Short Takes – 8-14-26 - Federal Register Edition

Information Collection Requests  

Information Collection; Generic Clearance for NASA Citizen Science and Crowdsourcing Projects. NASA 60-day ICR renewal notice. Summary: “Citizen science and crowdsourcing can support NASA's mission and purpose by providing new opportunities to explore our solar system and our own home planet like never before, producing critical data that expands our knowledge of the universe, and advancing our ability to provide societal benefit through the synergy of satellite and ground-based observations.” 

Rulemakings 

3Streamlining Export Controls for Drone Exports. BIS final rule. Summary: “The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) is easing export controls on certain Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs or drones) and related parts, components, accessories, attachments, technology, and software under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Specifically, this rule: eliminates wind gust tolerance as a parameter for determining UAV controls under the EAR; increases the threshold for national security controls on certain UAVs from an endurance of 30 minutes to an endurance of 3 hours; makes conforming changes to remove national security controls on software and technology associated with UAVs with an endurance less than 3 hours; maintains military end-use and end-user controls on those lower endurance drones and associated software and technology; clarifies Commerce Control List (CCL) controls for certain UAVs specially designed for military use; and removes national security controls on certain specially designed parts, components, accessories, and attachments for such UAVs as they do not provide any significant military or intelligence capabilities.” 

Executive Orders  

EO 14420 - Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans. 

Regulatory Agenda  

Today, each major organization in the Executive Branch published their unique regulatory agendas based upon the recently published 2026 Unified Agenda. Whereas the Unified Agenda lists every rulemaking that each agency plans on working on during the next year, the Regulatory Agenda lists each rulemaking that the agencies intend to prioritize for completing the next phase of rulemaking during the next year. The overall regulatory agenda for the executive branch can be found in the Regulatory Information Service Center entry in today’s Federal Register. That entry provides a detailed discussion about the purpose of the Unified Agenda , a caveat about the accuracy of dates, and a description of how Unified Agenda entries are organized. 

Regulatory Agenda entries of potential interest here include:  

• Commerce Department, 
• Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, 
• Energy Department,  
• Environmental Protection Agency,  
• Federal Communications Commission,  
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,  
• Homeland Security Department,  
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and  
• Transportation Department. 

DHS Publishes Regulatory Agenda Semiannual Update – 3-31-21

Today DHS (along with all other major federal agencies and departments) published their latest semiannual regulatory agenda in the Federal Register (86 FR 16906-16914). According to the document summary this “regulatory agenda is a semiannual summary of projected regulations, existing regulations, and completed actions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its components.” All of the rulemaking descriptions and forecast activity action dates are based upon entries in the Fall 2020 Unified Agenda published by the Trump Administration in December.

Chemical Security Rulemakings

There are two separate chemical security related rulemakings mentioned in today’s document. Under the ‘Proposed Rule Stage’ for CISA is the “Ammonium Nitrate Security Program” (RIN 1670-AA00); no description verbiage or time frame data is included.

The second is under the CISA ‘Long Term Actions’ heading; “Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS)” (RIN 1670-AA01). This is not the ‘explosives removal ANPRM’ that was published in January; rather it is the EO 13650 mandated rulemaking that was published (as an ANPRM) back in 2014. The ‘Abstract’ printed in today’s Notice comes straight from the RIN entry in the Fall 2020 Unified Agenda. That explains the very dated “Once the comment period closes” phrase in the final sentence. That comment period closed on September 19^th and there were only four comments submitted on that retrospective analysis of the 2007 CFATS interim final rule.

Commentary

At first glance, it seems odd that there is no discussion of the ANSP rulemaking when it is listed as being in the ‘Proposed Rule Stage’. The Trump Administration looked forward to withdrawing the “current” (2011) notice of proposed rulemaking and publishing a new NPRM. Both actions were “expected” to occur in this month. CISA (or rather its predecessor NPPD) concluded (long before Trump came into office) that it was not possible to construct a cost-effective set of security rules under the requirements of 6 USC Part J. Apparently the Trump Administration intended to write a new regulatory scheme without regards to the Congressional requirements of Part J.

I suspect that the Biden Administration will attempt, with its nominal (read ‘mostly ficticious’) control of Congress, to rewrite the requirements of Part J and then propose supporting regulations. I expect that CISA will continue to work with Congressional Democrats (as they have been behind the scenes for the last four years) to change the statute to reflect the regulations that they have been working on. Since, Rep Thompson (D,MS) was the sponsor and vocal supporter of the Part J legislation (HR 1860) and he is (again) the Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, so he will have to be an important part of revising Part J.

