Broadband Pilot (ReConnect) Program, 14911-14912 [2019-07345]
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14911
Notices
Federal Register
Vol. 84, No. 71
Friday, April 12, 2019
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains documents other than rules or
proposed rules that are applicable to the
public. Notices of hearings and investigations,
committee meetings, agency decisions and
rulings, delegations of authority, filing of
petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are
examples of documents appearing in this
section.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Rural Utilities Service
Broadband Pilot (ReConnect) Program
Rural Utilities Service,
Department of Agriculture.
ACTION: Notice; amendment to Funding
Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and
solicitation of applications and program
updates.
AGENCY:
The Rural Utilities Service
(RUS) published a Funding Opportunity
Announcement (FOA) and solicitation
of applications in the Federal Register
on Friday, December 14, 2018,
announcing its general policy and
application procedures for funding
under the broadband pilot program
(ReConnect) established pursuant to the
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018
which provides loans, grants, and loan/
grant combinations to facilitate
broadband deployment in rural areas.
Since the publication of the FOA, the
Consolidated Appropriations Act of
2019 (2019 Appropriations Act) became
law on February 15, 2019. The purpose
of this notice is to inform the public of
changes made to the ReConnect
Program, specifically the updated
service area eligibility policies, pursuant
to the 2019 Appropriations Act, and
other program updates.
DATES: Actions described in this notice
take effect April 12, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
general inquiries regarding the
ReConnect Program, contact Chad
Parker, Assistant Administrator
Telecommunications Program, Rural
Utilities Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA), email:
chad.parker@wdc.usda.gov, telephone
(202) 720–9554. For inquiries regarding
eligible service areas, please contact
ReConnect Program Staff at https://
www.usda.gov/reconnect/contact-us.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
jbell on DSK30RV082PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
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Background
On December 14, 2018, RUS
published a Funding Opportunity
Announcement (FOA) and solicitation
of applications in the Federal Register
at 83 FR 64315. The FOA provided the
policy and application procedures for
the ReConnect Program. In support of
the ReConnect Program, the agency also
established an eligibility area map and
application mapping tool designed to
assist in the determination of service
area eligibility across the United States.
These tools include four categories of
data that indicate potential eligibility of
rural areas, including data on the CAF
II—Auction 903 winners, non-rural
areas, pending applications, and
protected broadband borrower service
areas. On Monday, February 25, 2019,
the Agency published a notice in the
Federal Register (84 FR 5981) to
provide the final application windows
and clarification for the ReConnect
Program.
Since the publication of the December
14, 2018 FOA, the 2019 Appropriations
Act became law on February 15, 2019.
The 2019 Appropriations Act requires
that the Agency shall, in determining
whether an entity may overbuild, or
duplicate broadband expansion efforts
made by any entity that has received a
broadband loan from RUS, not consider
loans that were rescinded or defaulted
on, or whose loan terms and conditions
were not met, if the new entity under
consideration has not previously
defaulted on, or failed to meet the terms
and conditions of, an RUS loan or had
an RUS loan rescinded. To address
these issues, the actions taken in this
notice will: (1) Revise the definition of
Broadband loan in the FOA, as
published in the Federal Register on
December 14, 2018, as required by the
2019 Appropriations Act; (2) describe
any changes to the data used in the
protected broadband service areas
mapping layer and, (3) announce the
criteria by which applicants may
challenge the determination of service
area eligibility. These actions are being
taken by the Agency to ensure that all
eligible service areas receive fair
consideration for funding under the
ReConnect Program.
Summary of Program Changes
As required by the 2019
Appropriations Act, the Broadband loan
definition in the FOA published in the
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Frm 00001
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Federal Register on December 14, 2018
FOA, must be revised.
On page 64316, in the first column,
seventh paragraph, revise the definition
of Broadband loan to read as follows:
Broadband loan means, for the
purposes of this FOA, a loan that has
been approved or is currently under
review by RUS after the beginning of
Fiscal Year 2000 in the
Telecommunications Infrastructure
Program, Farm Bill Broadband Program,
or the Broadband Initiatives Program.
Loans that were approved and then
subsequently de-obligated or otherwise
rescinded or defaulted on, or whose
loan terms and conditions have not been
met are not included in this definition.
