Department of Commerce July 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This interim final rule establishes limits on fishing effort by U.S. purse seine vessels in the U.S. exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and on the high seas between the latitudes of 20[deg] N. and 20[deg] S. in the area of application of the Convention on the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (Convention). The calendar year limit for 2019 is 1,616 fishing days. The calendar year limit for 2020 and subsequent years is 1,828 fishing days. This action is necessary for the United States to implement provisions of a conservation and management measure adopted by the Commission for the Conservation and Management of Highly Migratory Fish Stocks in the Western and Central Pacific Ocean (WCPFC or Commission) and to satisfy the obligations of the United States under the Convention, to which it is a Contracting Party. NMFS is seeking comments on this interim final rule and will respond to those comments in a subsequent final rule.

The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf Council) and South Atlantic Fishery Management Councils (South Atlantic Council) (Councils) have submitted Amendment 13 to the Fishery Management Plan for Spiny Lobster in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic (FMP), for review, approval, and implementation by NMFS. The purpose of Amendment 13 and this final rule is to align Federal regulations for spiny lobster that apply to the EEZ off Florida with Florida state regulations, re-establish a procedure for an enhanced cooperative management system, and update the regulations to aid law enforcement and the public.

The North Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council) Trawl Electronic Monitoring Committee will meet August 21, 2019 through August 22, 2019.

The Judges Panel of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (Judges Panel) will meet in closed session on Wednesday, August 21, 2019, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern time. The purpose of this meeting is to review the results of examiners' scoring of written applications. Panel members will vote on which applicants merit site visits by examiners to verify the accuracy of quality improvements claimed by applicants. The meeting is closed to the public in order to protect the proprietary data to be examined and discussed.

NMFS, upon request from Hilcorp Alaska LLC (Hilcorp), hereby issues regulations to govern the unintentional taking of marine mammals incidental to oil and gas activities in Cook Inlet, Alaska, over the course of five years (2019-2024). These regulations, which allow for the issuance of Letters of Authorization (LOA) for the incidental take of marine mammals during the described activities and specified timeframes, prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact on marine mammal species or stocks and their habitat, as well as requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of such taking. In accordance with the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), as amended, and implementing regulations, notification is hereby additionally given that a LOA has been issued to Hilcorp to take marine mammals incidental to oil and gas activities.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) continues to find that manufacturers/exporters of crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells, whether or not assembled into modules (solar cells), from the People's Republic of China (China) sold solar cells at less than normal value during the period of review (POR) December 1, 2016 through November 30, 2017.

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to the City of Ketchikan to incidentally harass, by Level B and Level A harassment only, marine mammals during underwater confined rock blasting activities associated with a rock pinnacle removal project in Ketchikan, Alaska.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) hereby publishes a list of scope rulings and anticircumvention determinations made between Apri1 1, 2018, and June 30, 2018, inclusive. We intend to publish future lists after the close of the next calendar quarter.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) preliminarily determines that countervailable subsidies are being provided to producers and exporters of carbon and alloy steel threaded rod (steel threaded rod) from India for the period of investigation (POI) January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2018. Interested parties are invited to comment on this preliminary determination.

NMFS implements an accountability measure (AM) for commercial blueline tilefish in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of the South Atlantic. Commercial landings of blueline tilefish are projected to reach the commercial annual catch limit (ACL) by July 30, 2019. Therefore, NMFS is closing the commercial sector for blueline tilefish in the South Atlantic EEZ at 12:01 a.m., local time, on July 30, 2019, and it will remain closed until the start of the next fishing year on January 1, 2020. This closure is necessary to protect the blueline tilefish resource.

NMFS published a final rule on June 28, 2019, to implement an electronic monitoring (EM) program for catcher vessels in the Pacific whiting fishery and fixed gear vessels in the shorebased groundfish Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) fishery. The final rule established an application process for interested vessel owners; performance standards for EM systems; requirements for vessel operators; a permitting process and standards for EM service providers; and requirements for processors (first receivers) for receiving and disposing of prohibited and protected species from EM trips. This action corrects the numbering of two paragraphs in the Code of Federal Regulations. These corrections are necessary so that the implementing regulations are accurate and implement the action as intended by the Pacific Fishery Management Council (Council).

The New England Fishery Management Council (Council) is scheduling a public meeting of its Scientific & Statistical Committee to consider actions affecting New England fisheries in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Recommendations from this group will be brought to the full Council for formal consideration and action, if appropriate.

