Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 148 / Wednesday, August 1, 2018 / Notices 37487 

NMFS’s Alaska Region issued a 

Biological Opinion on July 26, 2018 to 

NMFS’s Office of Protected Resources 

which concluded that the Ketchikan 

Berth IV Expansion project is not likely 

to jeopardize the continued existence of 

Mexico DPS humpback whales or 

adversely modify critical habitat 

because none exists within the action 

area. 

National Environmental Policy Act 

To comply with the National 

Environmental Policy Act of 1969 

(NEPA; 42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) and 

NOAA Administrative Order (NAO) 

216–6A, NMFS must review our action 

(i.e., the issuance of an incidental 

harassment authorization) with respect 

to potential impacts on the human 

environment. This action is consistent 

with categories of activities identified in 

Categorical Exclusion B4 (incidental 

harassment authorizations with no 

anticipated serious injury or mortality) 

of the Companion Manual for NOAA 

Administrative Order 216–6A, which do 

not individually or cumulatively have 

the potential for significant impacts on 

the quality of the human environment 

and for which we have not identified 

any extraordinary circumstances that 

would preclude this categorical 

exclusion. Accordingly, NMFS has 

determined that the issuance of the IHA 

qualifies to be categorically excluded 

from further NEPA review. 

Authorization 

As a result of these determinations, 

we have issued an IHA to ADOT&PF for 

conducting the described construction 

activities related to city dock and ferry 

terminal improvements from June 1, 

2019 through May 31, 2020 provided 

the previously described mitigation, 

monitoring, and reporting requirements 

are incorporated. 

Dated: July 27, 2018. 

Elaine T. Saiz, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Protected 

Resources, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–16473 Filed 7–31–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

United States Patent and Trademark 

Office 

[Docket No. PTO–P–2018–0046] 

Patent Public Advisory Committee 

Public Hearing on the Proposed Patent 

Fee Schedule 

AGENCY: United States Patent and 

Trademark Office, Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of public hearing. 

SUMMARY: Under Section 10 of the 

America Invents Act (AIA), the United 

States Patent and Trademark Office 

(USPTO) may set or adjust by rule any 

patent or trademark fee established, 

authorized, or charged, respectively. 

The USPTO currently is planning to 

propose to set or adjust patent fees 

pursuant to its Section 10 fee setting 

authority. As part of the rulemaking 

process to set or adjust patent fees, the 

Patent Public Advisory Committee 

(PPAC) is required under Section 10 of 

the AIA to hold a public hearing about 

any proposed patent fees, and the 

USPTO is required to assist PPAC in 

carrying out that hearing. To that end, 

the USPTO will make its proposed 

patent fees available as set forth in the 

Supplementary Information section of 

this Notice before any PPAC hearing 

and will help the PPAC to notify the 

public about the hearing. Accordingly, 

this document announces the dates and 

logistics for the PPAC public hearing 

regarding USPTO proposed patent fees. 

Interested members of the public are 

invited to testify at the hearing and/or 

submit written comments about the 

proposed patent fees and the questions 

posed on PPAC’s website about the 

proposed fees. 

DATES: Public hearing: September 6, 

2018. 

Comments: For those wishing to 

submit written comments on the fee 

proposal that will be published by 

August 29, 2018, the deadline for 

receipt of those written comments is 

September 13, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Public hearing: The PPAC 

will hold a public hearing on September 

6, 2018 beginning at 9:00 a.m., Eastern 

Standard Time (EST), and ending at 

11:00 a.m., EST, at the USPTO, Madison 

Auditorium North, Concourse Level, 

Madison Building, 600 Dulany Street, 

Alexandria, Virginia 22314. 

Written comments may be submitted 

by email addressed to fee.setting@

uspto.gov or by postal mail to United 

States Patent and Trademark Office, 

Mail Stop CFO, P.O. Box 1450, 

Alexandria, VA 22313–1450, ATTN: 

Brendan Hourigan. 

Although comments may be 

submitted by postal mail, the USPTO 

prefers to receive comments via email. 

