New regs for Thursday: USDA outlines energy loan guarantees

New regulations for energy efficiency, wildlife and buildings will be published on Thursday.

Here’s what’s going on:

Energy:

The Department of Agriculture is publishing regulations for providing up to $250 million in loan guarantees to rural electric companies that use energy efficiency programs in fiscal 2014.

The new rules will help manage demand for energy with renewable energy programs, it said. They supplement policies on electric loans first published in 1993.

“The Energy Efficiency and Conservation Loan Program may include loans supporting energy efficiency activities undertaken by the utility itself, the finance of energy efficiency projects undertaken by others, and investments made by the utility to accomplish their obligations under utility energy services contracts,” the department said. 

Funding for future years will depend on how the program performs.

Agriculture:

The USDA is also ending its plans to set up a marketing agreement for fresh leafy green vegetables. 

The agreement, which was proposed by the agricultural industry, would have called for new handling and produce regulations. It is being terminated because draft regulations issued in January “may affect fundamental aspects” of the program, the agency said.

Defense:

The Pentagon is establishing a process to review applications for building structures that might interfere with the country’s air space.

The regulation the department is issuing on Thursday will allow it to review applications sent to the Transportation Department to determine if they might impact military operations or “pose an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.”

Environment:

The Federal Communications Commission is asking for the public to comment on potential measures to speed up reviews for environmental impacts and historic preservation that wireless companies have to go through before building new facilities. 

According to the FCC, speeding up those reviews would let it “promote the deployment of infrastructure that is necessary to provide the public with advanced wireless broadband services…”

The public will have 60 days to weigh in with ideas.

Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency is designating four sites off the coast of Texas for disposing waste dredged up from the ocean.

Animals:

The Fish and Wildlife Service is downgrading the protections for the straight-horned markhor, a type of antelope that lives in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The animal was previously considered endangered but will now be classified as threatened. 

“The effects of these regulations will be to protect and conserve the straight-horned markhor, while encouraging local communities to conserve additional populations of the straight-horned markhor through sustainable-use management programs,” the agency said.

The Commerce Department is also reopening the public comment period on a June proposal to change the boundaries of the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary in Michigan.

Automobiles:

The Transportation Department is proposing to amend its rules on automobile importers to make sure that they certify whether their vehicles are required to comply with theft prevention standards.

Prisons:

The Justice Department is issuing a rule that would allow the local U.S. attorney in the district where an inmate was sentenced to weigh in before reducing their sentences. 

Government workers:

The General Services Administration is amending the rules for paying employees’ expenses when they or their family members die.

Taxes:

The Internal Revenue Service is issuing new rules for some dividend payments.

Fishing:

The National Marine Fisheries Service is reallocating quotas of Pacific cod in the Gulf of Alaska to make up for projected unused amounts.