Department of Commerce September 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

NMFS advises interested parties of Tumalo Irrigation District's (TID) application for an incidental take permit, pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, (ESA). The requested 50-year permit would authorize the incidental take of Middle Columbia River Steelhead in the Deschutes River basin that may occur from irrigation activities and construction of water conservation projects implemented by TID. NMFS is requesting comments on the permit application and on Tumalo Irrigation District's low effect Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP). The application and HCP are available for public review.

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.

NMFS, Southeast Region, in collaboration with the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils (Councils) intends to prepare a SEIS to describe and analyze a range of alternatives for management actions to be included in Amendment 11 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Spiny Lobster Resources of the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic (FMP). These actions will consider closed areas for lobster fishing to protect Acropora corals and lobster trap line-marking requirements. The purpose of this NOI is to solicit public comments on the scope of issues to be addressed in the SEIS.

On April 21, 2011, the Department of Commerce published the preliminary results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain polyester staple fiber from Taiwan. The period of review is May 1, 2009, through April 30, 2010. We gave interested parties an opportunity to comment on the preliminary results. We received comments from Far Eastern New Century Corporation. The final weighted-average dumping margin for Far Eastern New Century Corporation is listed below in the ``Final Results of the Review'' section of this notice.

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

NMFS announces that the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) has submitted Amendment 16 to the Pacific Coast Salmon Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for Secretarial review. Amendment 16 would modify the FMP to implement National Standard 1 Guidelines (NS1Gs) adopted by NMFS under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act (MSRA). These guidelines are intended to prevent and end overfishing and rebuild fisheries through implementation of status determination criteria, overfishing limits, annual catch limits, and accountability measures. Amendment 16 would also set new conservation objectives and de minimis fishing rate provisions.

NMFS has received an application from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (L-DEO), a part of Columbia University, for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to conducting a marine geophysical survey in the central Pacific Ocean, November through December, 2011. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to L-DEO to incidentally harass, by Level B harassment only, 20 species of marine mammals during the specified activity.

The United States Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service (CS) is publishing this supplement to the Notice of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Executive Business Development Mission, 76 FR, No. 140, July 21, 2011, to clarify eligibility and amend the Notice to revise the dates and provide for selection of applicants on a rolling basis.

This notice announces the National Marine Fisheries Service's (NMFS) intent to prepare an EIS and FMP Amendment that would consider catch shares for the Atlantic shark fisheries. NMFS published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) on September 20, 2010, that provided background information and requested public comment on potential adjustments to the regulations governing the U.S. Atlantic shark fisheries to address several specific issues currently affecting management of the shark fisheries and to identify specific goals for management of the fisheries in the future. NMFS received comments on a variety of modifications to the existing management structure for the Atlantic shark fisheries, including programs such as catch shares, limited access privilege programs (LAPPs), individual fishing quotas (IFQs), and/or sectors. The purpose of this Notice of Intent (NOI) is to establish a control date for eligibility to participate in an Atlantic shark catch share program, announce the availability of a white paper describing design elements of catch share programs in general and issues specific to the Atlantic shark fisheries, announce a catch share workshop at the upcoming HMS Advisory Panel meeting, and request public comment on the implementation of catch shares in the Atlantic shark fisheries.

Notice is hereby given that NMFS has received applications for section 10(a)(1)(A) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) scientific research permits from FISHBIO Environmental, LLC (FISHBIO) in Oakdale, CA (16531), and California Department of Water Resources Environmental Services (DWR-ES), in West Sacramento, CA (16543). This document serves to notify the public of availability of the permit applications for review and comment.

NMFS has issued permit 15926 to UC Davis Department of Animal Science Genomic Variation Laboratory [Responsible Party: Dr. Bernie P. May], Department of Animal Science, University of California, Davis, One Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616; and permit 16083 to Natural Resource Scientists, Incorporated [Responsible Party: Dave A. Vogel], P.O. Box 1210, Red Bluff, CA 96080; for purposes of scientific research.

On September 1, 2010, the Department of Commerce (the Department) initiated its third sunset review of the antidumping duty order on polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip (PET film) from the Republic of Korea. Pursuant to section 751(c) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) determined that revocation of the existing antidumping duty order on polyethylene terephthalate film, sheet, and strip from the Republic of Korea would not be likely to lead to continuation or recurrence of material injury to an industry in the United States within a reasonably foreseeable time. Therefore, pursuant to section 751(d)(2) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.222(i)(1)(iii), the Department is revoking the antidumping duty order on PET film from the Republic of Korea.

Below is a listing of individuals who are eligible to serve on the Performance Review Board (PRB) in accordance with the Economics and Statistics Administration's Senior Executive Service and Senior Professional Performance Management Systems: William G. Bostic, Jr., Arnold A. Jackson, Theodore A. Johnson, Steven J. Jost, J. Steven Landefeld, Jennifer Madans, Marilia A. Matos, Brian E. McGrath, Thomas L. Mesenbourg, Jr., Brian C. Moyer, Nancy A. Potok, Katherine K. Wallman.

On May 27, 2011, the U.S. Department of Commerce (``the Department'') published a notice of initiation of an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on magnesium metal from the People's Republic of China (``PRC'').\1\ The review covers one manufacturer/exporter of subject merchandise from the PRC, Tianjin Magnesium International Co., Ltd. (``TMI''). The period of review (``POR'') is April 1, 2010 through March 31, 2011. Following the receipt of a certification of no shipments from TMI, and a subsequent no-shipment inquiry to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (``CBP''), on July 14, 2011, we notified all interested parties of the Department's intent to rescind this review and provided an opportunity to comment on the rescission.\2\ We received no comments. Therefore, we are rescinding this administrative review.