RUS is also taking further actions to
ensure that all eligible service areas
receive fair consideration for funding
under the ReConnect Program. These
actions are as follows:
(a) Changes to the data used in the
Protected Broadband Borrower Service
Areas mapping layer. To ensure that the
mapping resources available in the
ReConnect Program are consistent with
the revised definition of Broadband
loan, the Agency reviewed its loan
portfolio and identified loans that were
fully rescinded or are in default, or
whose loan terms and conditions were
not met. Data associated with these
loans have been removed from the
Protected Broadband Borrower Service
Areas mapping layer, so that the
associated service areas will not appear
ineligible according to this criterion.
Both the eligibility area map and the
application mapping tool have been
updated to reflect these removals.
(b) Criteria by which applicants may
challenge the determination of service
area eligibility. To enhance the accuracy
of the ReConnect Program’s mapping
resources, the Agency acknowledges the
value of the applicant’s analysis of
broadband access available in a given
service area. Therefore, an applicant
may challenge the protected status of a
service area if the applicant believes
that at least 75 percent of the
households in the part of the proposed
funded service area in which they are
seeking ReConnect funds are not
receiving broadband service at the level
for which an original RUS broadband
loan was made. Note that the lack of 10/
1 Mbps in the service territory of older
broadband loans does not purport to
non-compliance with their loan
E:\FR\FM\12APN1.SGM
12APN1
14912
Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 71 / Friday, April 12, 2019 / Notices
agreement, due to then, existing service
requirements. At the time the challenge
is made, the original RUS broadband
loan must have been rescinded,
defaulted on, or the terms and
conditions of the original loan must not
have been met.
(c) Until further changes to a
challenge system can be made in future
rounds of funding, for the present round
of funding, these challenges will only be
considered when submitted with an
application for ReConnect funding.
Additionally, the agency will only
validate the challenge if the application
is determined to be complete, feasible,
and, if applicable, scored high enough
for funding consideration. The agency
will assess the ability to expand its
challenge process for future rounds of
funding.
Dated: March 28, 2019.
Bette B. Brand,
Acting Administrator, Rural Utilities Service.
[FR Doc. 2019–07345 Filed 4–11–19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
[A–351–825]
Stainless Steel Bar From Brazil: Final
Results of Antidumping Duty
Administrative Review; 2017
Enforcement and Compliance,
International Trade Administration,
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce
(Commerce) finds that stainless steel bar
(SSB) from Brazil has been sold at less
than normal value during the period of
review (POR) February 1, 2017, through
August 8, 2017.
DATES: Applicable April 12, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Hermes Pinilla, Office I, Enforcement
and Compliance, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of
Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone:
(202) 482–3477.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
AGENCY:
subject merchandise, Villares Metals
S.A. (Villares). We gave interested
parties an opportunity to comment on
the Preliminary Results, and we
received a case brief from Villares.2 We
did not receive a rebuttal brief.
Commerce exercised its discretion to
toll all deadlines affected by the partial
federal government closure from
December 22, 2018, through the
resumption of operations on January 29,
2019.3 If the new deadline falls on a
non-business day, in accordance with
Commerce’s practice, the deadline will
become the next business day.
Accordingly, the revised deadline for
the final results of this review is now
April 9, 2019.
Commerce conducted this review in
accordance with section 751(a)(1)(B)
and (2) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as
amended (the Act).
enforcement.trade.gov/frn/. A list of the
topics discussed in the Issues and
Decision Memorandum is attached as an
Appendix to this notice.
Scope of the Order
The merchandise subject to the order
is SSB. The SSB subject to the order is
currently classifiable under subheadings
7222.10.00, 7222.11.00, 7222.19.00,
7222.20.00, 7222.30.00 of the
Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the
United States (HTSUS). Although the
HTSUS subheadings are provided for
convenience and customs purposes, the
written description of the scope of the
order is dispositive. A full description
of the scope of the order is contained tin
the Issues and Decision Memorandum.4
Villares Metals S.A ...............
Analysis of Comments Received
The issue raised by Villares in its case
brief has been addressed in the Issues
and Decision Memorandum. The Issues
and Decision Memorandum is a public
document and is made available to the
public via Enforcement and
Compliance’s Antidumping and
Countervailing Duty Centralized
Electronic Service System (ACCESS).
