Administrative Practice and Procedure, Postal Service, 6081-6085 [E8-1893]

Agencies

• POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 22 (Friday, February 1, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 6081-6085]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-1893]


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POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION

39 CFR 3001

[Docket No. PI2008-2; Order No. 56]


Administrative Practice and Procedure, Postal Service

AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking and order.

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SUMMARY: This document notes that the Secretary of the Treasury, as 
required by recent postal reform legislation, has filed with the 
Commission a report and recommendations on accounting practices and 
principles that will govern the operation of the Competitive Products 
Fund. It briefly reviews the recommendations, poses several related 
questions, and invites public comment. Comments will assist the 
Commission in developing future regulations governing the Competitive 
Products Fund.

DATES: Initial comments are due April 1, 2008; reply comments are due 
May 1, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically via the Commission's Filing 
Online system at https://www.prc.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen L. Sharfman, General Counsel, 
202-789-6820 and stephen.sharfman@prc.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulatory History, 72 FR 63662 (November 9, 
2007).

I. Introduction

    Section 401 of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, 
Public Law 109-435 (PAEA), codified at 39 U.S.C. 2011(h), requires the 
Secretary of the Treasury (Treasury) in consultation with the Postal 
Service and an independent certified public accounting firm to develop 
recommendations for accounting practices and principles that will 
govern the operation of the Competitive Products Fund (CPF) and the 
determination of an assumed Federal income tax to be imposed on 
competitive products income. Treasury submitted its report and 
recommendations to the Commission on December 19, 2007.\1\
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    \1\ See Report of the U.S. Department of the Treasury on 
Accounting Principles and Practices for the Operation of the United 
States Postal Service's Competitive Products Fund, December 19, 2007 
(Report). The Report may be accessed from the Commission's Web site, 
https://www.prc.gov.
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    Section 2011(h)(2)(A) requires that interested persons, including 
the Postal Service, users of the mails, and an officer of the 
Commission, be given an opportunity to comment on the Report's 
recommendations in such manner as the Commission considers appropriate. 
To fulfill that obligation, the Commission is initiating this docket 
soliciting comments on both Treasury's recommendations, and specific 
questions posed by the Commission in response to the Report. Initial 
comments are due 60 days after publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register. Reply comments are due 90 days after publication of 
this notice in the Federal Register.
    After review of the comments, the Commission will commence a 
rulemaking proceeding to develop regulations to satisfy the 
requirements of section 2011(h)(2), including establishing the 
accounting practices and principles to govern the operation of the CPF 
and rules for determining the assumed Federal income tax on competitive 
products income.\2\ Interested persons will have an opportunity to 
comment on the proposed regulations.
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    \2\ Pursuant to section 2011(h)(2)(B)(ii), the final regulations 
are to be issued within 12 months of the date Treasury submitted its 
recommendations, or such later date as agreed to by the Commission 
and the Postal Service.

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[[Page 6082]]

II. Statutory Framework for Competitive Products' Accounting Practices 
and Assumed Federal Income Tax

    The Report fulfills Treasury's obligation under section 2011(h), 
which provides as follows:

    (h)(1)(A) The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with 
the Postal Service and an independent, certified public accounting 
firm and other advisors as the Secretary considers appropriate, 
shall develop recommendations regarding--
    (i) the accounting practices and principles that should be 
followed by the Postal Service with the objectives of--
    (I) identifying and valuing the assets and liabilities of the 
Postal Service associated with providing competitive products, 
including the capital and operating costs incurred by the Postal 
Service in providing such competitive products; and
    (II) subject to subsection (e)(5), preventing the subsidization 
of such products by market-dominant products; and
    (ii) the substantive and procedural rules that should be 
followed in determining the assumed Federal income tax on 
competitive products income of the Postal Service for any year 
(within the meaning of section 3634).
    (B) Not earlier than 6 months after the date of enactment of 
this section, and not later than 12 months after such date, the 
Secretary of the Treasury shall submit the recommendations under 
subparagraph (A) to the Postal Regulatory Commission.

39 U.S.C. 2011(h)(1)(A)-(B).
    As relates to its task of developing recommendations pursuant to 
section 2011(h)(1), Treasury identifies five PAEA requirements 
applicable to competitive products:
    1. The prohibition against subsidies by market dominant products 
(sections 3633(a)(1) and 2011(h)(1)(A)(II));
    2. The requirement that each competitive product cover its 
attributable costs (section 3633(a)(2));
    3. The requirement that competitive products collectively cover 
what the Postal Regulatory Commission determines to be an appropriate 
share of the Postal Service's institutional costs (section 3633(a)(3));
    4. The obligation to annually compute an assumed Federal income tax 
on competitive products income (section 3634(b)(1)); and
    5. The total assets of the CPF shall be the greater of the assets 
related to the provision of competitive products calculated under 
section 2011(h) or the percentage of total Postal Service revenues and 
receipts from competitive products times the Postal Service's total 
assets (section 2011(e)(5)). Report at 31.

III. Treasury Report

    To develop its recommendations, Treasury discusses both the Postal 
Service's current costing system and the cost accounting requirements 
for competitive products under the PAEA. Treasury explains that the 
Postal Service currently functions under an Activity Based Costing 
system (ABC system), which it describes as an economic costing system 
designed to ``report (1) the marginal cost of each class of product and 
(2) the incremental cost of each class of product compared to all of 
the other classes of products serviced.'' \3\
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    \3\ See id. at 3. The marginal cost (or unit volume variable 
cost) of a product is the cost of producing an additional unit of 
output. Marginal cost includes only costs that vary with the level 
of output and does not account for any fixed costs. If a product's 
price exceeds its marginal cost at current levels of production, a 
positive contribution is made toward paying the common costs of 
production. Incremental or avoidable cost of a product is the total 
cost incurred as the result of the provision of all units of that 
product. Incremental cost incorporates all variable and fixed costs 
specific to a particular product. Thus, if each product covers its 
avoidable cost then no single product is being cross-subsidized. For 
a more complete discussion of the incremental cost test, see William 
J. Baumol, John C. Panzar and Robert D. Willig, Contestable Markets 
and the Theory of Industry Structure, 351-356, 1982.
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    Treasury indicates that under the current costing system, average 
volume variable costs serve as a proxy for marginal costs and further 
that the Postal Service estimates incremental costs based on the ABC 
system. Finally, Treasury notes that costs not attributed to postal 
products or services are classified as institutional costs.
    Turning to the PAEA, Treasury's analysis of the statutory cost 
accounting requirements for competitive products begins with section 
3633(a), which requires the Commission to promulgate regulations to:
    1. Prohibit the subsidization of competitive products by market 
dominant products;
    2. Ensure that each competitive product covers its attributable 
costs; and
    3. Ensure that all competitive products shall collectively cover 
what the Commission determines to be an appropriate share of the 
institutional costs of the Postal Service.\4\
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    \4\ In Order No. 43, the Commission adopted, inter alia, rules 
governing rates for competitive products pursuant to section 3633. 
PRC Order No. 43, October 29, 2007.
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    Based on these requirements and other PAEA provisions,\5\ Treasury 
concludes that ``the only viable method to begin to address the PAEA 
requirements for competitive products is to establish a theoretical, 
regulatory reporting construct under which the [Postal Service] would 
`on paper only' analytically segregate and identify the revenue and 
costs associated with the competitive products * * *'' Id. at 4. 
Regarding the costs, Treasury recommends that the Postal Service 
attribute costs consistent with the Commission's definition of 
competitive products. Treasury indicates, however, that more is 
required ``to calculate a PAEA-compliant, corporate-like income 
statement or impute an assured income tax.'' Id. To achieve these 
additional requirements, Treasury contends that the Postal Service's 
cost system will need to be modified ``to provide for the additional 
assignment of competitive products' costs.'' Id.
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    \5\ As noted above, the other statutory requirements concern the 
computation of an assumed Federal income tax (section 3634(b)) and 
the ``greater of'' test (section 2011(e)(5)).
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    More specifically, Treasury suggests that, to satisfy the PAEA's 
five statutory requirements, the modified cost system should have the 
capability to:
    1. Report the costs for competitive products at a more granular 
level than they are currently;
    2. Demonstrate that each competitive product (as defined under the 
PAEA) covers its attributable costs by pricing each competitive product 
above its volume-variable or marginal costs;
    3. Demonstrate that competitive products are not individually 
cross-subsidized by the market dominant products by showing that each 
competitive product's revenues exceed its incremental costs;
    4. Ensure that the combined revenues of the competitive products 
cover an appropriate share of the Postal Service institutional costs; 
and
    5. Enable computation of an assumed Federal income tax on the 
income of the theoretical Postal Service competitive enterprise. Id. at 
4-5 (footnotes omitted).
    Based on its analysis of the applicable PAEA accounting and tax-
related provisions regarding competitive products, Treasury offers nine 
recommendations.

