Department of Commerce April 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS has received a request from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to military readiness training events and research, development, testing and evaluation (RDT&E) to be conducted in the Southern California Range Complex (SOCAL) for the period beginning January 2009 and ending January 2014. Pursuant to the implementing regulations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is announcing our receipt of the Navy's request for the development and implementation of regulations governing the incidental taking of marine mammals and inviting information, suggestions, and comments on the Navy's application and request.

The Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking (SARSAT) is responsible for keeping and maintaining a registration database for 406 MHz emergency beacons as directed by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). This database contains personally identifiable information that is required to be protected by the Privacy Act. The purpose for this system of records is to provide search and rescue (SAR) authorities with information about the user of the beacon such as the name, phone number, and emergency contact information. This information allows SAR authorities to shorten response times, and it provides a way to cancel false alerts quickly and safely; thereby, increasing safety for SAR authorities and decreasing costs to the government and the SAR system.

The Caribbean Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a meeting of its Technical Monitoring and Compliance Team (TMCT)

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is conducting an administrative review and new shipper reviews of the antidumping duty order on freshwater crawfish tail meat (crawfish) from the People's Republic of China (PRC). The period of review (POR) is September 1, 2005, through August 31, 2006. The Department published the preliminary results of these reviews on October 9, 2007. See Freshwater Crawfish Tail Meat From the People's Republic of China: Preliminary Results and Partial Rescission of the 2005-2006 Antidumping Duty Administrative Review and Preliminary Intent to Rescind 2005-2006 New Shipper Reviews, 72 FR 57288 (October 9, 2007) (Preliminary Results). We invited interested parties to comment on the Preliminary Results. After reviewing interested parties' comments, we made no changes to our calculations for the final results of review. The final dumping margins for this review are listed in the ``Final Results of Review'' section below.

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)).

Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as amended, the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) intend to serve as co-lead agencies in the preparation of a joint EIS/EIR for the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP). The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) will serve as the lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Reclamation will serve as the administrative lead for all actions related to this Federal Register Notice. The BDCP is a conservation plan being prepared to meet the requirements of the Federal Endangered Species Act (FESA), the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), and the State of California's Natural Communities Conservation Planning Act (NCCPA). DWR and State and Federal water contractors intend to apply for FESA and CESA incidental take permits (ITP) for water operations and management activities in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. These incidental take authorizations would allow the incidental take of threatened and endangered species resulting from covered activities and conservation measures that will be identified through the planning process including those associated with water operations of the Federal Central Valley Project (CVP), as operated by Reclamation, the California State Water Project (SWP), as operated by DWR, as well as operations of certain Mirant Delta LLC (Mirant Delta) power plants. Additionally, the BDCP will, if feasible, be used as the basis for FESA compliance by Reclamation, including compliance with Section 7 of FESA in coordination with FWS and NMFS. Ultimately, the BDCP is intended to secure authorizations that would allow projects that restore and protect water supply and reliability, water quality, and ecosystem health to proceed within a stable regulatory framework. On January 24, 2008, FWS and NMFS issued a NOI to conduct public scoping and prepare an EIR/EIS regarding the BDCP for the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta, California (73 FR 4178). As the BDCP effort has progressed, Reclamation has determined it has a substantive interest in the development and ultimate implementation of the BDCP. Specifically, Reclamation seeks to improve water supply reliability for its Federal water contractors, while meeting its FESA obligations. Environmental constraints, including measures to protect endangered species in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, impair that water supply reliability. The BDCP will recommend actions and conservation measures for implementation to improve both environmental conditions in the Delta and water supply reliability. Reclamation expects the recommended actions and conservation measures to include activities that are within Reclamation's responsibilities. The NOI is, therefore, being reissued to include Reclamation as a co-lead agency, update the status of the BDCP planning process, correct an error in the January 24, 2008, NOI, and to provide notice of scoping meetings. As the Federal lead agencies continue to refine the purpose and need for the project, additional public notices regarding scoping will be issued and additional scoping meetings will be held.

