51838 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 192 / Friday, October 3, 1997 / Notices

ADDRESSES: Public hearings will be held

during the month of October for those

individuals who would like to provide

oral comments on the DEIS or the Draft

CAA Conformity Determination. An

open information session will precede

the scheduled public hearing at each of

the locations listed below and will

allow individuals to review the data

presented in the DEIS. Navy

representatives will be available during

the information session to answer

questions and/or clarify information

related to the DEIS. The open

information session is scheduled from

3:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., followed by the

public hearing from 7:30 p.m. to 10:00

p.m. Public hearings have been

scheduled at the following times and

locations: Monday, October 20, 1997,

Technical College of the Low Country,

Building 12, Main Auditorium, 921

Ribaut Road, Beaufort, South Carolina;

Tuesday, October 21, 1997, Havelock

Middle School, 102 High School Drive,

Havelock, North Carolina; Wednesday,

October 22, 1997, Pamlico County

Courthouse, 202 Main Street, Bayboro,

North Carolina; Thursday, October 23,

1997, North Carolina Aquarium on

Roanoke Island, Airport Road, Manteo,

North Carolina; Monday, October 27,

1997, Virginia Beach Pavilion

Convention Center Auditorium, 1000

19th Street, Virginia Beach, Virginia;

Tuesday, October 28, 1997, Butts Road

Intermediate School, 1571 Mt. Pleasant

Road, Chesapeake, Virginia.

Federal, state and local agencies and

interested parties are invited and urged

to be present or represented at the

hearing. Oral statements will be heard

and transcribed by a stenographer;

however, to ensure the accuracy of the

record, all statements should be

submitted in writing. All statements,

both oral and written, will become part

of the public record on the DEIS and

Draft CAA Conformity Determination

and will be responded to in the Final

Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS).

Equal weight will be given to both oral

and written statements.

In the interest of available time and to

ensure all who wish to give an oral

statement have the opportunity to do so,

each speaker will be asked to limit

comments to three (3) minutes. If a

longer statement is to be presented, it

should be summarized at the public

hearing and submitted in writing either

at the hearing or mailed or faxed to Mr.

Dan Cecchini at: Commander, Atlantic

Division, Naval Facilities Engineering

Command, Attn: Mr. J. Dan Cecchini

(Code 2032DC), 1510 Gilbert Street,

Norfolk, Virginia 23511; Fax: (757) 322–

4894. All written comments postmarked

by November 18, 1997, will become a

part of the official public record and

will be responded to in the FEIS.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Additional information concerning this

notice may be obtained by contacting

Mr. Cecchini or one of the following

individuals: Mr. Fred Pierson,

Community Planning Liaison Officer,

NAS Oceana, (757) 433–3158; LtCol

Blackiston, Community Planning

Liaison Officer, MCAS Cherry Point,

(919) 466–4196; LtCol Keverline,

Community Planning Liaison Officer,

MCAS Beaufort, (803) 522–7390, or Capt

Mason, Public Affairs Officer, MCAS

Beaufort, (803) 522–7201.

Dated: September 29, 1997.

Darse E. Crandall,

LCDR, JAGC, USN, Federal Register Liaison

Officer.

[FR Doc. 97–26211 Filed 10–2–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3810–FF–M

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Advisory Council on Education

Statistics, (ACES)

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Notice of partially closed

meetings.

SUMMARY: This notice sets forth the

schedule and proposed agenda of the

forthcoming meetings of the Advisory

Council on Education Statistics (ACES).

Notice of these meetings are required

under Section 10(a)(2) of the Federal

Advisory Committee Act. This

document is intended to notify the

general public of their opportunity to

attend.

DATES: October 9–10, 1997.

TIMES: October 9, 1997—Full Council,

8:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m., (open); 11:30 to

1:15 p.m., (closed); Management

Committee, 1:30 p.m.–5:00 p.m., (open);

Statistics Committee, 1:30 p.m.–5:00

p.m. (open), Strategy/Policy 1:30 p.m.–

5:00 p.m. (open). October 10, 1997—

Full Council 12 noon to 3:00 p.m.

(open); Statistics Committee, 8:30 a.m.–

12:00 noon (open); Strategy/Policy

Committee, 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon

(closed); and Management Committee,

8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon (open).