IV. Issues Regarding Certain Treasury Recommendations

    Treasury emphasizes that ``[t]he accounting and income tax 
approaches described in [its Report] should serve as the starting 
points for such further discussions and decisions.'' Id. at 1. The 
Report further points out that:

    Given the size and scope of the [Postal Service's] operations as 
well as the complexity involved in meeting the PAEA accounting and 
other requirements, Treasury believes that any necessary changes to 
the existing [Postal Service] costing and other systems should be 
made incrementally and notes that some may need to be implemented 
over the long term.

Id. at 1-2.

[[Page 6083]]

    The Report acknowledges that the ultimate responsibility and 
authority for issuing regulations concerning the PAEA accounting 
practices and CPF income tax requirements rest with the Commission. Id. 
at 1.
    The Commission solicits comments from interested persons on any or 
all aspects of Treasury's Report. In addition, as set out below, the 
Commission has specific questions about certain Treasury 
recommendations and invites responses from interested persons to any or 
all of them. As noted above, initial and reply comments are due 60 days 
and 90 days, respectively, after publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register.

A. Treasury Recommendation 2

    Treasury's second recommendation concerns the development of a 
theoretical competitive enterprise:

    To enable a practical solution to be developed that could be 
validated by third parties, a theoretical or `on paper only' 
enterprise--[Postal Service] competitive--should be analytically 
created by assigning to it an appropriate share of all [Postal 
Service] costs.

Id. at 7.
    This recommendation reflects Treasury's conclusion that, based on 
the five PAEA statutory requirements for competitive products:

    [T]he only viable method to begin to address the PAEA 
requirements for competitive products is to establish a theoretical, 
regulatory reporting construct under which the [Postal Service] 
would `on paper only' analytically segregate and identify the 
revenue and costs associated with the competitive products--that is, 
to treat competitive products as if they were sold by a separate, 
theoretical enterprise or corporation that shares economies of scale 
and scope with the market-dominant products.

Id. at 4 (footnote omitted).
    Treasury recognizes, but rejects, an alternative approach based on 
creation of a ``true stand-alone competitive products entity.'' Id. at 
7; see also id. at 6. Treasury rejects this alternative because, inter 
alia, the cost modeling would be costly and take years to develop 
without likelihood of any corresponding benefits. Id.\6\
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    \6\ On January 16, 2008, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 
released its report entitled Accounting for Laws that Apply 
Differently to the United States Postal Service and Private 
Competitors (FTC Report). Among other things, the FTC Report 
discusses corporatization of assets associated with production of 
competitive products. FTC Report at 93-98. Commenters may address 
matters raised by the FTC Report as relates to the issues raised by 
Treasury's Report, e.g., establishing a stand-alone competitive 
products entity.
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    1. The Commission asks commenters to address Treasury's conclusion 
that a theoretical enterprise, rather than a stand-alone enterprise, 
should be constructed. Specifically, commenters are asked to comment on 
the assumptions, studies, and procedures that would be needed to 
establish the costs of a stand-alone competitive entity, the time and 
cost of implementing these studies, and the time and cost of achieving 
structural separation.
    2. To what extent would economies of scale and scope be diminished 
if the Commission were to require the Postal Service to structurally 
separate its market dominant from its competitive lines of business?
    3. Given the manner in which rates are established under the PAEA, 
e.g., that market dominant products are subject to a price cap, would 
structural separation reduce the risk of competitive products being 
subsidized by market dominant products?
    4. If it is decided that establishing a theoretical competitive 
enterprise is appropriate:
    a. What is the appropriate basis for assigning operating and/or 
capital costs to the theoretical competitive enterprise?
    b. Is there a reasonable basis for directly assigning some types or 
categories of costs to competitive products based on underlying 
technologies and/or operating procedures? If so, what specific costs 
should be assigned in this way?
    c. Would there be a need to assign other costs not directly 
assignable (namely, joint and/or fixed costs), and if so, how should 
such costs be assigned?
    d. Would worksharing affect the assignment of costs other than 
direct costs? If so, how?
    5. What role, if any, should the concepts of profit centers and 
transfer pricing play?
    6. Should any Universal Service Obligation costs be assigned to the 
competitive products category? If not, why not? If so, on what basis?

