5330 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 23 / Wednesday, February 4, 2004 / Notices 

• Effective strategies to improve 

employment outcomes for individuals 

with disabilities. 

Priority 3—Workplace Supports and 

Job Retention: The purpose of the 

priority on workplace supports and job 

retention is to improve employment 

outcomes through the use of effective 

workplace supports and job retention 

strategies. The reference for this topic 

can be found in the Plan, chapter 3, 

Employment Outcomes: Employer Roles 

and Workplace Supports. The research 

funded under this priority must be 

designed to contribute to the following 

outcomes: 

• Improved understanding of the use 

of workplace supports, 

accommodations, and strategies across a 

variety of work settings and with 

specific disability groups; 

• Improved understanding of factors 

that impede the use of effective 

workplace supports and job retention 

strategies; and

• Identification of effective employerbased or workplace strategies or 

accommodations that improve 

employment outcomes for individuals 

with disabilities. 

Priority 4—Substance Abuse and 

Employment Outcomes: The purpose of 

the priority on substance abuse and 

employment outcomes is to improve 

employment outcomes for individuals 

with disabilities who also have 

substance abuse problems. The research 

funded under this priority must be 

designed to contribute to the following 

outcomes: 

• Effective techniques for individuals 

and agencies providing employmentrelated services to individuals with 

disabilities to screen and identify those 

who have substance abuse problems; 

and 

• Effective strategies to improve 

employment outcomes for individuals 

with disabilities who have substance 

abuse problems. 

When conducting this work, the 

RRTC must examine strategies that are 

effective in both community and work 

settings (including community-based 

partnerships) and must examine the 

effects of workplace support and 

clinical treatment services. The 

reference to this topic can be found in 

the Plan, chapter 2, Dimensions of 

Disability: Emerging Universe of 

Disability. 

Executive Order 12866 

This notice of proposed priorities has 

been reviewed in accordance with 

Executive Order 12866. Under the terms 

of the order, we have assessed the 

potential costs and benefits of this 

regulatory action. 

The potential costs associated with 

the notice of proposed priorities are 

those resulting from statutory 

requirements and those we have 

determined as necessary for 

administering this program effectively 

and efficiently. 

In assessing the potential costs and 

benefits—both quantitative and 

qualitative—of this notice of proposed 

priorities, we have determined that the 

benefits of the proposed priorities 

justify the costs. 

Summary of potential costs and benefits 

The potential costs associated with 

these proposed priorities is minimal 

while the benefits are significant. 

Grantees may anticipate costs associated 

with completing the application process 

in terms of staff time, copying, and 

mailing or delivery. The use of eApplication technology reduces mailing 

and copying costs significantly. 

The benefits of the RRTC Program 

have been well established over the 

years in that similar projects have been 

completed successfully. These proposed 

priorities will generate new knowledge 

through research, dissemination, 

utilization, training, and technical 

assistance projects. 

The benefit of these proposed 

priorities and project requirements also 

will be the establishment of new RRTCs 

that generate, disseminate, and promote 

the use of new information to improve 

options and participation in the 

community for individuals with 

disabilities. 

Applicable Program Regulations: 34 

CFR part 350. 

Electronic Access to This Document 

You may review this document, as 

well as all other Department of 

Education documents published in the 

Federal Register, in text or Adobe 

Portable Document Format (PDF) on the 

Internet at the following site: 

www.ed.gov/news/fedregister.

To use PDF you must have Adobe 

Acrobat Reader, which is available free 

at this site. If you have questions about 

using PDF, call the U.S. Government 

Printing Office (GPO), toll free, at 1–

888–293–6498; or in the Washington, 

DC, area at (202) 512–1530.

Note: The official version of this document 

is the document published in the Federal 

Register. Free Internet access to the official 

edition of the Federal Register and the Code 

of Federal Regulations is available on GPO 

access at www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/

index.html.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Number: 84.133B, Rehabilitation Research 

and Training Center Program)

Program Authority: 29 U.S.C. 762(g) and 

764(b)(2).