LOCATION: The Phoenix Park Hotel, 520

North Capitol Street, NW., Washington,

DC 20001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Barbara Marenus, National Center for

Education Statistics, 555 New Jersey

Ave. NW., Room 400j, Washington, DC

20208–5530. Telephone (202) 219–1828.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Advisory Council on Education

Statistics (ACES) is established under

Section 406(c)(1) of the Education

Amendments of 1974, Public Law 93–

380. The Council is established to

review general policies for the operation

of the National Center for Education

Statistics (NCES) in the Office of

Educational Research and Improvement

and is responsible for advising on

standards to insure that statistics and

analyses disseminated by NCES are of

high quality and are not subject to

political influence. In addition, ACES is

required to advise the Commissioner of

NCES and the National Assessment

Governing Board on technical and

statistical matters related to the National

Assessment of Education Progress

(NAEP). The meetings of the Council are

open to the public.

The proposed agenda for the full

Council includes the following:

• A status report from the NCES

Commissioner on major Center

initiatives;

• New member swearing -in;

• The presentation of Committee

reports;

• A discussion on the development of

an NCES periodical;

• A discussion of strategic issues in

technology facing NCES; and

• A status report on the NAEP

redesign and the development of a new

request for proposal (RFP) for NAEP.

Since the full Council’s discussion on

the implementation of the NAEP

redesign includes reporting on plans for

an upcoming procurement, this session

must be closed to the public. The

premature release of this information

would result in the disclosure of

information that would be likely to

significantly frustrate implementation of

the agency’s proposed action. Such

matters are protected by exemption

(9)(B) of Section 552b (c) of title 5 U.S.C.

Individual meetings of the three ACES

subcommittees will focus on specific

topics:

• The agenda for the Management

Committee includes discussion on the

results from the 1996 Customer Service

Survey and plans for the 1997 survey,

plans for the development of

partnerships with external

organizations, and a discussion of

‘‘capacity building’’ activities for NCES.

• The agenda for the Statistics

Committee focuses on the development

of a research agenda on the NAEP

achievement level setting process.

• The agenda for the Strategy/Policy

Committee includes discussion of NCES

procurement initiatives for 1999 and

beyond, a new NCES database for

budgeting and planning, and a

discussion of design options for the

redesign of the Schools and Staffing
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 192 / Friday, October 3, 1997 / Notices 51839

Survey. Because the discussion will

include information on planned

procurements, this session must be

closed to the public. The public

disclosure of this information would be

likely to significantly frustrate the

implementation of planned agency

action if conducted in open session.

Such matters are protected by

exemption (9)(B) of Section 552b (c) of

Title 5 U.S.C.

A summary of the activities and

related matters, which are informative

to the public and consistent with the

policy of Title 5 U.S.C. 552b, will be

available to the public within 14 days

after the meetings. Records are kept of

all Council proceedings and are

available for public inspection at the

Office of the Executive Director,

Advisory Council on Education

Statistics, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW,

room 400J, Washington, DC 20208–

7575.

Ricky Takai,

Acting Assistant Secretary for Educational

Research and Improvement.

[FR Doc. 97–26199 Filed 10–2–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4000–01–M

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Restricted Eligibility in Support of

Advanced Coal Research at U.S.

Colleges and Universities

AGENCY: Federal Energy Technology

Center (FETC), Pittsburgh, Department

of Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Issuance of financial assistance

solicitation.

SUMMARY: The FETC announces that

pursuant to 10 CFR 600.8(a)(2), and in

support of advanced coal research to

U.S. colleges and universities, it intends

to conduct a competitive Program

Solicitation and award financial

assistance grants to qualified recipients.

Proposals will be subjected to a

comparative merit review by a Peer

Review/DOE technical panel, and

awards will be made to a limited

number of proposers on the basis of the

scientific merit of the proposals,

application of relevant program policy

factors, and the availability of funds.

DATES: The Program Solicitation is

expected to be ready for release by

October 15, 1997. Applications must be

prepared and submitted in accordance

with the instructions and forms in the

Program Solicitation and must be

received by the Department of Energy by

November 26, 1997. Upon receipt of the

solicitation document, check for any

changes (i.e. closing date of solicitation)

and/or amendments, if any, prior to

proposal submission.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.

