6) to address 

the effect of insubstantial interests held 

by persons who are not members of the 

family. 

The Treasury Department and the IRS 

received numerous written comments 

on the proposed regulations from 

interested parties, and held a public 

hearing on December 1, 2016. 

Executive Order 13789, issued on 

April 21, 2017, instructs the Secretary of 

the Treasury (the Secretary) to review 

all significant tax regulations issued on 

or after January 1, 2016, and to take 

concrete action to alleviate the burdens 

of regulations that (i) impose an undue 

financial burden on U.S. taxpayers; (ii) 

add undue complexity to the Federal tax 

laws; or (iii) exceed the statutory 

authority of the IRS. E.O. 13789 further 

instructs the Secretary to submit to the 

President within 60 days an interim 

report that identifies regulations that 

meet these criteria. Notice 2017–38 

(2017–30 I.R.B. 147 (July 24, 2017)) 

included the proposed regulations in a 

list of eight regulations identified by the 

Secretary in the interim report as 

meeting at least one of the first two 

criteria specified in E.O. 13789. 

E.O. 13789 further instructs the 

Secretary to submit to the President by 

September 18, 2017, a final report that 

recommends specific actions to mitigate 

the burden imposed by regulations 

identified in the interim report. The 

Secretary published this final report in 

the Federal Register (82 FR 48013), 

recommending a complete withdrawal 

of the proposed regulations to mitigate 

their potential burden. To implement 

the Secretary’s recommendation, the 

Treasury Department and the IRS, are 

withdrawing the proposed regulations. 

List of Subjects in 26 CFR Part 25 

Gift taxes, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Withdrawal of Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking 

Accordingly, under the authority of 

26 U.S.C. 7805, the notice of proposed 

rulemaking (REG–163113–02) that was 

published in the Federal Register on 

August 4, 2016 (81 FR 51413) is 

withdrawn. 

Kirsten Wielobob, 

Deputy Commissioner for Services and 

Enforcement. 

[FR Doc. 2017–22776 Filed 10–17–17; 4:15 pm] 

BILLING CODE 4830–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R05–OAR–2017–0157; FRL–9969–86– 

Region 5] 

Air Plan Approval; Wisconsin; 

Regional Haze Progress Report 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve 

the regional haze progress report under 

the Clean Air Act as a revision to the 

Wisconsin State Implementation Plan 

(SIP). Wisconsin has satisfied the 

progress report requirements of the 

Regional Haze Rule. Wisconsin has also 

met the requirements for a 

determination of the adequacy of its 

regional haze plan with its negative 

declaration submitted with the progress 

report. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before November 20, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R05– 

OAR–2017–0157 at http://

www.regulations.gov or via email to 

aburano.douglas@epa.gov. For 

comments submitted at Regulations.gov, 

follow the online instructions for 

submitting comments. Once submitted, 

comments cannot be edited or removed 

from Regulations.gov. For either manner 

of submission, EPA may publish any 

comment received to its public docket. 

Do not submit electronically any 

information you consider to be 

Confidential Business Information (CBI) 

or other information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Multimedia 

submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be 

accompanied by a written comment. 

The written comment is considered the 

official comment and should include 

discussion of all points you wish to 

make. EPA will generally not consider 

comments or comment contents located 

outside of the primary submission (i.e. 

on the web, cloud, or other file sharing 

system). For additional submission 

methods, please contact the person 

identified in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section. 

For the full EPA public comment 

policy, information about CBI or 

multimedia submissions, and general 

guidance on making effective 

comments, please visit http://

www2.epa.gov/dockets/commentingepa-dockets. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Gilberto Alvarez, Environmental 

Scientist, Attainment Planning and 

Maintenance Section, Air Programs 

Branch (AR–18J), Environmental 

Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West 

Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 

60604, (312) 886–6143, 

alvarez.gilberto@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the 

Final Rules section of this Federal 

Register, EPA is approving the State’s 

SIP submittal as a direct final rule 

without prior proposal because the 

Agency views this as a noncontroversial 

submittal and anticipates no adverse 

comments. A detailed rationale for the 

approval is set forth in the direct final 

rule. If no adverse comments are 

received in response to this rule, no 

further activity is contemplated. If EPA 

receives adverse comments, the direct 

final rule will be withdrawn and all 

public comments received will be 

addressed in a subsequent final rule 

based on this proposed rule. EPA will 

not institute a second comment period. 

Any parties interested in commenting 

on this action should do so at this time. 

Please note that if EPA receives adverse 

comment on an amendment, paragraph, 

or section of this rule and if that 

provision may be severed from the 


nlaroche on DSK9F9SC42PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 202 / Friday, October 20, 2017 / Proposed Rules 48781 

remainder of the rule, EPA may adopt 

as final those provisions of the rule that 

are not the subject of an adverse 

comment. For additional information, 

see the direct final rule which is located 

in the Rules section of this Federal 

Register. 

Dated: October 10, 2017. 

Robert A. Kaplan, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5. 

