Department of Commerce 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) Salmon Advisory Subpanel (SAS) will hold a work session by telephone conference, which is open to the public, to develop recommendations for the November 2007 Council meeting.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold a joint meeting of its Habitat and Environmental Protection Advisory Panel and Coral Advisory Panel in Charleston, SC. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION.

NMFS is opening directed fishing for groundfish by vessels using trawl gear in the Gulf of Alaska (GOA), effective 1200 hrs, Alaska local time, October 10, 2007. This action is necessary to fully use the 2007 Pacific halibut prohibited species catch (PSC) limit specified for vessels using trawl gear in the GOA.

NMFS announces the meeting of the General Advisory Committee to the U.S. Section to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) on November 2, 2007.

The NOAA Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) announces its intent to evaluate the performance of the Grand Bay (Mississippi) National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Alabama Coastal Management Program, and the Virgin Islands Coastal Management Program. The Coastal Zone Management Program evaluations will be conducted pursuant to section 312 of the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended (CZMA) and regulations at 15 CFR Part 923, Subpart L. The National Estuarine Research Reserve evaluation will be conducted pursuant to sections 312 and 315 of the CZMA and regulations at 15 CFR part 921, subpart E and part 923, subpart L. The CZMA requires continuing review of the performance of states with respect to coastal program implementation. Evaluation of Coastal Management Programs and National Estuarine Research Reserves requires findings concerning the extent to which a state has met the national objectives, adhered to its Coastal Management Program document or Reserve final management plan approved by the Secretary of Commerce, and adhered to the terms of financial assistance awards funded under the CZMA. Each evaluation will include a site visit, consideration of public comments, and consultations with interested Federal, State, and local agencies and members of the public. A public meeting will be held as part of each site visit. Notice is hereby given of the dates of the site visits for the listed evaluations, and the dates, local times, and locations of the public meetings during the site visits. Dates and Times: The Grand Bay (Mississippi) National Estuarine Research Reserve evaluation site visit will be held November 27-30, 2007. One public meeting will be held during the week. The public meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 27, 2007, at 6:30 p.m. at the East Jackson County/Orange Grove Community Center, 9313 Old Stage Road, Moss Point, Mississippi. The Alabama Coastal Management Program evaluation site visit will be held December 3-7, 2007. One public meeting will be held during the week. The public meeting will be held on Monday, December 3, 2007, at 5:30 p.m. at 5 RiversAlabama's Delta Resource Center, Tensaw Theater, 309455 Rivers Boulevard, Spanish Fort, Alabama. The Virgin Islands Coastal Management Program evaluation site visit will be held December 3-7, 2007. Three public meetings will be held during the week. The first public meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 4, 2007, at 6 p.m. at the Cyril E. King Airport Terminal Building, Second Floor, Department of Planning and Natural Resources Conference Room, 8100 Lindberg Bay, St. Thomas. The second public meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 5, 2007, at 6 p.m. at the Henry Rohlsen Airport, Second Floor, Port Authority Conference Room, St. Croix. The third public meeting will be held on Thursday, December 6, 2007, at 6 p.m. at the St. John Legislature Conference Room, 109 Enigned Contant, St. John.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), 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 the continuing information collection, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)).

The Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary (OCNMS or sanctuary) is seeking applicants for the following vacant seats on its Sanctuary Advisory Council (council): Citizen-at-large member and alternate, Tourism/Chamber of Commerce/Recreation member and alternate, and Conservation/Environmental member and alternate. Applicants are chosen based upon their particular expertise and experience in relation to the seat for which they are applying; community and professional affiliations; philosophy regarding the protection and management of marine resources; and possibly the length of residence in the area affected by the sanctuary. The terms of the seats are for three years with the exception of the Conservation/Environmental seat which has one year remaining on an unexpired term.

Notice is hereby given that NMFS Southwest Fisheries Science Center, Antarctic Marine Living Resources Program (Rennie Holt, Ph.D., Principal Investigator), 8604 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037 has been issued an amendment to scientific research Permit No. 774- 1847-01.