Debra A. Duncan, U.S. Department of

Energy, Federal Energy Technology

Center, P.O. Box 10940 (MS 921–143),

Pittsburgh, PA 15236–0940; (Telephone:

412–892–5700; Facsimile: 412–892–

6216; E-Mail: duncan@fetc.doe.gov).

ADDRESSES: The solicitation will be

posted on the internet at FETC’s Home

Page (http://www.fetc.doe.gov/business/

solicit/solicit.html). The solicitation

will also be available, upon request, in

Wordperfect 5.1 format on 35′′ doublesided/high-density disk. Requests can

be made via letter, facsimile, or by

E-mail. Telephone requests will not be

accepted for any format version of the

solicitation.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Through

Program Solicitation DE-PS26–

98FT98200.000, the DOE is interested in

applications from U.S. colleges and

universities (and university-affiliated

research centers submitting applications

through their respective universities).

Applications will be selected to

complement and enhance research

being conducted in related Fossil

Energy (FE) programs. Applications may

be submitted individually (i.e., by only

one college/university) or jointly (i.e.,

by ‘‘teams’’ made up of: (1) three or

more colleges/universities, or (2) two or

more colleges/universities and at least

one industrial partner. Collaboration, in

the form of joint proposals, is

encouraged but not required.

Eligibility

Applications under this solicitation

may be accepted in two subprogram

areas: (1) University Coal Research

(UCR) Core Program, and (2) University

Coal Research Innovative Concepts

Program. Applications must address

coal research in one of the solicitation

key focus areas in the Core Program or

as outlined in the Innovative Concepts

Program.

Background

A concept called ‘‘Vision 21’’ is being

developed as part of the Coal and Power

Systems Strategic Plan which will

provide DOE’s Fossil Energy

organization with a clear focus and

mission and will be central to the course

of fossil energy research. Vision 21 is, in

essence, the idea of a modular coproduction facility that is designed for

facile capture of CO2. The concept does

not define a single, optimum

configuration but rather allows for a

series of plant configurations, based on

common modules, capable of coproducing power, fuels, chemicals, and

other high value products with

avoidance or sequestration of CO2 and

with low emissions of SO2, NOX , and

particulates. It is envisioned that their

modular construction will permit the

plants to be tailored to fit a geographic

location and specific market area by

selection of the appropriate combination

of modules. The modules will be scaled

to operate together and may be available

in several size ranges. In summary, the

distinguishing features of the definitive

Vision 21 fleet would be (1) the

capability of producing low cost

electricity at efficiencies over 60%; (2)

near-zero pollutants, i.e., one-tenth of

New Source Performance Standards for

criteria pollutants; (3) no net CO2

emissions; (4) fuel flexibility (coal plus

other opportunity fuels); (5) coproduction of higher value

commodities; and (6) modular design

that permits customizing a plant to a

given market area.

For purposes of this solicitation, the

feedstock may be coal or any

carbonaceous material in combination

with coal. Gas or biomass could be

combined with the coal to reduce or

offset fossil carbon emissions in stages

of development where CO2 was not

completely sequestered. Petroleum coke

could be used near refineries and

municipal waste could also be a fraction

of any feed. These Vision 21 plants

would answer the needs of a

deregulated power industry in that they

would provide the ability to supply

distributed power while producing high

value products. The flexibility to shift

product distribution with market forces

would make the fledgling plants more

robust in a competitive market. The

capability to readily capture a

concentrated CO2 stream will be an

added benefit should a ‘‘carbon tax’’ be

levied and would allow market forces to

determine whether carbon is

sequestered or taxed-on-release. The

Power/Fuels/ Chemicals industry will

produce environmentally responsible

power, fuels, and chemicals that will be

the basis for a secure energy future. The

high efficiency of the new power

systems will allow more efficient use of

indigenous resources and further reduce

CO2 emissions. Developments in

breakthrough technologies, such as the

high temperature hydrogen separation

membrane and advanced oxygen

production, will be spinoffs that will be

beneficial to many industries. The work

in three-phase slurry reactors is

universally applicable to chemical and

petroleum industries, and development

of advanced Diesel fuels will increase

gas mileage by 50% or more while

reducing particulates and CO2