But, since this is a Biden interpretation of the Trump Agenda, this Semiannual Regulatory Agenda is more of a compliance exercise than an aspirational report. Do not hold your breath waiting for anything mentioned in today’s notice to happen.

DHS Publishes Semiannual Regulatory Agenda – 11-16-18

Today the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published their Fall 2018 Semiannual Regulatory Agenda in the Federal Register (83 FR 58031-58038). This is essentially an abstract of some of the information that was originally published in the Fall 2018 Unified Agenda. This Regulatory Agenda identifies a few of the rulemaking activities from the UA that agencies of DHS probably intend to getting around to in the coming six months or so, but is clearly not any indication of whether or not that activity will actually occur.

Some of the DHS rulemakings from this RA that I will be watching if/when they are actually published will be:

• Ammonium Nitrate Security Program;

• Homeland Security Acquisition Regulation: Safeguarding of Controlled Unclassified Sensitive Information (HSAR Case 2015-001);

• Homeland Security Acquisition Regulation: Information Technology Security Awareness Training (HSAR Case 2015-002);

• Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS);

• Security Training for Surface Transportation Employees;

It is odd that the last of the rulemakings listed above is not actually explicated in the DHS document. Instead, you have to go to the Regulatory Information Service Center’s RA entry in the Federal Register to find the full explanation for the security training rulemaking.

Of course, there is nothing new here that was not published weeks ago in the UA; publishing it in the Federal Register just makes is slightly more official. It does not, however, mean that we will see these specific rulemakings any quicker. Rulemaking is like making fine wines, it takes a long time and you cannot tell until the process is completed how good the product actually is.

Thank goodness we are not relying on paper distribution of the Federal Register anymore, this would be a deforestation product.

DHS Publishes Regulatory Agenda

Today DHS published their section of the Administration’s Semiannual Regulatory Agenda in the Federal Register (82 FR 40290-40299). This provides some additional information on some of the regulatory activities planned by the Administration that were listed in the Unified Agenda last month.

Items that may be of specific interest to readers of this blog include:

• Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS);

• Ammonium Nitrate Security Program;

• Updates to Maritime Security; and

• Security Training for Surface Transportation Employees

There really is not much in the way of new information here. DHS has provided ‘expected dates’ for the next rulemaking action for the CFATS update (10-17) and the TSA security training rule (09-18). Since these ‘expected dates’ have little or no relationship to actual future actions these dates cannot really be classified as ‘new information’.

The only really new information here is that the Coast Guard’s Updates to Maritime Security has been officially removed from the regulatory agenda. This rulemaking activity has never really gone anywhere, bouncing back-and-forth between the Current Agenda and the Long-Term Agenda on the Unified Agenda. Even the abstract that was listed in the last Obama Administration Unified Agenda was short on specifics of what the rulemaking would have included.

Trump EO and New Regulations

I read an interesting blog post by Michael Kennedy about President Trump’s executive order entitled “Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs” (EO 13771). Anyone trying to predict the regulatory burden of the new Trump administration should read Michael’s post. The new powers given to the OMB Director (and presumably through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs – OIRA) just mean that the White House will retain tighter control over the regulatory actions of the Executive Branch.

There is an additional caveat restricting the application of this EO. In multiple place we see phrases like “unless otherwise required by law”. The EO explicitly acknowledges that regulations required by statute must be implemented by the Executive Branch. This includes, for instance, the current DOT rulemaking on security training for surface transportation organizations.

Before anyone gets too excited about the prospects of reduced Federal regulations we need to wait and see what the Spring 2017 Unified Agenda looks like. That will provide the first formal look at what the Administration really intends to do in the regulatory arena. But even that will not be the final story.

One thing is already clear; Donald Trump is a man who expects to get his way. I suspect that we will see him continue the Obama legacy of legislating via executive order. And implementation of those orders will require regulations. And those regulations will be much harder to predict.

Regulatory Agenda Published 1-7-14

Today various agencies of the Federal government published their Regulatory Agenda in the Federal Register. This semi-annual exercise follows the on-line publication of the Fall 2013 Unified Agenda back in November and presents each agency’s list of “the most important significant regulatory actions that the agency reasonably expects to issue in proposed or final form in that fiscal year”. For readers of this blog the Regulatory Agendas of note will be DHS (79 FR 1170-1177), DOT (79 FR 1190-1209), EPA (79 FR 1216-1223) and DOL (79 FR 1184-1189).