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council's (Council) Surfclam and Ocean Quahog Committee (Committee) will hold a public meeting.

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 Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that Colakoglu Dis Ticaret A.S. (COTAS) and Colakoglu Metalurji A.S. (Colakoglu Metalurji) (collectively, Colakoglu), Icdas Celik Enerji Tersane ve Ulasim Sanayi A.S. (Icdas), and Kaptan Demir Celik Endustrisi ve Ticaret A.S. (Kaptan Demir) and Kaptan Metal Dis Ticaret Ve Nakliyat A.S. (Kaptan Metal) (collectively, Kaptan), producers and/ or exporters of steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar) from the Republic of Turkey (Turkey), received countervailable subsidies during the period of review (POR) January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. This review also covered 11 companies not individually examined, which Commerce determines received net countervailable subsidies during the POR. In addition, Commerce is rescinding the review with respect to DufEnergy Trading SA (DufEnergy), Duferco Celik Ticaret Limited (Duferco), Ekinciler Demir ve Celik Sanayi A.S. (Ekinciler), and Habas Sinai ve Tibbi Gazlar Istihsal Endustrisi A.S. (Habas).

NMFS has received an application from Orsted Wind Power LLC (Orsted) for an Incidental Harassment Authorization (IHA) to take marine mammals, by harassment, incidental to high-resolution geophysical (HRG) survey investigations associated with marine site characterization activities off the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the areas of Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) currently being leased by the Applicant's affiliates Deepwater Wind New England, LLC and Bay State Wind LLC, respectively. These are identified as OCS-A 0486, OCS-A 0487, and OCS-A 0500 (collectively referred to as the Lease Areas). Orsted is also proposing to conduct marine site characterization surveys along one or more export cable route corridors (ECRs) originating from the Lease Areas and landing along the shoreline at locations from New York to Massachusetts, between Raritan Bay (part of the New York Bight) to Falmouth, Massachusetts (see Figure 1). Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its proposal to issue an IHA to Orsted to incidentally take, by Level B harassment only, small numbers of marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorizations and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.

The Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Amendments Act of 2017 (HABHRCA) provides NOAA with authority to determine that a harmful algal bloom (HAB) or hypoxia event in marine or coastal waters is an event of national significance. NOAA may make this determination on its own initiative or upon the request of the Governor of an affected state. Following an event of national significance determination, NOAA is further authorized to make sums available to the affected state or local government for the purposes of assessing and mitigating the detrimental environmental, economic, subsistence use, and public health effects of the event of national significance. Funds would be subject to the availability of appropriations. The Federal share of the cost of any activity carried out for the purposes described above may not exceed 50 percent of the cost of that activity. NOAA is soliciting comments to inform the development of agency policy for determining HAB and hypoxia events of national significance in marine and coastal waters. NOAA will subsequently issue, in the Federal Register, notice of availability of the draft policy and provide an opportunity for formal public comment on the draft policy after it is prepared. Note that HABHRCA provides the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with comparable authority for determining freshwater hypoxia or HAB events of national significance. The EPA will issue a separate notice to solicit comments on freshwater hypoxia or HAB events.

The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has received petitions for certification of eligibility to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance from the firms listed below. Accordingly, EDA has initiated investigations to determine whether increased imports into the United States of articles like or directly competitive with those produced by each of the firms contributed importantly to the total or partial separation of the firms' workers, or threat thereof, and to a decrease in sales or production of each petitioning firm.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that Shandong Jinxiang Zhengyang Import & Export Co., Ltd. (Zhengyang) made sales of fresh garlic from the People's Republic of China (China) at less than normal value during the period of review (POR) November 1, 2016 through October 31, 2017. Commerce finds that Qingdao Sea-line International Trading Co., Ltd. (Sea-line) withheld requested information, significantly impeded the review, and did not cooperate to the best of its ability. Accordingly, pursuant to sections 776(a) and (b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), we are relying on adverse facts available. These determinations and the final dumping margins are discussed below in the ``Final Results'' section of this notice.

The Department of Commerce (Commerce) determines that Grupo Simec made sales of steel concrete reinforcing bar (rebar) from Mexico below normal value during the period of review (POR) November 1, 2016 through October 31, 2017, but Deacero S.A.P.I. de C.V. (Deacero) did not.