B. Treasury Recommendation 3

    Treasury's third recommendation concerns the cost system that 
should be used under the PAEA:

    The volume-variable or marginal product costs reported by the 
[Postal Service] cost system should be used--after the product 
definition modification required by PAEA--to ensure that the 
competitive products cover their attributable costs. The reported 
incremental costs should be used to ensure that cross-subsidization 
of the competitive products by the market-dominant products is not 
occurring.

Report at 7.
    This recommendation ``relates to the derivation of marginal and 
incremental costs'' with regard to the Postal Service's costing 
approach. Id. Citing section 3631(b), which defines ``costs 
attributable'' to mean ``the direct and indirect postal costs 
attributable to [competitive] product[s] through reliably identified 
causal relationships'', Treasury suggests that complying with this 
definition would not require the Postal Service's current cost system 
to be modified other than to reflect products classified by the 
Commission as competitive. Id. Treasury also assumes that such 
attributable costs would ``form the appropriate basis for determining 
the marginal and incremental costs of the competitive products.'' 
Id.\7\
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    \7\ Attributable cost is a concept developed by the Commission. 
Basically, it is equal to the marginal cost of a product plus some 
specific fixed costs, if any, attributed only to the production of 
that particular product, e.g., costs associated with Express Mail 
collection boxes and advertisements.
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    In suggesting modifications to the cost system, Treasury interprets 
section 3633(a)(1) to mean that the incremental cost test should be 
applied to each individual competitive product. Id. at 3. In Order No. 
26, the Commission addressed this statutory provision, endorsing the 
incremental cost test, but recognizing the need to employ its current 
test for cross-subsidies. PRC Order No. 26, August 15, 2007, paras. 
3040-43. The Commission interpreted section 3633(a)(1) to mean that the 
test for cross-subsidies applies collectively to competitive products, 
not individually to each product. See 39 CFR 3015.7(a).
    1. Are the Postal Service's current cost systems, after 
modification for new products, sufficient for allocating costs between 
competitive and market dominant products? If not, what changes should 
be made to the cost systems?
    2. Should the incremental cost test be applied to individual 
competitive products or to competitive products as a whole? If the 
former, what is the basis for determining whether a competitive product 
that fails the incremental cost test is being subsidized by market 
dominant or other competitive products?

C. Treasury Recommendation 5

    The Treasury's fifth recommendation concerns the cost system that 
should be employed to assign costs between market dominant and 
competitive products:

    The current [Postal Service] cost accounting system should be 
modified so

[[Page 6084]]

that all of the costs for [Postal Service's] two lines of business 
(Market-Dominant and Competitive) can be assigned using cost drivers 
that capture the causal relationship between the lines of business 
and their applicable business costs. The remaining unassigned costs 
should be treated as institutional costs and an appropriate 
percentage of these institutional costs, which should be defined by 
the PRC by regulation, should be covered by the theoretical 
competitive enterprise.

Report at 9.
    This recommendation appears to reiterate the principle that 
attributable costs should be allocated between market dominant and 
competitive products based on causal relationships. In addition, it 
urges that an appropriate share of institutional costs should be 
covered by the theoretical competitive enterprise. Treasury notes that, 
pursuant to section 3633(a)(3), the Commission has initially set the 
``appropriate share of institutional costs'' test at 5.5 percent. 
Treasury also notes that the requirement that competitive products 
receive an appropriate share of institutional costs is echoed by 
section 3622(b)(9), a ratemaking objective applicable to market 
dominant products (``to allocate the total institutional costs of the 
Postal Service appropriately between market-dominant and competitive 
products.'')
    1. A significant amount of Postal Service costs are currently 
classified as institutional, based on the use of cost drivers for cost 
allocation in rate analyses with most non-volume variable costs being 
assigned as institutional. Should any additional types of drivers and/
or different types of cost attribution approaches be considered in 
determining costs for the competitive and market dominant lines of 
business?
    2. The Report suggests that in addition to attributing product-
specific costs to competitive products, the Postal Service should also 
attribute what Treasury calls line of business costs that are common to 
competitive products. Id. at 9. This suggestion could be interpreted to 
mean either that competitive line of business costs are costs shared by 
all competitive products or costs that may be shared by more than one, 
but not necessarily all, competitive products. The Commission asks 
commenters to address the appropriate meaning of line of business 
costs, including the basis on which to distinguish between market 
dominant and competitive lines of business.
    3. Does the Commission's determination of an ``appropriate share of 
institutional costs'' under section 3633(c)(3) also satisfy, at least 
implicitly, section 3622(b)(9)? If not, why not and on what basis 
should institutional costs be allocated between market dominant and 
competitive products?