Swagelok Company (Swagelok), an interested party, filed a request for the Department to initiate a changed circumstances review of the antidumping duty order on stainless steel bar from the United Kingdom. Carpenter Technology Corp., Crucible Specialty Metals Division of Crucible Materials Corp., Electralloy Corp., North American Stainless, Universal Stainless & Alloy Products, Inc., and Valbruna Slater Stainless, Inc. (collectively the Domestic Industry) submitted a letter to the Department expressing a lack of interest in continuing to have the product in question subject to the antidumping duty order. The Domestic Industry also stated that it is a major domestic producer of stainless steel bar. Therefore, we are notifying the public of our intent to revoke, in part, the antidumping duty order as it relates to imports of SAF 2507 grade stainless steel bar from the United Kingdom. Interested parties are invited to comment on these preliminary results.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (Office) published a final rule in the Federal Register of September 10, 2007, revising the rules of practice in title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) to conform them to certain amendments made to the Regulations under the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) that took effect on April 1, 2007. This document corrects errors in that final rule.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is publishing examination guidelines for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 in view of the Supreme Court decision in KSR International Co. v. Teleflex Inc. These guidelines will assist USPTO personnel to make a proper determination of obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 and to provide an appropriate supporting rationale.

NMFS announces rescission of the closure previously issued for the State of Connecticut. This notification is consistent with Connecticut's announcement to reopen the commercial summer flounder fishery within State waters, effective September 24, 2007. The rescission of this closure is due to catch accounting corrections that have reduced previously reported landings in Connecticut. The public is advised that landings are allowed for summer flounder Federal permit holders until it is determined that the quota has been fully harvested.

Notice is hereby given that Samuel Wasser, University of Washington, Box 351800, Seattle, WA 98195, has applied for a scientific research permit (File No. 10045) and Kenneth Balcomb, Center for Whale Studies, P.O. Box 1577, Friday Harbor, WA 98250, has requested an amendment to scientific research Permit No. 532-1822-02.

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.

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council will convene a public meeting of the Habitat Protection Advisory Panel (AP).

NMFS is prohibiting directed fishing for Atka mackerel in the Western Aleutian District of the Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands management area (BSAI). This action is necessary to prevent exceeding the 2007 Atka mackerel total allowable catch (TAC) in the Western Aleutian District of the BSAI.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is seeking public comment on whether the operation of the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC), in conjunction with the cumulative effects of market changes and Federal programs, has had an effect on residential, agricultural, process and nonfuel users of propane. This notice of inquiry is part of an effort to collect information to fulfill requirements under the Propane Education and Research Act of 1996 that established PERC and requires the Secretary of Commerce to assess the impact of PERC's activities on propane consumers.

On June 4, 2007, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published the preliminary results of its fifth administrative review of the antidumping duty order on steel concrete reinforcing bars (rebar) from Latvia. This review covers sales of rebar with respect to one producer of the subject merchandise, Joint Stock Company Liepajas Metalurgs (LM). The period of review (POR) is September 1, 2005, through August 31, 2006. We provided interested parties with an opportunity to comment on the preliminary results of this review, but received no comments. The final results do not differ from the preliminary results of this review. We will instruct the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to assess importer-specific antidumping duties on the subject merchandise exported by LM.

On June 1, 2007, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published in the Federal Register the notice of initiation of the first five-year sunset review of the countervailing duty order on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film from India, pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). See Initiation of Five-Year (``Sunset'') Reviews, 72 FR 30544 (June 1, 2007) (Initiation). On the basis of notices of intent to participate and adequate substantive responses filed on behalf of domestic interested parties, and inadequate responses from respondent interested parties (in this case, neither the Government of India nor any of the respondent companies covered by the order provided a response), the Department conducted an expedited sunset review of these orders pursuant to section 751(c)(3)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.218(e)(1)(ii)(B) and (C). As a result of this sunset review, the Department finds that revocation of the countervailing duty order is likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of countervailable subsidies at the levels indicated in the ``Final Results of Review'' section of this notice.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) announces the adoption of an Endangered Species Act (ESA) recovery plan for the Upper Columbia River Spring-Run Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) and the Upper Columbia River steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) distinct population segment (DPS). The Upper Columbia Spring Chinook Salmon and Steelhead Recovery Plan (the Plan) contains 27 appendices.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council's (Council) Salmon Technical Team (STT), Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) Salmon Subcommittee, and Model Evaluation Workgroup (MEW) will hold a joint work session to review proposed salmon methodology changes, which is open to the public.