Here is my list of the chemical safety and security items in those four listings. I have covered most of the DHS items in some detail over the years and have provided coverage of the DOT rulemakings as well. There is no need to mention the EPA and the one OSHA rule has been on the CSB Wish List for over a decade; enough said.

Department of Homeland Security

320 Ammonium Nitrate Security Program (Reg Plan Seq No. 68) 1601–AA52

324 Updates to Maritime Security 1625–AB38

329 Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC); Card Reader Requirements (Reg Plan Seq No. 80) 1625–AB21

337 Security Training for Surface Mode Employees (Reg Plan Seq No. 86) 1652–AA55

338 Standardized Vetting, Adjudication, and Redress Services (Reg Plan Seq No. 87) 1652–AA61

Department of Transportation

376 Pipeline Safety: Safety of On-Shore Liquid Hazardous Pipelines (Reg Plan Seq No. 118) 2137–AE66

Environmental Protection Agency

None

Department of Labor

353 Combustible Dust 1218–AC41

Commentary

Given the President’s Executive Order on Improving Chemical Safety and Security the lack of chemical safety and security rules in the Regulatory Agenda, particularly from EPA and DOL is kind of pathetic.

Oh, and cybersecurity rules? I can’t find any outside of one DOD-FAR listing (427, FAR Case 2011-020). But cybersecurity is a priority for this Administration, yep is says it right here in the fine print. Please excuse the sarcasm.

Of course, this whole Unified Agenda exercise is more than a little pathetic. Most of the items on the Agenda have been there without change for years. Meanwhile, real-life rulemakings get fast tracked without spending any time on these lists.

DHS Publishes Regulatory Agenda

Earlier this month DHS, along with all of the other major Executive Branch agencies, updated their Unified Agenda web site. Today they published their Regulatory Agenda in the Federal Register (78 FR 44266-44275).

According to the Summary:

“The regulatory agenda is a summary of current and projected rulemakings, as well as actions completed since the publication of the last regulatory agenda [78 FR 1586] for the Department.”

Effectively the Regulatory Agenda is a sub-set of the Unified Agenda and reflects the Department’s estimate of which of the Unified Agenda items is most likely to see regulatory action in the near future. Actually that definition and the term near future are mine not the governments, and it has more than a little sarcasm associated with it. It really is not clear what criteria the government uses to select this short list of regulatory actions as it has historically not born any relationship to future actions.

The items on the Regulatory Agenda notice that might be of specific interest to the chemical security/safety community (there are no cybersecurity measures on the list) include:

• Ammonium Nitrate Security Program 1601-AA52

• Updates to Maritime Security 1625-AB38

• Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC); Card Reader Requirements 1625-AB21

• General Aviation Security and Other Aircraft Operator Security 1652-AA53

Other than establishing a short list of regulatory actions that may (or may not) be taken in the foreseeable future, there is no new information in this document.

DHS Publishes Semiannual Regulatory Agenda

Today DHS (along with the other major Executive Branch organizations) published their Fall 2012 Regulatory Agenda in the Federal Register (78 FR 1586-1593). This is supposed to include a brief explanation of those items on the Department’s Unified Agenda which is likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Ammonium Nitrate Rule

As I expected the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program does make the Department’s list of significant rulemakings (RIN 1601–AA52), under the “Long Term Actions” category. The only new information here is that DHS does not expect to publish a final rule for this program until December of 2013. That would be just about two years after the close of the comment period on the NPRM for this rulemaking; if that date is actually met. There is (as expected) no explanation why this rulemaking was left off the 2012 Unified Agenda.

Coast Guard Rules

Only one of the four Coast Guard rules that I had identified as being of specific interest to readers of this blog made it to the DHS list of significant rulemakings, the Updates to Maritime Security (RIN 1625-AB38) rulemaking. As I noted in an earlier blog post , the Coast Guard expects (hold your breath on this timing) to publish their NPRM on this rule in April of this year. This NPRM was first ‘expected to be published’ in March of 2010.

TSA Rules

The General Aviation Security rulemaking (RIN 1652-AA53) is the only TSA rule to make it to the significant rulemakings list that might be of specific interest to the chemical security or cybersecurity communities. Actually including that here is a bit of a stretch, but I did need to have something to show for the TSA. So it was either this or the Aircraft repair station security rulemaking.

