New regs for Tuesday: Sharks, air conditioners, swap trading

Tuesday’s edition of the Federal Register contains new protections for endangered sharks, energy conservations standards for air conditioners, and cross-border swap trading requirements.

Here’s what is happening:

Sharks: The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is proposing to list angel sharks as an endangered species.

The sawback angel shark, smoothback angel shark, and common angel shark would all be protected under the agency’s proposal, which comes in response to a petition from WildEarth Guardians.

But the NMFS is not proposing to establish a critical habitat for these angel sharks, because their geographical range falls outside the United States.

The public has 60 days to comment.

Highways: The Department of Transportation (DOT) is establishing new national tunnel inspection standards for highway tunnels.

The Transportation Department’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will require tunnel owners to “establish a program for the inspection of highway tunnels, to maintain a tunnel inventory, to report the inspection findings to FHWA, and to correct any critical findings found during these inspections.”

The new rules go into effect in 30 days.

Financial: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is proposing new swap trading requirements under the Dodd-Frank financial reform laws.

The CFTC is developing margin requirements for cross-border swap transactions.

The public has 60 days to comment.

Efficiency: The Department of Energy (DOE) is considering new energy conservation standards for central air conditioners and heat pumps.

The Energy Department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy announced Monday it is establishing a negotiated rulemaking committee to hammer out new efficiency rules for air conditioners and heat pumps.

The group will hold a public meeting on Aug. 26.