[FR Doc. 2017–22706 Filed 10–19–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 648 

[Docket No. 170710645–7645–01] 

RIN 0648–BH03 

Fisheries of the Northeastern United 

States; Northeast Skate Complex; 

Framework Adjustment 4 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: We propose regulations 

submitted by the New England Fishery 

Management Council in Framework 

Adjustment 4 to the Northeast Skate 

Complex Fishery Management Plan. We 

are proposing to de-couple the skate 

wing and bait inseason trip limit 

adjustments to better control the catch 

of bait skate and to provide a more 

consistent supply of skate bait to the 

lobster fishery. This action also clarifies 

that in-season possession limits may be 

removed when necessary to help harvest 

the fisheries total allowable landings. 

This action is needed to allow the 

fishery to more effectively harvest its 

optimum yield. 

DATES: Public comments must be 

received by November 6, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on this document, identified by NOAA– 

NMFS–2017–0099, 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-2017-0099, click the 

‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, complete the 

required fields, and enter or attach your 

comments. 

• Mail: Submit written comments to 

John K. Bullard, Regional 

Administrator, National Marine 

Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic 

Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930–2276. 

Mark the outside of the envelope: 

‘‘Comments on Skate Framework 4.’’ 

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). Attachments to 

electronic comments will be accepted in 

Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF 

file formats only. 

New England Fishery Management 

Council staff prepared an environmental 

assessment (EA) for Northeast Skate 

Complex Framework Adjustment 4 that 

describes the proposed action and other 

considered alternatives. The EA 

provides a thorough analysis of the 

biological, economic, and social impacts 

of the proposed measures and other 

considered alternatives, a preliminary 

Regulatory Impact Review, and 

economic analysis. Copies of the 

Framework 4 EA are available on 

request from Thomas A. Nies, Executive 

Director, New England Fishery 

Management Council, 50 Water Street, 

Newburyport, MA 01950. This 

document is also available from the 

following internet addresses: http://

www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

or http://www.nefmc.org. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

William Whitmore, Fishery Policy 

Analyst, (978) 281–9182. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Northeast Skate Complex Fishery 

Management Plan (FMP), developed by 

the New England Fishery Management 

Council and implemented in 2003, 

manages a complex of seven skate 

species (barndoor, clearnose, little, 

rosette, smooth, thorny, and winter 

skate) off the New England and MidAtlantic coasts. Skates are harvested and 

managed in two different fisheries: one 

for food (the wing fishery) and one for 

lobster bait (the bait fishery). Fishery 

specific allocations, called total 

allowable landings (TALs), are set 

through biennial specifications. 

Additional information on the skate 

fisheries can be found online at https:// 

www.greateratlantic.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

sustainable/species/skate/index.html. 

While the wing and bait fisheries have 

several differing management measures, 

such as possession limits, the 

management measures for the two 

fisheries are closely related. Generally, 

the bait fishery operates under an 

exemption from the wing fishery 

possession limits. The bait fishery is 

managed under a 3-season fishing year: 

Season 1 is May 1 through August 31; 

Season 2 is September 1 through 

October 31; and, Season 3 is November 

1 through April 30. When the bait 

fishery reaches a TAL threshold trigger 

of 90 percent of a season’s TAL, an inseason accountability measure for the 

bait fishery removes the exemption to 

the wing-fishery possession limit. When 

this happens, the exemption is removed 

and the bait fishery possession limit 

reverts to the substantially lower wing 

possession limit. Additional 

information on previous and current 

skate management measures can be 

reviewed through the Council’s Web site 

at http://www.nefmc.org/managementplans/skates. 

The linked accountability measures 

for these fisheries recently became 

problematic, during fishing year 2016 

(Figure 1). Framework Adjustment 3 

included a 23-percent reduction in the 

TAL for fishing years 2016–2017. 

Because of the reduced allocation, the 

skate bait TAL threshold trigger was 

reached twice, requiring us to 

implement incidental possession limits 

in Season 2 (81 FR 71641; October 18, 

2016) and Season 3 (82 FR 8364; 

January 25, 2017). The first time, the 

bait fishery possession limit was 

reduced from 25,000 lb (11,340 kg) per 

trip to the standard skate wing 

possession limit (9,307 lb or 4,222 kg). 

The second time, however, the bait 

possession limit was reduced 

simultaneously with the wing 

possession limit because the wing 

fishery had reached its TAL threshold 

trigger of 85 percent. This adjustment, to 

an incidental possession limit of 1,135 

lb (515 kg) per trip, effectively closed 

the skate bait fishery. This closure had 

substantial negative impacts on the 

lobster fishery due to the lack of 

available bait. 

In response to the closure, the Council 

developed Framework 4 to reduce the 

likelihood of a lengthy in-season closure 

while ensuring bait landings do not 

exceed the TAL. 

Proposed Measures 

This action proposes several measures 

designed to de-couple the skate wing 

and bait in-season possession limit 


nlaroche on DSK9F9SC42PROD with PROPOSALS