This announcement provides notice that the decision record has been closed for an administrative appeal filed with the Department of Commerce by AES Sparrows Point LNG, LLC and Mid-Atlantic Express, L.L.C. (collectively, AES).

NMFS proposes regulations to amend the subsistence fishery rules for Pacific halibut in waters in and off Alaska. These regulations are necessary to address subsistence halibut management concerns in densely populated areas. This action is intended to support the conservation and management provisions of the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982.

NMFS proposes a regulation to implement the annual harvest guideline (HG) for Pacific sardine in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the Pacific coast for the fishing season of January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2008. This HG has been determined according to the regulations implementing the Coastal Pelagic Species (CPS) Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and establishes allowable harvest levels for Pacific sardine off the Pacific coast.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publishes this notice to announce a 45-day public comment period for the draft report titled, U.S. Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment Product 1.3 ``Re-analyses of historical climate data for key atmospheric features. Implications for attribution of causes of observed change.'' This draft report is being released solely for the purpose of pre- dissemination peer review under applicable information quality guidelines. This document has not been formally disseminated by NOAA. It does not represent and should not be construed to represent any Agency policy or determination. After consideration of comments received on the draft report, a revised version along with the comments received will be published on the CCSP web site.

NMFS is implementing approved measures contained in Amendment 11 to the Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery Management Plan (FMP), developed by the New England Fishery Management Council (Council). Amendment 11 was developed by the Council to control the capacity of the open access general category fleet. Amendment 11 establishes a new management program for the general category scallop fishery, including a limited access program with individual fishing quotas (IFQs) for qualified general category vessels, a specific allocation for general category fisheries, and other measures to improve management of the general category scallop fishery.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) determines that imports of light-walled rectangular pipe and tube from Turkey are being, or are likely to be, sold in the United States at less than fair value, as provided in section 735 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). The final dumping margins are listed below in the section entitled ``Final Determination of Investigation.''

This proposed rule would amend the regulations governing the renewal of Atlantic tunas longline limited access permits (LAPs) and amend the workshop attendance requirements for businesses issued Atlantic shark dealer permits. Specifically, the proposed regulatory changes would allow for the renewal of Atlantic tunas longline LAPs that have been expired for more than one year, if the most recent permit holder of record originally qualified for the Atlantic tunas LAP, or if the most recent permit holder of record subsequently obtained a permit by transfer, and has maintained the associated swordfish and shark LAPs through timely renewal. Also, this rule proposes to amend the Atlantic Shark Identification Workshop requirements by: specifying that a workshop certificate be submitted and displayed for each place of business listed on the dealer permit which first receives Atlantic sharks by way of purchase, barter, or trade, rather than from each location listed on their dealer permit; and requiring that a copy of a valid workshop certificate be possessed in a truck or other conveyance serving as an extension of a dealer's business.

The Department of Commerce (``Department'') has a longstanding practice of calculating expected non-market economy (``NME'') wages for use as the surrogate value for direct labor in antidumping proceedings involving NME countries. These expected NME wages are calculated annually in accordance with the Department's regulations, See 19 CFR 351.408 (c)(3). This notice constitutes the Department's 2007 expected NME wages, which were calculated from 2005 data made available in 2007 according to the Department's revised methodology described in the Federal Register notice entitled Antidumping Methodologies: Market Economy Inputs, Expected Non-Market Economy Wages, Duty Drawback; and Request for Comments, 71 FR 61716, Oct. 19, 2006 (hereafter, the ``Antidumping Methodologies notice''), and provides the public with an opportunity to comment on potential clerical errors in the calculation.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of sodium nitrite from the People's Republic of China (PRC). For information on the countervailable subsidy rates, see the ``Suspension of Liquidation'' section of this notice. See the ``Disclosure and Public Comment'' section below for procedures on filing comments regarding this preliminary determination.