Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 238 / Monday, December 13, 2004 / Notices 72215

for further information regarding the 

comment due date, and to submit 

comments. Finally, you may handdeliver comments to the Project 

Manager at 1100 Old Santa Fe Trail, 

Santa Fe, New Mexico. Our practice is 

to make comments, including names 

and home addresses of respondents, 

available for public review during 

regular business hours. Individual 

respondents may request that we 

withhold their home address from the 

record, which we will honor to the 

extent allowable by law. There also may 

be circumstances in which we would 

withhold from the record a respondent’s 

identity, as allowable by law. If you 

wish us to withhold your name and/or 

address, you must state this 

prominently at the beginning of your 

comment. However, we will not 

consider anonymous comments. We 

will make all submissions from 

organizations or businesses, and from 

individuals identifying themselves as 

representatives or officials of 

organizations or businesses, available 

for public inspection in their entirety.

Dated: November 12, 2004. 

John T. Crowley, 

Acting Director, Intermountain Region, 

National Park Service.

[FR Doc. 04–27240 Filed 12–10–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4312–CB–P

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Reclamation 

Rocky Boy’s/North Central Montana 

Regional Water System, Water 

Conservation Plan

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, 

Interior.

ACTION: Notice of finding.

SUMMARY: The Rocky Boy’s/North 

Central Montana Regional Water System 

Act of 2002 (Pub. L. 107–331) 

authorized construction of the Rocky 

Boy’s/North Central Montana Regional 

Water System in north-central Montana. 

To meet the requirements of the Act, the 

Chippewa Cree Tribe and the North 

Central Montana Regional Water 

Authority developed and submitted a 

water conservation plan to Reclamation.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Doug Oellermann, Bureau of 

Reclamation, Montana Area Office, PO 

Box 30107, Billings, Montana 59107–

0137, or at (406) 247–7333 or by e-mail 

at doellermann@gp.usbr.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Finding 

The Chippewa Cree Tribe and the 

North Central Montana Regional Water 

Authority submitted the ‘‘Water 

Conservation Plan, Rocky Boy’s/North 

Central Montana Regional Water 

System’’ dated September 2004, that 

includes prudent and reasonable water 

conservation measures for the operation 

of the Rocky Boy’s/North Central 

Montana Regional Water System that 

have been shown to be economically 

and financially feasible. 

In addition to authorizing 

construction of the Rocky Boy’s/North 

Central Montana Regional Water 

System, the Act authorizes 

appropriations of $202,880,000 to 

Reclamation. The Act states under 

section 906(3) that ’’The Secretary shall 

not obligate funds for construction of 

the core system or the noncore system 

until the Secretary publishes a written 

finding that the water conservation plan 

developed under section 911(a) includes 

prudent and reasonable water 

conservation measures for the operation 

of the Rocky Boy’s/North Central 

Montana Regional Water System that 

have been shown to be economically 

and financially feasible.’’

The requirements for the conservation 

plan are described under section 911 of 

the Act that states: 

‘‘(a) In General—The Tribe and the 

Authority shall develop and incorporate 

into the final engineering report a water 

conservation plan that contains—

‘‘(1) a description of water 

conservation objectives; 

‘‘(2) a description of appropriate water 

conservation measures; and 

‘‘(3) a time schedule for implementing 

the water conservation measures to meet 

the water conservation objectives. 

‘‘(b) Purpose—The water conservation 

plan under subsection (a) shall be 

designed to ensure that users of water 

from the core system, on-reservation 

water distribution systems, and the 

noncore system will use the best 

practicable technology and management 

techniques to conserve water.’’

To fulfill the requirements of section 

911, the Chippewa Cree Tribe and the 

North Central Montana Regional Water 

Authority transmitted a water 

conservation plan (Plan) to Reclamation, 

dated September 2004. The Plan fulfills 

all the requirements of the Act as 

discussed below. 

In fulfillment of section 911(a)(1), the 

Plan contains six reasonable and 

prudent water conservation objectives 

appropriate for the pre-construction 

phase of this multi-phase project: 

1. Keep system per capita water use 

below 196 gallons per capita per day. 

2. Keep variable operation and 

maintenance costs under Final 

Engineering Report (FER) levels. 

3. Develop drought/emergency 

preparedness plans to deal with a 12-

hour project shutdown. 

4. Initiate education/outreach and 

public involvement efforts. 