ACCESS is available to registered users
at https://access.trade.gov and is
available to all parties in the Central
Records Unit, Room B8024 of the main
Department of Commerce building. In
addition, a complete version of the
Issues and Decision Memorandum can
be accessed directly on the Enforcement
and Compliance website at https://
jbell on DSK30RV082PROD with NOTICES
Background
On October 31, 2018, Commerce
published the Preliminary Results of the
administrative review of the
antidumping duty order on SSB from
Brazil.1 The administrative review
covers one producer or exporter of the
1 See Stainless Steel Bar from Brazil: Preliminary
Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative
Review; 2017–2018, 83 FR 54715 (October 31, 2018)
(Preliminary Results).
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Jkt 247001
2 See Villares’ case brief, ‘‘Stainless Steel Bar from
Brazil: Case Brief of Villares Metals SA,’’ dated
November 30, 2018.
3 See Memorandum, ‘‘Deadlines Affected by the
Partial Shutdown of the Federal Government,’’
dated January 28, 2019. All deadlines in this
segment of the proceeding have been extended by
40 days.
4 See Memorandum, ‘‘Stainless Steel Bar from
Brazil: Issues and Decision Memorandum for the
Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative
Review,’’ dated concurrently with, and hereby
adopted by, this notice.
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Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Changes Since the Preliminary Results
We did not make any changes for
these final results.
Final Results of the Administrative
Review
We determine that the following
weighted-average dumping margin
exists for Villares for the period of
February 1, 2017, through August 8,
2017.
Producer or exporter
Weightedaverage
dumping
margin
(percent)
1.67
Assessment
In accordance with section
751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, 19 CFR
351.212(b)(1), and the Final
Modification,5 Commerce intends to
instruct U.S. Customs and Border
Protection (CBP) to assess antidumping
duties and liquidate all appropriate
entries for Villares covered by this
review. For Villares, we calculated
importer-specific assessment rates on
the basis of the ratio of the total amount
of dumping duties calculated for each
importer’s examined sales and the total
entered value of the sales in accordance
with 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1).6
For entries of subject merchandise
during the POR produced by Villares for
which it did not know its merchandise
was destined for the United States, we
will instruct CBP to liquidate
unreviewed entries at the all-others rate
if there is no rate for the intermediate
company involved in the transaction.
We intend to issue instructions to CBP
15 days after publication of the final
results of this review.
Cash Deposit Requirements
In the Revocation Notice, Commerce
stated that it intends to issue
instructions to CBP to terminate the
suspension of liquidation and to
discontinue the collection of cash
deposits on entries of subject
merchandise, entered or withdrawn
from warehouse, on or after August 9,
5 See Antidumping Proceedings: Calculation of
the Weighted-Average Dumping Margin and
Assessment Rate in Certain Antidumping Duty
Proceedings; Final Modification, 77 FR 8101, 8102
(February 14, 2012) (Final Modification).
6 Id.
E:\FR\FM\12APN1.SGM
12APN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 71 (Friday, April 12, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14911-14912]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-07345]
========================================================================
Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
========================================================================
Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 71 / Friday, April 12, 2019 /
Notices
[[Page 14911]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Rural Utilities Service
Broadband Pilot (ReConnect) Program
AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, Department of Agriculture.
ACTION: Notice; amendment to Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and
solicitation of applications and program updates.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) published a Funding
Opportunity Announcement (FOA) and solicitation of applications in the
Federal Register on Friday, December 14, 2018, announcing its general
policy and application procedures for funding under the broadband pilot
program (ReConnect) established pursuant to the Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2018 which provides loans, grants, and loan/grant
combinations to facilitate broadband deployment in rural areas. Since
the publication of the FOA, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019
(2019 Appropriations Act) became law on February 15, 2019. The purpose
of this notice is to inform the public of changes made to the ReConnect
Program, specifically the updated service area eligibility policies,
pursuant to the 2019 Appropriations Act, and other program updates.
