Department of Commerce October 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS announces the availability of a 5-year review of the U.S. DPS of smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) as required by the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). The U.S. DPS of smalltooth sawfish is listed as endangered under the ESA. Based on the best available scientific and commercial data, our 5-year review indicates that the U.S. DPS of smalltooth sawfish should remain listed as endangered species because it is in danger of extinction throughout its range. Therefore, the 5-year review recommends no change in listing.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Technology Innovation Program (TIP) announces that it is seeking white papers from any interested party, including academia; Federal, State, and local governments; industry; national laboratories; professional organizations/societies, and others. White papers will be used to identify and select areas of critical national need and the associated technical challenges to be addressed in future TIP competitions.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is soliciting public comment on a proposed revision to Voluntary Product Standard (PS) 2-04, Performance Standard for Wood-Based Structural-Use Panels. This revised standard, PS 2-10, was prepared by the Standing Committee for PS 2 and establishes requirements, for those who choose to adhere to the standard, for the structural criteria to assess the acceptability of wood-based structural-use panels for construction sheathing and single-floor applications. It also provides a basis for common understanding among the producers, distributors, and the users of these products. Interested parties are invited to review the proposed standard and submit comments to NIST.

The Department of Commerce (the Department) is currently conducting two new shipper reviews (NSRs) of the antidumping duty order on certain preserved mushrooms from the People's Republic of China (PRC) \1\ covering the period of review (POR) February 1, 2009, through January 31, 2010. We preliminarily determine that the sales made by Shandong Fengyu Edible Fungus Co., Ltd. (Fengyu) and by Zhangzhou Tongfa Foods Industry Co., Ltd. (Tongfa), were not made below normal value (NV). If these preliminary results are adopted in our final results of this review, we will instruct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to liquidate entries of merchandise exported by Fengyu and Tongfa during the POR without regard to antidumping duties.

On October 12, 2010, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce (the Department) signed the final results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on brass sheet and strip (BSS) from Germany for the period of review (POR) March 1, 2008, through February 28, 2009. In preparing documentation for the release to the interested parties, we noted that we had inadvertently referred to business proprietary information (BPI) in explaining the Department's position for certain comments discussed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum accompanying the final results of the instant review. This error was discovered prior to publication in the Federal Register; therefore, the Department did not publish the original notice or place the Issues and Decision memorandum on the Import Administration Web site. In order to ensure that such BPI is not inappropriately released to any party, we have amended the accompanying Issues and Decision memorandum to remove BPI. The original Department's position containing the BPI information for Comments 1 and 5 are included as BPI in the Cost and Sales Calculation Memorandum for reference.\1\ There was no substantive change to the Department's positions associated with this change. The original signed notice of final results of the instant review was public in its entirety. We have adopted the entire original notice below correcting only the citation to the Issues and Decision Memorandum. This notice is being published in place of the original.

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) will hold a three-day meeting on Tuesday through Thursday, November 16-18, 2010 to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, Title 5 United States Code (U.S.C.) 552a(e)(4) and (11); and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, Appendix I, ``Federal Agency Responsibilities for Maintaining Records About Individuals'', the Department of Commerce is issuing an amendment to a notice of intent to amend the system of records under COMMERCE/CENSUS-8, Statistical Administrative Records System published previously on March 25, 2009. This amendment would change certain provisions concerning the purpose of the system of records, categories of individuals and records covered by the system, retrievability, and safeguards for the records in the system; in addition to minor administrative updates. Accordingly, the COMMERCE/CENSUS-8, Statistical Administrative Records System notice published in the Federal Register on January 20, 2000 (65 FR 3202), is amended as below. We invite public comment on the system amendment announced in this publication.

Notice is hereby given that individuals and institutions have been issued Letters of Confirmation for activities conducted under the General Authorization for Scientific Research on marine mammals. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for a list of names and addresses of recipients.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council's (NPFMC) Gulf of Alaska (GOA) and Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands (BS/AI) Groundfish plan teams will meet in Seattle, WA.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (MAFMC) Summer Flounder Monitoring Committee, Scup Monitoring Committee, Black Sea Bass Monitoring Committee, and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Council's and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's Sumer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Advisors will hold public meetings.

The ONMS is seeking applications for the following vacant seats on the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council: Marine Business and Industry, and Citizen-at Large. Both a primary and alternate member will be selected for each of the two seats. 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. Applicants who are chosen as members should expect to serve three-year terms, pursuant to the council's charter.