D. Treasury Recommendation 6

    Treasury's sixth recommendation concerns revenue reporting 
requirements for the theoretical competitive enterprise:

    Subject to [Postal Service] system modifications to accommodate 
the new product definitions, the revenue numbers from the existing 
[Postal Service] financial systems should be used as a basis for 
both reporting the financial income and the taxable net income of 
the [Postal Service] Competitive theoretical enterprise. [Note: The 
revenues used to determine the assumed federal income tax might have 
to be adjusted, as appropriate, to conform to tax code treatment.]

Id.
    The PAEA provides that Postal Service revenues should be 
appropriately measured. See 39 U.S.C. 3652(e) and Report at 9. Treasury 
concludes that the current revenue tracking system employed by the 
Postal Service is appropriate and does not require changes ``unless the 
reclassification of postal classes and subclasses to * * * competitive 
products warrants them.'' Id.
    1. Is the Postal Service's current revenue reporting system 
(modified to accommodate new product definitions) adequate for 
reporting the Postal Service's financial income and net taxable income?
    2. If not, what modifications would be necessary?

E. Treasury Recommendation 7

    Treasury's seventh recommendation concerns the development of an 
income statement:

    A theoretical [Postal Service] Competitive enterprise income 
statement, or statement of operations along the lines of the 2007 
statement of the operations shown in Figure 1, should be developed. 
The revenues should be derived from the current [Postal Service] 
revenue system and process as modified to reflect the new 
definitions of competitive products. The costs should be the outcome 
of applying Treasury's above-proposed cost accounting approaches.

    Id. For purposes of calculating the assumed Federal income tax of 
the competitive products, Treasury states that an income statement or 
statement of operations should be developed as further addressed in 
recommendation 8.
    1. Is what Treasury suggests sufficient for purposes of calculating 
an assumed Federal income tax on competitive products? If not, what 
standard (or format) should apply?
    2. Please explain why any proposed additional information would be 
beneficial, and discuss whether the benefit associated with a more 
detailed statement outweighs the burden of any additional costs imposed 
by creating a more detailed statement.

F. Treasury Recommendation 8

    Treasury's eighth recommendation concerns the calculation of an 
assumed Federal income tax:

    The [Postal Service] should calculate the competitive products' 
assumed federal income tax using a simplified approach, preferably 
using a published, regularly updated, tax rate.

Id. at 22. As to the assumed Federal income tax on competitive 
products, section 3634(a) provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

    (1) The term `assumed Federal income tax on competitive products 
income' means the net income tax that would be imposed by chapter 1 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 on the Postal Service's assumed 
taxable income from competitive products for the year; and
    (2) the term `assumed taxable income from competitive products', 
with respect to a year, refers to the amount representing what would 
be the taxable income of a corporation under the Internal Revenue 
Code of 1986 for the year, if--
    (A) the only activities of such corporation were the activities 
of the Postal Service allocable under section 2011(h) to competitive 
products; and
    (B) the only assets held by such corporation were the assets of 
the Postal Service allocable under section 2011(h) to such 
activities.