DATES: Actions described in this notice take effect April 12, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general inquiries regarding the
ReConnect Program, contact Chad Parker, Assistant Administrator
Telecommunications Program, Rural Utilities Service, U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA), email: [email protected], telephone (202)
720-9554. For inquiries regarding eligible service areas, please
contact ReConnect Program Staff at https://www.usda.gov/reconnect/contact-us.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On December 14, 2018, RUS published a Funding Opportunity
Announcement (FOA) and solicitation of applications in the Federal
Register at 83 FR 64315. The FOA provided the policy and application
procedures for the ReConnect Program. In support of the ReConnect
Program, the agency also established an eligibility area map and
application mapping tool designed to assist in the determination of
service area eligibility across the United States. These tools include
four categories of data that indicate potential eligibility of rural
areas, including data on the CAF II--Auction 903 winners, non-rural
areas, pending applications, and protected broadband borrower service
areas. On Monday, February 25, 2019, the Agency published a notice in
the Federal Register (84 FR 5981) to provide the final application
windows and clarification for the ReConnect Program.
Since the publication of the December 14, 2018 FOA, the 2019
Appropriations Act became law on February 15, 2019. The 2019
Appropriations Act requires that the Agency shall, in determining
whether an entity may overbuild, or duplicate broadband expansion
efforts made by any entity that has received a broadband loan from RUS,
not consider loans that were rescinded or defaulted on, or whose loan
terms and conditions were not met, if the new entity under
consideration has not previously defaulted on, or failed to meet the
terms and conditions of, an RUS loan or had an RUS loan rescinded. To
address these issues, the actions taken in this notice will: (1) Revise
the definition of Broadband loan in the FOA, as published in the
Federal Register on December 14, 2018, as required by the 2019
Appropriations Act; (2) describe any changes to the data used in the
protected broadband service areas mapping layer and, (3) announce the
criteria by which applicants may challenge the determination of service
area eligibility. These actions are being taken by the Agency to ensure
that all eligible service areas receive fair consideration for funding
under the ReConnect Program.
Summary of Program Changes
As required by the 2019 Appropriations Act, the Broadband loan
definition in the FOA published in the Federal Register on December 14,
2018 FOA, must be revised.
On page 64316, in the first column, seventh paragraph, revise the
definition of Broadband loan to read as follows:
Broadband loan means, for the purposes of this FOA, a loan that has
been approved or is currently under review by RUS after the beginning
of Fiscal Year 2000 in the Telecommunications Infrastructure Program,
Farm Bill Broadband Program, or the Broadband Initiatives Program.
Loans that were approved and then subsequently de-obligated or
otherwise rescinded or defaulted on, or whose loan terms and conditions
have not been met are not included in this definition.
RUS is also taking further actions to ensure that all eligible
service areas receive fair consideration for funding under the
ReConnect Program. These actions are as follows:
(a) Changes to the data used in the Protected Broadband Borrower
Service Areas mapping layer. To ensure that the mapping resources
available in the ReConnect Program are consistent with the revised
definition of Broadband loan, the Agency reviewed its loan portfolio
and identified loans that were fully rescinded or are in default, or
whose loan terms and conditions were not met. Data associated with
these loans have been removed from the Protected Broadband Borrower
Service Areas mapping layer, so that the associated service areas will
not appear ineligible according to this criterion. Both the eligibility
area map and the application mapping tool have been updated to reflect
these removals.
(b) Criteria by which applicants may challenge the determination of
service area eligibility. To enhance the accuracy of the ReConnect
Program's mapping resources, the Agency acknowledges the value of the
applicant's analysis of broadband access available in a given service
area. Therefore, an applicant may challenge the protected status of a
service area if the applicant believes that at least 75 percent of the
households in the part of the proposed funded service area in which
they are seeking ReConnect funds are not receiving broadband service at
the level for which an original RUS broadband loan was made. Note that
the lack of 10/1 Mbps in the service territory of older broadband loans
does not purport to non-compliance with their loan
[[Page 14912]]
agreement, due to then, existing service requirements. At the time the
challenge is made, the original RUS broadband loan must have been
rescinded, defaulted on, or the terms and conditions of the original
loan must not have been met.
(c) Until further changes to a challenge system can be made in
future rounds of funding, for the present round of funding, these
challenges will only be considered when submitted with an application
for ReConnect funding. Additionally, the agency will only validate the
challenge if the application is determined to be complete, feasible,
and, if applicable, scored high enough for funding consideration. The
agency will assess the ability to expand its challenge process for
future rounds of funding.
Dated: March 28, 2019.
Bette B. Brand,
Acting Administrator, Rural Utilities Service.
[FR Doc. 2019-07345 Filed 4-11-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE P