Notice is hereby given that the Estuarine Reserves Division, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce is announcing a thirty day comment period for the revised management plans of the North Inlet-Winyah Bay, SC National Estuarine Research Reserve and the San Francisco Bay, CA National Estuarine Research Reserve. The revised management plan for the North Inlet-Winyah Bay, SC National Estuarine Research Reserve outlines the administrative structure; the education, training, stewardship, and research programs of the reserve; and the plans for future land acquisition and facility development to support reserve operations. The goals described in this plan are designed to provide a framework that supports program integration based on priority issues defined by the reserve. The objectives described in this plan are designed to address the most critical coastal issues in North Inlet-Winyah Bay such as impacts from coastal and watershed development, climate events on coastal ecosystems and human communities, and invasive species impacts on habitat loss and biodiversity. Since the last approved management plan in 1992, the reserve has become fully staffed; added a Coastal Training Program that delivers science-based information to key decision makers; and added significant monitoring of emergent marsh vegetation, invasive species, water quality, and bird populations. In addition to programmatic and staffing advances, the reserve upgraded its headquarters building with a 4500 square foot structure to support research, stewardship, and the coastal training programs that includes six offices, a monitoring lab, and library. In cooperation with the Belle W. Baruch Foundation, a 12,500 square foot education facility was developed to support reserve educational programs and includes interpretive exhibits, aquaria, classrooms, and education staff offices, as well as an outdoor classroom. This plan can be accessed for review at https:// www.northinlet.sc.edu. The revised management plan for the San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve outlines a framework of overarching goals and program specific objectives that will guide the education, training, research, and developing stewardship programs of the reserve; describes land acquisition and boundary expansion; as well as outlines plans for facility use and development to support reserve operations. The goals and objectives put forth in this plan focus programmatic efforts on four critical issues that affect the reserve's ability to conserve ecological communities in support of the Bay's growing population: climate change, species interactions, water quality, and habitat restoration. Broadly, the goals for each of these issues include increasing knowledge, understanding effects, and improving the ability of partners and stakeholders to respond to these issues. The goals described in this plan are designed to provide a framework that supports program integration for collaborative management of the San Francisco Bay Reserve. Since the last approved management plan in 2003, the reserve has a full complement of core staff; established a research lab, fully operational System-wide Monitoring Program, and Graduate Research Fellowship Program; added a Coastal Training Program that delivers science-based information to key decision makers; developed education programs focused on sharing estuarine research with non-academic audiences; and constructed facilities to support essential functions of the reserve at its headquarters on the Romberg Tiburon Center campus of San Francisco State University. These facilities include office space for staff, classroom space, laboratory, and meeting facilities. The reserve has also constructed facilities and interpretive exhibits at its components sites, China Camp State Park and Rush Ranch Open Space Preserve, that support on-site research and educational programs. This plan can be accessed for review at https://www.sfbaynerr.org.

NMFS proposes quotas for the Atlantic surfclam and ocean quahog fisheries for 2011, 2012, and 2013. Regulations governing these fisheries require NMFS to publish the proposed quota specifications for the 2011-2013 fishing years and seek public comment on such proposed measures. The intent of this action is to propose allowable harvest levels of Atlantic surfclams and ocean quahogs from the Exclusive Economic Zone to prevent overfishing and to allow harvesting of optimum yield (OY).

On April 21, 2010, the Department of Commerce (``Department'') published the preliminary results in the 2008-2009 antidumping duty administrative review of magnesium metal from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'').\1\ The period of review (``POR'') is April 1, 2008, through March 31, 2009. We have determined that Tianjin Magnesium International Co., Ltd. (``TMI''), the only respondent in this review, made sales in the United States at prices below normal value (``NV''). There are no other respondents covered by this review. We invited interested parties to comment on our Preliminary Results. Based on our analysis of the comments received, we made changes to our margin calculations for TMI. The final dumping margin for this review is listed in the ``Final Results Margins'' section below.

On April 27, 2010, the U.S. Department of Commerce (the Department) published a notice of initiation of an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain hot-rolled flat-rolled carbon quality steel flat products (hot-rolled steel) from Brazil. The review covers four producers/exporters of hot-rolled steel from Brazil, all mandatory respondents. Based on the withdrawal of requests from Nucor Corporation (Nucor) and United States Steel Corporation (U.S. Steel), domestic producers of hot-rolled steel, we are now rescinding this administrative review in full.

As a result of the determinations by the Department of Commerce (``Department'') and the International Trade Commission (``ITC'') that revocation of the antidumping duty order on potassium permanganate from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'') would likely lead to a continuation or recurrence of dumping and material injury to an industry in the United States, the Department is publishing a notice of continuation of the antidumping duty order.

We, NMFS, issue a final determination to list the southern distinct population segment (DPS) of the spotted seal (Phoca largha) as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Because the southern DPS occurs outside the United States, no critical habitat is proposed for designation.

NMFS announces the availability of the Proposed Upper Willamette River Conservation and Recovery Plan for Chinook Salmon and Steelhead (Plan) for public review and comment. The Plan describes the recovery strategies and actions needed to recover the Upper Willamette River Chinook (Oncorhynchus tschawytscha) Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU) and Upper Willamette River steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) Distinct Population Segment (DPS) to viable levels and addresses the human and natural factors that originally led to the threatened listing of these species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). NMFS is soliciting review and comment from the public and all interested parties on the proposed Plan.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council will hold a meeting of its Habitat and Environmental Protection (Habitat) Advisory Panel in North Charleston, SC.

The Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, NMFS, (Assistant Administrator) has renewed the affirmative finding for the Government of El Salvador under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). This affirmative finding will allow yellowfin tuna harvested in the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean (ETP) in compliance with the International Dolphin Conservation Program (IDCP) by El Salvadorian-flag purse seine vessels or purse seine vessels operating under El Salvadorian jurisdiction to be imported into the United States. The affirmative finding was based on review of documentary evidence submitted by the Government of El Salvador and obtained from the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and the U.S. Department of State.