    In section 2 of the Report, Treasury discusses the numerous 
considerations that influence the calculation of an assumed Federal 
income tax on competitive products income. Id. at 11-23. It identifies 
two general approaches, complex or simplified, that could be used for 
this purpose. Id. at 23-24. Treasury endorses the simplified approach, 
notwithstanding that it ``would require some level of PAEA intent 
interpretation and scope determination by the appropriate governance 
bodies.'' Id. at 24.
    1. Should a simplified approach be used:
    a. For calculating an assumed Federal income tax?
    b. If so, what tax rate should be used and why?
    c. Should the tax rate be based on an analysis of Postal Service 
functions, markets, risks, and the performance by similar companies?
    d. If similar companies are considered relevant, then how does one 
determine similarity?
    2. Would use of a simplified approach require any changes to the 
Postal Service's cost systems and/or

[[Page 6085]]

accounting procedures not addressed in the Report? If so, please 
elaborate.
    3. If a simplified approach should not be used, what approach 
should be used and why?
    Section 3 of the Report (at 25-29) addresses difficulties with 
identifying and valuing assets and liabilities of the CPF, noting, for 
example, that efforts to determine each asset's theoretical enterprise 
origin and usage could be a significant undertaking that, in any event, 
might yield less than satisfactory results. Id. at 26. Treasury 
suggests four potential methods to attempt to assign assets to the 
theoretical competitive enterprise. Id. at 26-27. It notes that one of 
its methods is similar to the approach in section 2011(e)(5)(B). Id. at 
27. Treasury observes that the PAEA does not contain a similar test for 
assigning liabilities. Id. at 29. Recognizing the significant tax 
implications raised by the various methods, Treasury suggests that 
``[a] possible approach to simplifying the assumed tax calculation to 
maximize net income after taxes and still meet the PAEA `shall be the 
greater of' total assets CPF quantification test, is to use the 
theoretical [Postal Service] Competitive enterprise income before taxes 
and apply an appropriate, set effective tax rate.'' Id.
    Lastly, Treasury indicates that the CPF should be subject to a 
reasonable level of management and reporting oversight and, further 
that the reporting should be subject to independent review to ensure 
that it is fairly stated in all material respects. Id.
    1. Does the PAEA allow a simplified approach to assigning assets to 
the competitive products fund for financial disclosure purposes and/or 
calculating an assumed Federal income tax?
    2. If a simplified approach is allowed, should it be used?
    3. Section 3 of the Report notes that the PAEA does not define 
assets, but that the PAEA's requirement to pay principal or interest on 
obligations issued for the provision of competitive products in section 
2011(e)(5) supports the conclusion that it is permissible to define 
assets as net assets. The Commission asks commenters to address whether 
or not this is a reasonable assumption.
    4. Does the PAEA require an assignment of liabilities to the CPF? 
If so, on what basis should they be assigned?
    5. Should a full set of financial statements, including income 
statement, balance sheet and statement of cash flow, be prepared for 
the CPF?
    6. What level of oversight should apply to the CPF?
    7. What accounting principles should apply to the CPF?
    8. What level of independent review of the Postal Service's CPF 
accounting and financial statements is sufficient and necessary under 
the PAEA?
    9. What type (public or private) of entity would be best suited to 
perform that independent review?
    10. Is there any information, not required to be reported under the 
PAEA, which should be included in the reports required under section 
2011(h)(2)(B)(i)(III)?

V. Public Representative

    Section 505 of title 39 requires the designation of an officer of 
the Commission in all public proceedings to represent the interests of 
the general public. The Commission hereby designates Patricia A. 
Gallagher to serve as the Public Representative, representing the 
interests of the general public. Pursuant to this designation, she will 
direct the activities of Commission personnel assigned to assist her 
and, will, upon request, provide their names for the record. Neither 
Patricia A. Gallagher nor any of the assigned personnel will 
participate in or provide advice on any Commission decision in this 
proceeding.

VI. Ordering Paragraphs

    It is Ordered:
    1. As set forth in the body of this notice, Docket No. PI2008-2 is 
established for the purpose of receiving comments regarding Treasury's 
Report and recommendations as well as questions posed by the Commission 
in response to the Report.
    2. Interested persons may submit comments no later than 60 days 
from the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    3. Reply comments also may be filed no later than 90 days from the 
date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    4. Patricia A. Gallagher is designated as the Public Representative 
representing the interests of the general public in this proceeding.
    5. The Secretary shall cause this notice to be published in the 
Federal Register.

    By the Commission.

    Dated: January 28, 2008.
Steven W. Williams,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. E8-1893 Filed 1-31-08; 8:45 am]
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