Dated: January 29, 2004. 

Troy R. Justesen, 

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Special 

Education and Rehabilitative Services.

[FR Doc. 04–2287 Filed 2–3–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

U.S.-Canada Power System Outage 

Task Force: Interim Report: Causes of 

the August 14th Blackout in the United 

States and Canada

AGENCY: Office of Electric Transmission 

and Distribution, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Notice of availability and 

opportunity for comment. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Energy 

announces the availability of proposed 

recommendations that have been 

submitted to the U.S.-Canada Power 

System Outage Task Force, and 

announces the deadline for submission 

of public comments on those 

recommendations.

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before 5 p.m. eastern standard time, 

February 11, 2004.

ADDRESSES: The document entitled 

‘‘Interim Report: Causes of the August 

14th Blackout in the United States and 

Canada,’’ public comments on the 

Report, and proposed recommendations 

submitted by the public may be 

reviewed, and recommendations and 

comments may be submitted, at http://

www.electricity.doe. gov/news/

blackout.cfm?section=news& 

level2=blackout. Comments also may be 

submitted by any of the following 

means: by e-mail to 

blackout.report@hq.doe.gov; by mail to 

James W. Glotfelty, Director, Office of 

Electric Transmission and Distribution, 

TD–1, Room 6H–050, U.S. Department 

of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, 

SW., Washington, DC 20585; or by 

facsimile to (202) 586–1472. This notice 

is available on the Web at 

www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

David Meyer, Office of Electric 

Transmission and Distribution, U.S. 

Department of Energy, TD–1, Room 6H–

050, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586–1411.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On August 

14, 2003, large portions of the Midwest 

and Northeast United States and 

Ontario, Canada, experienced an electric 

power blackout. The outage affected an 

area with an estimated 50 million 

people and 61,800 megawatts (MW) of

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 23 / Wednesday, February 4, 2004 / Notices 5331

electric load in the states of Ohio, 

Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, 

Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 

and New Jersey and the Canadian 

province of Ontario. The blackout began 

a few minutes after 4 p.m. eastern 

daylight time (16:00 e.d.t.), and power 

was not restored for two days in some 

parts of the United States. Parts of 

Ontario suffered rolling blackouts for 

more than a week before full power was 

restored. 

On August 15, 2003, President Bush 

and Canadian Prime Minister Jean 

Chre ́tien directed that a joint U.S.-

Canada Power System Outage Task 

Force be established to investigate the 

causes of the blackout and how to 

reduce the possibility of future outages. 

Since the Task Force was formed, it has 

been investigating the causes of the 

outage and is currently engaged in 

developing recommendations 

concerning how to reduce the 

possibility of future outages and to 

minimize the scope of any outages that 

do occur. 

In November 2003, the Task Force 

issued an Interim Report, which is 

available on the Web at the Internet 

address identified in the ADDRESSES

section of this notice. The Interim 

Report presented the facts that the binational investigation had found 

regarding the causes of the August 14, 

2003, blackout. 

When it issued the Interim Report, the 

Task Force requested that the public 

submit comments on any aspect of the 

Report. The Task Force also called for 

interested parties to submit proposed 

recommendations for the Task Force’s 

consideration. Subsequently, three 

public meetings were held at which 

Task Force representatives received 

public comments and proposed 

recommendations. Those meetings were 

held on December 4, 2003, in Cleveland, 

Ohio, on December 5, 2003, in New 

York, New York, and on December 8, 

2003, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 

Numerous parties also have submitted 

written comments and 

recommendations, all of which are 

available for public inspection at the 

Internet address identified in the 

ADDRESSES section of this notice. 

All persons interested in submitting 

comments on the Interim Report, 

proposed recommendations, and/or 

comments on proposed 

recommendations, must submit their 

comments to the Task Force by the date 

specified in the DATES section of this 

notice; after that date, no further 

submissions will be entertained. 

Comments must be submitted to one of 

the addresses listed in the ADDRESSES

section of this notice. The Task Force 

will consider recommendations and 

comments received by the specified 

deadline when preparing the Task 

Force’s final report.

Issued in Washington, DC, on January 29, 

2004. 

James W. Glotfelty, 

Director, Office of Electric Transmission and 

Distribution.

[FR Doc. 04–2229 Filed 2–3–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

On-Board Fuel Processing Go/No-Go 

Decision

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Golden Field Office, 

Department of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice of on-board fuel 

processing go/no-go decision. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Energy 

(the Department or DOE) today gives 

notice of the June 30, 2004, decision 

regarding the future of on-board fuel 

processing activities within the 

Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure 

Technologies Program. A review panel 

has been assembled by the National 

Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to 

review the current state of fuel 

processing activities against technical 

criteria. Based on the panel findings, 

NREL will submit a written 

recommendation to the Department 

regarding the technical decision 

regarding the future of on-board 

processing activities on or before June 

18, 2004. The NREL review panel will 

meet during the May 24 through June 18 

time frame to hear presentations that 

include data to support the technical 

decision. Position papers regarding the 

go/no-go decision will be accepted by 

DOE for consideration in this decision 

and will also be forwarded to NREL for 

consideration as a presentation to the 

review panel. Position papers are 

limited to 10 pages maximum.

DATES: Written position papers for 

consideration by the Department 

regarding this decision must be received 

by May 15, 2004. NREL must receive 

requests to speak before the review 

panel no later than May 15, 2004. 

Attendees at the review panel will be 

limited to the current presenter, the 

panel and NREL, Argonne National 

Laboratory and DOE representatives.

ADDRESSES: Written position papers 

regarding the decision and requests to 

speak before the review panel are 

welcomed. Please submit 10 copies of 

the position paper to: U.S. Department 

of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy, Mail Station 

EE–2H, Attn: Valri Lightner, 1000 

Independence Avenue, SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0121, e-mail 

valri.lightner@ee.doe.gov. Requests to 

present before the panel should be sent 

to: U.S. Department of Energy, National 

Renewable Energy Laboratory, 1617 

Cole Boulevard, Golden, CO 80401–

3393, Attn: Dale Gardner or via e-mail 

to dale_gardner@nrel.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. 

Valri Lightner, U.S. Department of 

Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Mail Station EE–2H, 

Attn: Valri Lightner, 1000 Independence 

Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585–

0121, phone: (202) 586–0937, e-mail 

valri.lightner@ee.doe.gov or Mr. Dale 

Gardner, U.S. Department of Energy, 

National Renewable Energy Laboratory, 

1617 Cole Boulevard, Golden, CO 

80401–3393, Attn: Dale Gardner, phone 

(303) 275–3020, e-mail 

dale_gardner@nrel.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

mission of the Department of Energy’s 

Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure 

Technologies Program is to research, 

develop and validate fuel cell and 

hydrogen production, delivery, and 

storage technologies such that hydrogen 

from diverse domestic resources will be 

used in a clean, safe, reliable and 

affordable manner in fuel cell vehicles; 

central station electric power 

production; distributed thermal electric; 

and combined heat and power 

applications. The President’s Hydrogen 

Fuel Initiative accelerates research, 

development and demonstration of 

hydrogen production, delivery and 

storage technologies to support an 

industry commercialization decision on 

the hydrogen economy by 2015. The 

FreedomCAR partnership is on track for 

an industry commercialization decision 

on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2015. 

The transition to a hydrogen economy 

will take decades. During this transition, 

from about 2010 to 2030, technologies 

that enable the use of the current liquid 

fuels infrastructure to provide the 

hydrogen to power fuel cell vehicles 

will be required. Several options are 

being considered, such as fuel reforming 

on-site at fueling stations or fuel 

reforming on-board the vehicle for 

transportation applications. The 

Department has funded research and 

development (R&D) of on-board vehicle, 

fuel processing technologies for 10 

years. The R&D has focused on the 

development of a fuel flexible, fuel 

processor targeting gasoline, ethanol, 

methanol and natural gas. Based on the