5. Limit Tiber Reservoir withdrawals 

to FER levels. 

6. Extend the life of the project by 

conserving water. 

To accomplish these objectives, and 

in fulfillment of section 911(a)(2) of the 

Act, the Plan identifies 15 water 

conservation measures (Table 1–1 of the 

Plan) to be implemented starting in Year 

1 of construction with full 

implementation scheduled by Year 5, 

the second year that treated water will 

be delivered to non-core users. 

Pre-Water Delivery 

1. Meter all water deliveries. 

2. Adopt water-conserving rate 

structure for off-reservation systems. 

3. Initiate education/outreach and 

public involvement efforts. 

4. Secure supplies of educational 

materials.

5. Develop drought/emergency 

preparedness plans. 

6. Work with wholesale water 

purchasers to develop individual water 

conservation plans. 

7. Develop strategies and any 

necessary ordinances, regulations, 

contracts or similar arrangements/

documents. 

8. Develop design criteria to reflect 

water conservation considerations. 

First Year of Water Delivery 

1. Maintain pro-active education/

outreach efforts, including public 

meetings, news articles, etc. 

2. Prepare annual report highlighting 

conservation program problems, 

successes, cost-benefit comparisons, etc. 

and make this information available and 

responsive to the public. 

3. Continue to work with wholesale 

water purchasers and the Rocky Boy 

Reservation. 

Long-Term Water Conservation 

Program 

1. An annual review to identify 

problems, suggest improvements, and 

solicit input from concerned parties. 

2. Continued outreach/education 

efforts. 

3. Targeted public relations activities. 

4. Continued enforcement of 

applicable rules and regulations. 

Reclamation Manual Directives and 

Standards (WTR 01–01), published in 

December 1996, identify ‘‘Fundamental 

Water Conservation Measures’’ that are 

72216 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 238 / Monday, December 13, 2004 / Notices 

considered economically and 

financially feasible and applicable to all 

water conservation programs. The 

fundamental measures include a water 

measurement and accounting system, 

water pricing structure, and an 

information and education program. All 

but one of the water conservation 

measures included in the Plan are 

considered by Reclamation as 

fundamental. The conservation measure 

which is to develop drought/emergency 

preparedness plans, while not 

considered fundamental, is an 

additional water conservation measure 

under WTR 01–01 and will not result in 

increased project cost. 

In fulfillment of section 911(a)(3), the 

plan contains a time schedule for 

implementing the measures to meet the 

water conservation objectives. This time 

scheduled is included with the above 

description of the objectives and 

measures. 

In fulfillment of section 911(b), 

Reclamation has reviewed and 

determined that the water conservation 

plan has been designed to ensure that 

the water users will use the best 

practicable technology and management 

techniques to conserve water.

Dated: November 8, 2004. 

Gerald W. Kelso, 

Acting Regional Director, Great Plains Region.

[FR Doc. 04–27278 Filed 12–10–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–MN–P

INTERNATIONAL TRADE 

COMMISSION 

[Inv. Nos. TA–131–30 and TA–2104–16] 

U.S.—Oman Free Trade Agreement: 

Advice Concerning the Probable 

Economic Effect of Providing DutyFree Treatment for Imports

AGENCY: International Trade 

Commission.

ACTION: Institution of investigation and 

scheduling of public hearing. 

EFFECTIVE DATE: December 6, 2004.

SUMMARY: Following receipt on 

December 1, 2004, of a request from the 

United States Trade Representative 

(USTR), the Commission instituted 

investigation Nos. TA–131–30 and TA–

2104–16, U.S.—Oman Free Trade 

Agreement: Advice Concerning the 

Probable Economic Effect of Providing 

Duty-Free Treatment for Imports, under 

section 131 of the Trade Act of 1974 and 

section 2104(b)(2) of the Trade Act of 

2002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Information specific to these 

investigations may be obtained from 

Robert Carr, Project Leader (202–205–

3402; robert.carr@usitc.gov), or Eric 

Land, Deputy Project Leader (202–205–

3049; eric.land@usitc.gov), Office of 

Industries, United States International 

Trade Commission, Washington, DC 

20436. For information on the legal 

aspects of these investigations, contact 

William Gearhart of the Office of the 

General Counsel (202–205–3091; 

william.gearhart@usitc.gov). Hearing 

impaired individuals are advised that 

information on this matter can be 

obtained by contacting the TDD 

terminal on (202) 205–1810. General 

information concerning the Commission 

may also be obtained by accessing its 

Internet server (http://www.usitc.gov). 

