Department of Commerce April 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS has received an application from Shell Offshore, Inc. (SOI) for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take small numbers of marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting open-water offshore exploratory drilling on Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil lease blocks in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska. Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to SOI to incidentally take, by Level B harassment, small numbers of several species of marine mammals between mid-July and November, 2007, incidental to conducting this drilling program.

NMFS has received an application from Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals incidental to conducting a low-energy marine seismic survey in the northeastern Indian Ocean during May-August 2007. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to SIO to incidentally take, by Level B harassment only, several species of marine mammals during the aforementioned activity.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold a meeting of its Rock Shrimp Advisory Panel and Golden Crab Advisory Panel, in Charleston, SC.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Salmon Bycatch Workgroup will meet in Anchorage, AK.

The Department of Commerce, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

NIST's Advanced Technology Program (ATP) announces that it will hold a single fiscal year 2007 ATP competition and is soliciting proposals for financial assistance. ATP also announces that it will hold public meetings (Proposers' Conferences) for all interested parties. ATP is soliciting proposals in all technology areas (Competition Number 2007-A) as well as the following four broad Crosscutting Areas of National Interest: (1) Technologies for Advanced and Complex Systems (Competition Number 2007-B), (2) Challenges in Advanced Materials and Devices (Competition Number 2007- C), (3) 21st Century Manufacturing (Competition Number 2007-D), and (4) Nanotechnology (Competition Number 2007-E). Details regarding these four broad Crosscutting Areas of National Interest are included in the Federal Funding Opportunity announcement available at https:// www.grants.gov. ATP provides cost-shared multi-year funding to single companies and to industry-led joint ventures to accelerate the development and dissemination of challenging, high risk technologies with the potential for significant commercial payoffs and widespread benefits for the nation. This unique government-industry partnership aids companies in accelerating the development of emerging or enabling technologies that lead to revolutionary new products and industrial processes and services that can compete in rapidly changing world markets. ATP challenges the research and development (R&D) community to take on higher technical risk with commensurately higher potential payoffs for the nation than they would otherwise pursue.

The President's Export Council will hold a meeting via teleconference to deliberate a draft recommendation to the President regarding Trade Promotion Authority. Date: April 24, 2007. Time: 12 p.m. (EDST). For the Conference Call-In Number and Further Information, Contact: The President's Export Council Executive Secretariat, Room 4043, Washington, DC 20230 (Phone: 202-482-1124), or visit the PEC Web site, https://www.ita.doc.gov/td/pec.

NMFS issues a proposed rule to establish catch accounting requirements for persons who receive, buy, or accept Pacific whiting (whiting) deliveries of 4,000 pounds (lb) (1.18 mt) or more from vessels using mid-water trawl gear during the primary whiting season. This action would improve NMFS's ability to effectively monitor the whiting fishery such that catch of whiting and incidentally caught species, including overfished groundfish species, do not result in a species' optimum yield (OY), harvest guideline, allocations, or bycatch limits being exceeded. This action would also provide for timely reporting of Chinook salmon take as specified in the Endangered Species Act (ESA) Section 7 Biological Opinion for Chinook salmon catch in the Pacific groundfish fishery. This action is consistent with the conservation goals and objectives of the Pacific Coast Groundfish Fishery Management Plan (FMP).

In response to requests from interested parties, the Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting the first administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain tissue paper (tissue paper) from the People's Republic of China (PRC). The period of review (POR) is September 21, 2004, through February 28, 2006. We have preliminarily determined that two of the three respondents made sales of the subject merchandise at prices below normal value.

The Department of Commerce (``the Department'') preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of coated free sheet paper (``CFS paper'') from the Republic of Korea (``Korea''). For information on the estimated subsidy rates, see the ``Suspension of Liquidation'' section of this notice.

The Department of Commerce preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of coated free sheet paper from the People's Republic of China. For information on the estimated subsidy rates, see the ``Suspension of Liquidation'' section of this notice. The version released on Friday, March 30, 2007, contained a ``Benchmarks'' section that was intended to be deleted from the final version because it was duplicative, so this amended preliminary determination corrects that error. This error was discovered prior to publication in the Federal Register, consequently, this amendment is being published in its place.

The Department of Commerce (``Department'') received timely requests to conduct administrative reviews of the antidumping duty orders on certain frozen warmwater shrimp (``shrimp'') from Brazil, Ecuador, India and Thailand. The anniversary month of these orders is February. In accordance with 19 CFR 351.222 of the Department's regulations, we are initiating these administrative reviews.

In accordance with provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that Incidental Harassment Authorizations (IHAs) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting seismic operations in the northwest portion of Cook Inlet, Alaska, have been issued to ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc. (CPAI) and Union Oil Company of California (UOCC) for a period between mid-March and mid-June, 2007.

Notice is hereby given that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (Kathryn Hattala, Principal Investigator), 21 South Putt Corners Road; New Paltz, New York 12561, has been issued a modification to scientific research Permit Number 1547.

Census tracts are relatively permanent small-area geographic divisions of a county or statistically equivalent entity \1\ defined for the tabulation of decennial census data and selected other statistical programs. Census tracts also will be used to tabulate and publish estimates from the American Community Survey (ACS) \2\ after 2010. The primary goal of the census tract program is to provide a set of nationally consistent small, statistical geographic units, with stable boundaries, that facilitate analysis of data across time.

CCDs and equivalent entities are statistical geographic entities established cooperatively by the Bureau of the Census (Census Bureau) and officials of state and local governments in 22 states \1\ where minor civil divisions (MCDs) either do not exist or are unsatisfactory for reporting decennial census data. The primary goal of the CCD program has been to establish and maintain a set of subcounty \2\ units that have stable boundaries and recognizable names.

NMFS and the Minerals Management Service (MMS) announce the availability of a Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (Draft PEIS) for Seismic Surveys in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, Alaska and the times, dates, and locations for public hearings in order to receive comments from the public on the Draft PEIS.

Notice is hereby given that Grants Pass Irrigation District (GPID), 200 Fruitvale Drive, Grants Pass, Oregon, has applied in due form for an incidental take permit for Southern Oregon/Northern California coho salmon for purposes of the continued operation and maintenance of Savage Rapids Dam. Unlisted covered species include Klamath Mountains Province (KMP) steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Southern Oregon/Northern California Coastal (SONCC) Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha).