55778 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 208 / Tuesday, October 28, 1997 / Notices

1 Includes parishes in Louisiana; boroughs and

census areas in Alaska; independent cities in

Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, and Virginia; that

portion of Yellowstone National Park in Montana;

districts/islands in American Samoa, the main

islands of the Virgin Islands of the United States;

municipalities in the Northern Mariana Islands;

municipios in Puerto Rico; the entire area

constituting the District of Columbia; and the entire

area constituting Guam. This notice will refer to all

these entities collectively as ‘‘counties.’’

persons who will attend the meeting

and require the services of a sign

language interpreter should contact the

Regional Office at least ten (10) working

days before the scheduled date of the

meeting.

The meeting will be conducted

pursuant to the provisions of the rules

and regulations of the Commission.

Dated at Washington, DC, October 14,

1997.

Carol-Lee Hurley,

Chief, Regional Programs Coordination Unit.

[FR Doc. 97–28449 Filed 10–27–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6335–01–P

COMMISSION ON CIVIL RIGHTS

Agenda and Notice of Public Meeting

of the West Virginia Advisory

Committee

Notice is hereby given, pursuant to

the provisions of the rules and

regulations of the U.S. Commission on

Civil Rights, that a meeting of the West

Virginia Advisory Committee to the

Commission will convene at 12:45 p.m.

and adjourn at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday,

November 19, 1997, at the Raleigh

County Public Library, 221 N. Kanawha

Street, Beckley, West Virginia 25801.

The purpose of the meeting is to plan its

project activity for FY ’97–98, and

receive information from invited guests

on civil rights issues in Beckley, West

Virginia.

Persons desiring additional

information, or planning a presentation

to the Committee, should contact

Committee Chairperson Gregory T.

Hinton, 304–367–4244, or Ki-Taek

Chun, Director of the Eastern Regional

Office, 202–376–7533 (TDD 202–376–

8116). Hearing-impaired persons who

will attend the meeting and require the

services of a sign language interpreter

should contact the Regional Office at

least ten (10) working days before the

scheduled date of the meeting.

The meeting will be conducted

pursuant to the provisions of the rules

and regulations of the Commission.

Dated at Washington, DC, October 20,

1997.

Carol-Lee Hurley,

Chief, Regional Programs Coordination Unit.

[FR Doc. 97–28453 Filed 10–27–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6335–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of the Census

[Docket No. 961213356–7236–02]

Census Tract Program for Census

2000—Final Criteria

AGENCY: Bureau of the Census,

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of final program.

SUMMARY: Census tracts are relatively

permanent small-area geographic

divisions of a county or statistically

equivalent entity 1 defined for the

tabulation of decennial census data and

selected other statistical programs. The

primary goal of the census tract program

is to provide a geographic unit that has

stable boundaries between decennial

censuses. Other goals include the

identification of geographic areas that

represent meaningful geographic

divisions of a county based on economic

or social interaction, significant

topographic differences within a county,

or a certain degree of demographic

homogeneity at the time of original

delineation. The Census Bureau uses

census tracts to tabulate and

disseminate a wide variety of data. For

Census 2000, census tracts will be

established across the entire area of the

United States, Puerto Rico, and the

Island Areas (American Samoa, Guam,

the Northern Mariana Islands, and the

Virgin Islands of the United States).

Census tracts first appeared in the

1910 census when local officials in eight

of the larger cities delineated these

areas. In the 1910, 1920, and 1930

censuses, the Census Bureau published

census tract data as special tabulations;

in 1940, the Census Bureau began

including census tract data in its

standard publications. The number of

data subjects and the amount of data, as

well as the number of counties

containing census tracts, increased in

every census through 1990. For the 1990

census, the Census Bureau inaugurated

complete nationwide coverage and

statistics for census tracts or statistically

equivalent entities known as block

numbering areas (BNAs). For Census

2000, the Census Bureau will combine

the similar programs into a single

census tract program.

To determine the boundaries and

identification numbers of census tracts,

the Census Bureau offers a program to

local participants, such as locally

identified agencies and American

Indian tribal officials, whereby they can

review and update the boundaries of the

census tracts and BNAs delineated for

the 1990 census and suggest revisions

according to the criteria developed and

promulgated by the Census Bureau. The

Census Bureau will then review the

resulting Census 2000 census tract plans

for conformance to these criteria. The

Census Bureau does not take into

account or attempt to anticipate any

nonstatistical uses that may be made of

census tracts, nor will the Census

Bureau modify the definition of census

tracts to meet the requirements of any

nonstatistical program.

The Census Bureau is now publishing

final criteria for the delineation of

census tracts for Census 2000. These

criteria will apply to the 50 states, the

District of Columbia, American Indian

and Alaska Native areas, Puerto Rico,

and the Island Areas. The Census

Bureau may modify and, if necessary,

reject proposals for census tracts that do

not meet the criteria established

following this notice.

In addition to these final criteria, this

notice includes a description of the

changes from the criteria used for the

1990 census and a list of definitions of

key terms used in the criteria.

EFFECTIVE DATE: The census tract criteria

for Census 2000 become effective

November 28, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr.

Joel Morrison, Chief, Geography

Division, Bureau of the Census,

Washington, DC 20233–7400, telephone

(301) 457–1132, or e-mail

(joel.morrison@geo.census.gov).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

census tract delineation criteria have

evolved over the past nine decades in

response to decennial census practices

and the preferences of local participants

and data users. After each decennial

census, the Census Bureau, in

consultation with past participants and

data users, reviews and revises these

criteria. Then, before the next decennial

census, the Census Bureau offers state,

tribal, and local officials an opportunity

to correct, update, and otherwise

improve the universe of census tracts.

In July and August 1995, the Census

Bureau issued invitations to local

groups and agencies to participate in the

delineation of statistical geographic

areas for Census 2000. These groups and

agencies included regional planning

agencies, councils of governments,

county planning agencies, officials of
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 208 / Tuesday, October 28, 1997 / Notices 55779

Federally recognized American Indian

tribes, and officials of the 12 nonprofit

Alaska Native Regional Corporations.

By early 1998, the Census Bureau will

provide maps and detailed guidelines to

program participants for the review and

delineation of census tracts for Census

2000.

Response to Comments

The Census Bureau issued a Notice of

Proposed Program Revisions and

Request for Comments in the Federal

Register (62 FR 4246) on Wednesday,

January 29, 1997. That notice solicited

comments on the proposed criteria for

delineating census tracts for Census

2000. The Census Bureau did not

receive any comments in response to

that Federal Register notice and,

therefore, is making no substantive

changes to the criteria for this program.

Executive Order 12866

This notice does not meet the criteria

for a ‘‘significant regulatory action’’ as

specified in Exective Order 12866.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

Pursuant to the provisions of the

Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C.

605(b)), the Assistant General Counsel

for Legislation and Regulation,

Department of Commerce, certified to

the Chief Counsel, Small Business

Administration, that this notice will not

have a significant economic impact on

a substantial number of small entities.

The notice sets forth the criteria for the

delineation of census tracts for Census

2000. The criteria will be used to

determine boundaries for small-area

geographic divisions of a county or

other statistically relevant entity defined

for the tabulation of census data. The

Census Bureau uses census tracts to

tabulate and disseminate a wide variety

of statistical data from the decennial

census. Thus, because the delineation of

census tracts is solely for statistical

purposes to enable the Census Bureau to

tabulate and publish data for Census

2000, it will not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities.

Final Program Requirements

A. Criteria for Delineating Census Tracts

for Census 2000

The Census Bureau announces the

following final criteria for use in

delineating Census 2000 census tracts.

1. General Characteristics

• A census tract must meet the

population and boundary feature

criteria and comprise a reasonably

compact, continuous land area

internally accessible to all points by

road; the only exceptions are:

(a) where the tract is defined to

include a specific legal or land-use area

that itself is discontinuous, in which

case discontinuity is allowed at the

discretion of the Census Bureau.

(b) where a discontinuous area or

inaccessible area would not meet

population size requirements for a

separate census tract, in which case the

discontinuous or inaccessible area must

be combined within an adjacent or

proximate census tract.

(c) where the topography or

geographic patterns of settlement are not

compact, but are irregularly shaped, in

which case a census tract shape can

depart from the compactness

requirement.

• A county boundary always must be

a census tract boundary. This criterion

takes precedence over all other criteria

or requirements except for the

population threshold criteria for census

tracts on American Indian reservations

(AIRs) in multiple counties.

• Census tracts must cover the entire

land and inland water area of each

county. In coastal waters, territorial

seas, and the Great Lakes, the Census

Bureau recommends creating in each

county a single census tract covering

such water bodies to provide for

complete census tract coverage.

2. Identification

• A census tract has a basic census

tract number composed of no more than

four digits and may have a two-digit

decimal suffix.

• Census tract numbers must be

unique within each county.

• The range of acceptable basic

census tract numbers for Census 2000 is

1 to 9989; census tracts delineated

specifically to complete coverage in

territorial seas and the Great Lakes will

use the number 0000 in each county.

• Census tracts delineated within or

to encompass an AIR that crosses

county or state and county boundaries,

where the intent is for the census tract

to ignore the county or state boundary

for tabulation in an American Indian

geographic hierarchy, will use numbers

9400 to 9499.

• The range of acceptable census tract

suffixes is .01 to .98. The Census Bureau

reserves the .99 suffix to identify

civilian and military ships as ‘‘crews-ofvessels’’ census tracts.

3. Boundary Features

The Census Bureau recommends that

most census tract boundaries follow

visible and identifiable features. This

makes the location of census tract

boundaries less ambiguous. The Census

Bureau also permits the use of legal

boundaries in some states and situations

to allow for census tract-togovernmental unit relationships where

the governmental boundaries tend to

remain unchanged between censuses.

The following features are acceptable as

census tract boundaries for Census

2000:

• All state and county boundaries

(always required).

• Visible, perennial natural and

cultural features, such as roads, rivers,

canals, railroads, above-ground hightension power lines, and so forth.

• All minor civil division (MCD)

boundaries (generally towns or

townships) in Connecticut, Indiana,

Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,

New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania,

Rhode Island, and Vermont.

• Those MCD boundaries not

coincident with the boundaries of

incorporated places that themselves are

MCDs (being either coextensive with an

MCD or independent of MCDs) in

Illinois (townships only, not election

precincts), Iowa, Kansas, Michigan,

Minnesota, Missouri (governmental

townships only), Nebraska (townships

only, not election precincts), North

Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and

Wisconsin.

• Barrio, barrio-pueblo, and subbarrio

boundaries in Puerto Rico, census

subdistrict boundaries in the Virgin

Islands of the United States, MCDcounty and island boundaries in

American Samoa, municipal district

boundaries in the Northern Mariana

Islands, and election district boundaries

in Guam.

• All incorporated place boundaries

in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,

New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,

Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and

Vermont.

• Conjoint incorporated place

boundaries in other states; that is, the

boundary separating two different

incorporated places.

• American Indian reservation and

trust land boundaries.

• Alaska Native village statistical

areas and Alaska Native Regional

Corporation boundaries, at the

discretion of the Census Bureau, insofar

as such boundaries are unambiguous for

allocating living quarters as part of

Census 2000 activities.

When the features listed above are not

available for selection, the Census

Bureau may, at its discretion, approve

other nonstandard visible features, such

as ridge lines, pipelines, intermittent

streams, fence lines, and so forth. The

Census Bureau also may accept, on a

case-by-case basis, the boundaries of

selected nonstandard and potentially
55780 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 208 / Tuesday, October 28, 1997 / Notices

nonvisible features such as the

boundaries of national parks and

national forests, cemeteries, or other

special land-use properties, the straightline extensions of visible features, and

other lines of sight.

4. Population Thresholds

The Census Bureau proposes the

following population criteria for census

tracts (see Table 1):

• In the United States, Puerto Rico,

and the Virgin Islands of the United

States: 1,500 to 8,000 inhabitants, with

an optimum of 4,000 inhabitants.

• In American Samoa, Guam, and the

Northern Mariana Islands: 1,500 to

8,000 inhabitants, with an optimum of

2,500 inhabitants.

• On American Indian reservations:

1,000 to 8,000 inhabitants, with an

optimum of 2,500 inhabitants. (The

population criteria for American Indian

reservations apply to the entire

reservation, including American Indian

reservations in multiple counties or

states.)

• In all counties, for census tracts

delineated to enclose an institution, a

military installation, or other ‘‘special

place’’ population: at least 1,000

inhabitants, with no optimum average

or maximum (no change from 1990). (A

special place includes facilities with

resident population, such as

correctional institutions, military

installations, college campuses,

workers’ dormitories, hospitals, nursing

homes, and group homes. A special

place includes the entire facility

including nonresidential areas and staff

housing units, as well as all group

quarters population.)

TABLE 1.—POPULATION THRESHOLDS FOR CENSUS 2000 CENSUS TRACTS

Area description

Population thresholds

Optimum Minimum Maximum

United States, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands of the U. S. ........................................................................... 4,000 1,500 8,000

American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands ............................................................................... 2,500 1,500 8,000

American Indian reservation .................................................................................................................... 2,500 1,000 8,000

Special place census tract ....................................................................................................................... none 1,000 none

5. Comparability and Implementation

As in previous censuses, the Census

Bureau generally will not accept newly

proposed census tracts that do not meet

the required minimum population.

However, with appropriate justification,

the Census Bureau may grant exceptions

on a case-by-case basis. For example, to

facilitate census tract comparability over

time, any 1990 census tract or BNA

(except a ‘‘sliver’’ census tract/BNA—

see 6. Sliver Census Tracts) that is

virtually unchanged (that is, having less

than five percent of the 1990 population

affected by a boundary revision) may be

recognized as a Census 2000 census

tract even if its population falls below

the minimum required population or

above the maximum allowable

population. The Census Bureau,

however, recommends combining low

population census tracts and splitting

large population census tracts to meet

the goal of providing meaningful smallarea data.

6. Sliver Census Tracts

The Census Bureau will not retain, or

continue to recognize for Census 2000,

any 1990 ‘‘sliver’’ census tracts or

BNAs. After the Census Bureau inserted

the 1990 census tracts into the

Topologically Integrated Geographic

Encoding and Referencing System

(TIGER) database, sliver census tracts

resulted from:

• County boundary changes or

corrections.

• Special land-use boundary changes

or corrections (military reservations,

national parks, and so forth).

• Local requests to correct errors in

the insertion of 1990 areas into the

TIGER database.

Sliver census tracts usually cover a

very small area, and in most cases

involve little or no population or

housing. The Census Bureau has

adopted new rules for establishing

tabulation geographic areas in Census

2000 by separating the collection areas

from the tabulation areas. This change

will eliminate the need for such sliver

census tracts in Census 2000.

In 1990, the Census Bureau

established rules to assign special

numerical suffixes to identify sliver

census tracts, generally beginning with

.98 and continuing in descending order.

The Census Bureau applied the suffix to

both the original census tract that lost

territory and the newly created sliver

census tract. For Census 2000, we

recommend that local participants

dispense with the sliver suffix for

legitimate census tracts, but will not

require a change if specifically

requested by the local participant for

comparability purposes.

B. Changes to the Criteria for Census

2000

Most provisions of the census tract

criteria remain unchanged from those

used in conjunction with the 1990

census, with the few exceptions

summarized below:

1. The Census Bureau is combining

the census tract and BNA programs to

create a single census tract program. The

major differences between the 1990

census tracts and BNAs were: (1)

representatives of the states or Census

Bureau staff were responsible for the

delineation of BNAs rather than local

census statistical areas committees, and

(2) census tracts were delineated mainly

according to population criteria, while

BNAs were delineated to meet data

collection criteria based on the number

of housing units rather than population.

For Census 2000, the Census Bureau

will contact local officials for the

delineation of census tracts, and there

will not be a housing unit criterion, thus

bringing both areas under a single

standard.

2. The Census Bureau is increasing

the number of governmental units that

have boundaries acceptable to use as

census tract boundaries. The added

areas are: all MCDs in Indiana and

selected MCDs in Illinois, Iowa, Kansas,

Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri,

Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota,

and Wisconsin; the MCD-county and

island areas of American Samoa; and

villages in New York.

3. The Census Bureau now allows

officials of Federally recognized

American Indian reservations meeting

the 1,000 minimum population

threshold to delineate census tracts

without regard to state or county

boundaries. Although the Census

Bureau will tabulate data for each statecounty-census tract part, it also plans to

provide summed data for all

components of each census tract bearing

the same numeric identifier within a

Federally recognized AIR.

4. The Census Bureau will use census

tracts only as tabulation areas, thus

allowing late corrections to census tract

boundaries as a result of legal county
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 208 / Tuesday, October 28, 1997 / Notices 55781

boundary changes or to correct errors

without having to create unique sliver

census tracts for such areas.

Definitions of Key Terms

Alaska Native Regional Corporation

(ANRC)—A corporate entity established

under the Alaska Native Claims

Settlement Act of 1972, Public Law 92–

203, as amended by Public Law 92–204,

to conduct both the business and

nonprofit affairs of Alaska Natives.

Twelve ANRCs cover the entire State of

Alaska except for the Annette Islands

Reserve.

Alaska Native village statistical area

(ANVSA)—A statistical entity

containing the densely settled extent of

an Alaska Native village that constitutes

an association, band, clan, community,

group, tribe, or village recognized

pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims

Settlement Act of 1972, Public Law 92–

203, as amended by Public Law 92–204.

American Indian reservation (AIR)—

A Federally recognized American

Indian entity with boundaries

established by treaty, statute, and/or

executive or court order and over which

American Indians have governmental

jurisdiction. Along with reservations,

designations such as colonies,

communities, pueblos, rancherias, and

reserves apply to American Indian

reservations.

Block numbering area (BNA)—A

small-area, statistical geographic

division of a county or statistically

equivalent area delineated in 1990

instead of and generally geographically

equivalent to census tracts. For Census

2000, the Census Bureau is merging the

BNA program into the census tract

program.

Coastal water—Water bodies between

territorial seas and inland water, the

encompassing headlands being more

than one mile apart and less than 24

miles apart.

Conjoint—A description of a

boundary shared by two adjacent

geographic entities.

Continuous—A description of areas

sharing common boundaries, such that

the areas, when combined, form a single

piece of territory. Discontinuous areas

form disjoint pieces.

Crews-of-vessels census tract—A

census tract created at the time of

enumeration for allocating the

shipboard population of merchant and

military ships and identified with a

special numeric suffix equal to .99.

Great Lakes’ waters—Water area

beyond one mile wide headland

embayments located in any of the five

Great Lakes: Erie, Huron, Michigan,

Ontario, or Superior.

Incorporated place—A type of

governmental unit, sanctioned by state

law as a city, town (except in New

England, New York, and Wisconsin),

village, or borough (except in Alaska

and New York), having legally

prescribed limits, powers, and

functions.

Inland water—Water bodies entirely

surrounded by land or at the point

where their opening to coastal waters,

territorial seas, or the Great Lakes is less

than one mile across.

Minor civil division (MCD)—The

primary governmental or administrative

division of a county in 28 states, Puerto

Rico and the Island Areas having legal

boundaries, names, and descriptions.

MCDs represent many different types of

legal entities with a wide variety of

characteristics, powers, and functions

depending on the state and type of

MCD. In some states, some or all of the

incorporated places also constitute

MCDs.

Nonvisible feature—A map feature

that is not visible on the ground such as

a city or county boundary through

space, a property line, a short line-ofsight extension of a road, or a point-topoint line of sight.

Special place—A specific location

requiring special enumeration because

the location includes people not in

households or the area includes special

land use. Special places include

facilities with resident populations,

such as correctional institutions,

military installations, college campuses,

workers’ dormitories, hospitals, nursing

homes, group homes, and land-use areas

such as national parks. A special place

includes the entire facility, including

nonresidential areas and staff housing

units, as well as all group quarters

population.

Territorial seas—Water bodies not

included under the rules for inland

water, coastal water, or Great Lakes’

waters, see above.

Visible feature—A map feature that

one can see on the ground such as a

road, railroad track, above-ground

transmission line, stream, shoreline,

fence, sharply defined mountain ridge,

or cliff. A nonstandard visible feature is

a feature that may not be clearly defined

on the ground (such as a ridge), may be

seasonal (such as an intermittent

stream), or may be relatively

impermanent (such as a fence). The

Census Bureau generally requests

verification that nonstandard features

pose no problem in their location during

field work.

Dated: October 10, 1997.

Martha Farnsworth Riche,

Director, Bureau of the Census.

[FR Doc. 97–28430 Filed 10–27–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–07–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Economic Development

Administration

Notice of Petitions by Producing Firms

for Determination of Eligibility to Apply

for Trade Adjustment Assistance

AGENCY: Economic Development

Administration (EDA).

ACTION: To give firms an opportunity to

comment.

Petitions have been accepted for filing

on the dates indicated from the firms

listed below.

LIST OF PETITION ACTION BY TRADE ADJUSTMENT ASSISTANCE FOR PERIOD 09/21/97–09/17/97

Firm name Address

Date petition accepted

Product

Stanwood Mills, Inc ................... P.O. Box 195, Fairview Avenue, Slatington, PA 18080.09/30/97 Greige Goods (Unbleached Fabric of Acetate, Rayon and Polyester).

G.L. Industries of Indiana, Inc ... 2860 North National Road, Columbus, IN 47201.09/30/97 Injection Molded Plastic Television Cabinets.

Quality Capabilities, Inc ............ 15251 Roosevelt Blvd, Suite

207, Clearwater, FL 34620.

10/03/97 Printed Circuit Assemblies.

Colt Technology Corporation .... 800 NW Technology Dr., Lees

Summit, MO 64086.

10/03/97 Printed Circuit Boards without any Electronic Components Attached.

American Wilcon Plastics, Inc ... 418 North Front Street, Orrick,

MO 64077.

10/03/97 Plastic Injection Molded Kitchen Wares and Other Misc. Plastic Molded Parts.