The public record for these 

investigations may be viewed on the 

Commission’s electronic docket (EDIS) 

at http://edis.usitc.gov.

Background: On November 15, 2004, 

the USTR notified the Congress of the 

President’s intent to initiate free trade 

agreement negotiations with the 

Sultanate of Oman (Oman). 

Accordingly, the USTR, pursuant to 

section 131 of the Trade Act of 1974 (19 

U.S.C. 2151), requested the Commission 

to provide a report including advice as 

to the probable economic effect of 

providing duty-free treatment for 

imports of products of Oman (i) on 

industries in the United States 

producing like or directly competitive 

products, and (ii) on consumers. In 

preparing the advice, the Commission’s 

analysis will consider each article in 

chapters 1 through 97 of the 

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 

United States for which U.S. tariffs will 

remain after the United States fully 

implements its Uruguay Round tariff 

commitments. The import advice will 

be based on the 2004 Harmonized Tariff 

System nomenclature and 2003 trade 

data. The advice with respect to the 

removal of U.S. duties on imports from 

Oman will assume that any known U.S. 

nontariff barrier will not be applicable 

to such imports. The Commission will 

note in its report any instance in which 

the continued application of a U.S. 

nontariff barrier to such imports would 

result in different advice with respect to 

the effect of the removal of the duty. 

As also requested, pursuant to section 

2104(b)(2) of the Trade Act of 2002 (19 

U.S.C. 3804(b)(2)), the Commission will 

provide advice as to the probable 

economic effect of eliminating tariffs on 

imports of certain agricultural products 

of Oman on (i) industries in the United 

States producing the product concerned, 

and (ii) the U.S. economy as a whole. 

USTR indicated that the 

Commission’s report will be classified 

and that USTR considered it to be an 

interagency memorandum containing 

pre-decisional advice and subject to the 

deliberative process privilege. The 

Commission expects to provide its 

report to USTR by February 28, 2005. 

Public Hearing: A public hearing in 

connection with these investigations is 

scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. on 

January 5, 2005, at the United States 

International Trade Commission 

Building, 500 E Street SW, Washington, 

DC. This hearing will be held 

sequentially with a separate 

Commission hearing on January 5, 2005, 

in connection with its investigation 

U.S.—UAE FTA: Advice Concerning the 

Probable Economic Effects of Providing 

Duty-Free Treatment for Imports (Inv. 

Nos. TA–131–31 and TA–2104–17). 

Requests to appear at the public hearing 

should be filed with the Secretary, not 

later than 5:15 p.m., December 17, 2004, 

in accordance with the requirements in 

the ‘‘Submissions’’ section below. In the 

event that, as of the close of business on 

December 17, 2004, no witnesses are 

scheduled to appear, the hearing will be 

canceled. Any person interested in 

attending the hearing as an observer or 

non-participant may call the Secretary 

(202–205–1806) after December 17, 2004 

to determine whether the hearing will 

be held. 

Written Submissions: In lieu of or in 

addition to participating in the hearing, 

interested parties are invited to submit 

written statements or briefs concerning 

these investigations. All written 

submissions, including requests to 

appear at the hearing, statements, and 

briefs, should be addressed to the 

Secretary, United States International 

Trade Commission, 500 E Street SW., 

Washington, DC 20436. Any prehearing 

statements or briefs should be filed not 

later than 5:15 p.m., December 21, 2004; 

the deadline for filing posthearing 

statements or briefs is 5:15 p.m., January 

12, 2005. All written submissions must 

conform with the provisions of § 201.8 

of the Commission’s Rules of Practice 

and Procedure (19 CFR 201.8). Section 

201.8 of the rules requires that a signed 

original (or a copy designated as an 

original) and fourteen (14) copies of 

each document be filed. In the event 

that confidential treatment of the 

document is requested, at least four (4) 

additional copies must be filed, in 

which the confidential information 

must be deleted (see the following 

paragraph for further information 

regarding confidential business 

information). The Commission’s rules 

do not authorize filing submissions with 

the Secretary by facsimile or electronic 

means, except to the extent permitted by 

§ 201.8 of the rules (see Handbook for