On June 28, 2011, the Department of Commerce (the Department) published a notice of initiation of an administrative review of the antidumping duty order on circular welded carbon steel pipes and tubes from Taiwan. The review covers eight firms. Based on a withdrawal of the requests for review of certain companies from United States Steel Corporation (Petitioner), we are now rescinding this administrative review with respect to six of those firms.

On August 30, 2011, the United States Court of International Trade (``CIT'') sustained the Department of Commerce's (``the Department'') results of redetermination as applied to respondent Shandong Rongxin Import & Export Co., Ltd. (``Rongxin'') pursuant to the CIT's remand order in Shandong Rongxin Import & Export Co., Ltd. v. United States, Court No. 09-00316, Slip Op. 11-45 (Ct. Int'l Trade April 21, 2011) (``Shandong Rongxin I''). See Final Results of Redetermination Pursuant to Remand, Court No. 09-00316, dated August 4, 2011, available at https://ia.ita.doc.gov/remands (``Second Remand Results''); Shandong Rongxin Import & Export Co., Ltd. v. United States, Court No. 09-00316, Slip Op. 11-105 (Ct. Int'l Trade August 30, 2011) (``Shandong Rongxin II''). Consistent with the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (``CAFC'') in Timken Co. v. United States, 893 F.2d 337 (Fed. Cir. 1990) (``Timken''), as clarified by Diamond Sawblades Mfrs. Coalition v. United States, 626 F.3d 1374 (Fed. Cir. 2010) (``Diamond Sawblades''), the Department is notifying the public that the final judgment in this case is not in harmony with the Department's final determination and is amending the final results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on certain cased pencils (``pencils'') from the People's Republic of China covering the period of review (``POR'') of December 1, 2006, through November 30, 2007 with respect to Rongxin. See Certain Cased Pencils from the People's Republic of China: Final Results and Partial Rescission of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 74 FR 33406 (July 13, 2009) (``Final Results'') and accompanying Issues and Decision Memorandum (``I&D Memorandum''), as amended by Certain Cased Pencils from the People's Republic of China: Amended Final Results of Antidumping Duty Administrative Review, 74 FR 45177 (September 1, 2009).

This notice sets forth the schedule and proposed agenda of a forthcoming meeting of the Sea Grant Advisory Board (Board). Board members will discuss and provide advice on the National Sea Grant College Program in the areas of program evaluation, strategic planning, education and extension, science and technology programs, and other matters as described in the agenda found on the National Sea Grant College Program Web site at https://www.seagrant.noaa.gov/leadership/ advisory_board.html.

This notice provides information on a public hearing to be held by NOAA and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) in Chicago, Illinois. The hearing involves the scope and content of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) prepared by NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. The DEIS assesses the environmental impacts associated with approval of the Illinois Coastal Management Program (ICMP). This notice also announces the opening of the public comment period on the DEIS.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) hereby makes certain changes to its regulations, which relate to the public availability of the Manual of Regulations and Procedures for Federal Radio Frequency Management (NTIA Manual). Specifically, NTIA updates the version of the Manual of Regulations and Procedures for Federal Radio Frequency Management with which federal agencies must comply when requesting use of the radio frequency spectrum.

NMFS announces a meeting of the Permanent Advisory Committee (PAC) to advise the U.S. Commissioners to the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) on October 25-October 27, 2011. Meeting topics are provided under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

NMFS closes the western zone of the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) to commercial king mackerel fishing in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). This closure is necessary to protect the Gulf king mackerel resource.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's Squid, Mackerel, Butterfish Advisory Panel will hold a public meeting.

NMFS issues a final rule under authority of the Magnuson- Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) to implement Amendment 2 to the Fishery Management Plan for U.S. West Coast Fisheries for Highly Migratory Species (HMS FMP). NMFS approved Amendment 2 on June 12, 2011. The final rule implements regulatory components specified under Amendment 2 by changing the suite of management unit species and modifying the process for revising numerical estimates of maximum sustainable yield and optimal yield, and specify status determination criteria so that overfishing and overfished determinations can be made for all management unit species. The final rule is necessary to ensure that the HMS FMP is consistent with the objectives of National Standard 1 in the MSA. National Standard 1 mandates that ``Conservation and management measures shall prevent overfishing while achieving, on a continuing basis, the optimum yield from each fishery for the U.S. fishing industry.''

On May 6, 2011, the Department of Commerce published the preliminary results of the administrative review of the antidumping duty order on magnesium metal from the Russian Federation. The period of review (POR) is April 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010. Based on our analysis of the comments received we have made changes in the margin for one company. Therefore, the final results differ from the preliminary results. The final margin is listed below in the section entitled ``Final Results of the Review.''

NMFS adjusts the differential days-at-sea (DAS) rate for common pool vessels for FY 2011 due to overages of FY 2010 catch levels. This measure will help prevent FY 2011 catch levels from being exceeded. NMFS also announces the amount of unused FY 2010 annual catch entitlement (ACE) carryover available to each sector in FY 2011, and adjusts the final number of vessels fishing in a sector in FY 2011.