Significance – None

The whole publication of this Unified Agenda and its associated regulatory plans is really an exercise in bureaucratic back scratching. Rules are routinely proposed and implemented without making it to the Agenda. The publication dates from the Agenda are almost never met. And rules disappear from the Agenda without notice or reason. But, it is the closest thing to a regulatory plan that the Executive Branch actually has.

Semiannual Regulatory Agenda Published

Yesterday the various departments of the Executive Branch published their Semiannual Regulatory Agenda’s in the Federal Register. This agenda includes their Regulatory Plan (a listing “of the most important significant regulatory actions that the agency reasonably expects to issue in proposed or final form in that fiscal year”) and the regulatory flexibility agenda (a listing of the rules that are “likely to have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities”). The DHS portion of the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda can be found at 77 FR 7960-7965.

Unified Agenda Listings

As I noted in an earlier blog post the Unified Agenda  (a listing of all “current and projected rulemakings, as well as actions completed since the publication of the last regulatory agenda”) was published sometime earlier this year at www.reginfo.com. Before I discuss the Agenda published yesterday it may be helpful to look at the Unified Agenda items of principal concern to the chemical security community. The two tables below (Proposed Rule Stage and Final Rule Stage) list all of the current rule making efforts and the date of their next expected action.

Proposed Rule Stage

Agency	Next Action	Title	RIN #
DHS/OS	Final Rule – No date	Secure Handling of Ammonium Nitrate Program	1601-AA52
DHS/OS	NPRM – 06-12	Petitions for Rulemaking, Amendment, or Repeal	1601-AA56
DHS/USCG	NPRM – 07-12	Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC); Card Reader Requirements	1625-AB21
DHS/USCG	NPRM – 09-12	Updates to Maritime Security	1625-AB38
DHS/USCG	NPRM – 06-12	Top Screen Information Collection from MTSA-Regulated Facilities Handling Chemicals	1625-AB64
DHS/USCG	Final Rule – No date	Reconsideration of Letters of Recommendation for Waterfront Facilities Handling LNG and LHG	1625-AB67
DHS/TSA	NPRM – 06-12	Sensitive Security Information: Disclosure in Federal Civil Court Proceedings	1652-AA54
DHS/TSA	NPRM – 05-12	Freight Railroads, Public Transportation and Passenger Railroads, and Over-the-Road Buses--Security Training of Employees	1652-AA55
DHS/TSA	NPRM – 09-12	Freight Railroads and Passenger Railroads--Vulnerability Assessment and Security Plan	1652-AA56
DHS/TSA	NPRM – 08-12	Standardized Vetting, Adjudication, and Redress Services	1652-AA61

Final Rule Stage

Agency	Next Action	Title	RIN #
DHS/USCG	Final Rule – 04-12	Revision to Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Requirements for Mariners	1625-AB80
DHS/TSA	Notice – 06-12	Air Cargo Screening	1652-AA64

The only significant changes from the previous Unified Agenda are that DHS has issued the NPRMs for the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program and the LNG Letter of Recommendation Program. Oh, and of course the dates of the next expected action have slipped again as DHS continues to miss its regulatory mandates. One should be surprised if any of the dates listed above are actually met; really surprised.

Regulatory Plan

Only two of the rulemaking efforts listed in the tables above made it to the DHS Regulatory Plan; the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program (ANSP) and the Update to Maritime Security (MTSA II). One might expect from the listing in yesterday’s Federal Register that these would be the two rulemaking efforts most likely to be completed in the next six months or so before the next Regulatory Plan is issued, but I doubt it.

The MTSA revision is most likely to be published since it is fairly well along the regulatory process, but this has not yet been submitted to the OMB for approval. With the international implications of expected provisions of this rule the OMB approval process could be quite lengthy.

Since the public comment period on the Ammonium Nitrate Security Program NPRM was just closed in December I expect that it will be some time yet before we see a final rule published. This is especially true since this rule will have a significant impact on the agricultural community and they have the most powerful lobbying team in Washington.

I really expect that we might see some other rules from the above lists make it into the Federal Register before the AMNSP (certainly) or the MTSA II (likely) rules are published. I would think that since the Coast Guard has informally implemented some of their revisions to the TWIC requirements that the Final Rule for the TWIC Requirements for Mariners would have a high chance of getting published.

I also expect that the TSA will finally get around to publishing their very long overdue rules on security training. The only impediment to this is the fact that they have combined what used to be three separate rule making efforts (freight rail, passenger rail, and bus operators) into one rule. Even so, this should not be difficult to get published.