Written comments should be identified 

in the subject line of the email or postal 

mailing as ‘‘Fee Setting.’’ 

Because comments will be made 

available for public inspection, 

information that is not desired to be 

made public, such as an address or 

telephone number, should not be 

included in the comments. 

Web cast: The public hearing will be 

available via Web cast. Information 

about the Web cast will be posted on the 

USPTO’s internet website 

(www.uspto.gov/about-us/performanceand-planning/fee-setting-and-adjusting) 

before the public hearing. 

Transcripts: Transcript of the hearing 

will be available on the USPTO internet 

website (www.uspto.gov/about-us/ 

performance-and-planning/fee-settingand-adjusting) shortly after the hearing. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Brendan Hourigan, Office of the Chief 

Financial Officer, by phone (571) 272– 

8966, or by email at brendan.hourigan@

uspto.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Effective 

September 16, 2011, with the passage of 

the AIA, the USPTO is authorized under 

Section 10 of the AIA to set or adjust by 

rule all patent and trademark fees 

established, authorized, or charged 

under Title 35 of the United States Code 

and the Trademark Act of 1946, 

respectively. Patent and trademark fees 

set or adjusted by rule under Section 10 

of the AIA may only recover the 

aggregate estimated costs to the Office 

for processing, activities, services, and 

materials relating to patents and 

trademarks, respectively, including 

administrative costs of the Office with 

respect to each as the case may be. 

Congress set forth the process for the 

USPTO to follow in setting or adjusting 

patent and trademark fees by rule under 

Section 10 of the AIA, including 

additional procedural steps in the 

rulemaking proceeding for the issuance 

of regulations under this section. In 

particular, Congress requires the 

relevant advisory committee to hold a 

public hearing about the USPTO fee 

proposals after receiving them from the 

agency. Congress likewise requires the 

relevant advisory committee to prepare 

a written report on the proposed fees 

and the USPTO to consider the relevant 

advisory committee’s report before 

finally setting or adjusting the fees. 

Presently, the USPTO is planning to 

exercise its fee setting authority to set or 

adjust patent fees. As part of the 

rulemaking proceeding for the issuance 

of regulations under Section 10, the 

USPTO will publish a proposed patent 

fee schedule and related supplementary 

information for public viewing no later 

than August 29, 2018, on the USPTO 

internet website (address: 

www.uspto.gov/about-us/performanceand-planning/fee-setting-and-adjusting). 

In turn, the PPAC will hold a public 

hearing about the proposed patent fee 

schedule on the date indicated herein. 

The USPTO will assist the PPAC in 

holding the hearing by providing 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES
37488 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 148 / Wednesday, August 1, 2018 / Notices 

resources to organize the hearing and by 

notifying the public about the hearing, 

such as through this notice. Following 

the PPAC public hearing, the USPTO 

will publish a Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking in the Federal Register, 

setting forth its proposed patent fees. 

Requests to Present Oral Testimony 

Interested members of the public are 

invited to testify at the PPAC hearing 

about the proposed patent fees and the 

questions posed on PPAC’s website 

about the proposed fees. Those wishing 

to present oral testimony at the hearing 

must submit a request in writing no 

later than August 29, 2018. Requests to 

testify should indicate the following: (1) 

The name of the person wishing to 

testify; (2) the person’s contact 

information (telephone number and 

email address); (3) the organization(s) 

the person represents, if any; and (4) an 

indication of the amount of time needed 

for the testimony. Requests to testify 

must be submitted by email to Jennifer 

Lo at Jennifer.Lo@uspto.gov. Speakers 

providing testimony at the hearing 

should submit a written copy of their 

testimony for inclusion in the record of 

the proceedings no later than September 

13, 2018. 

Based upon the requests received, an 

agenda for witness testimony will be 

sent to testifying requesters and posted 

on the USPTO internet website (address: 

www.uspto.gov/about-us/performanceand-planning/fee-setting-and-adjusting). 

If time permits, the PPAC may permit 

unscheduled testimony as well. 

Dated: July 25, 2018. 

Andrei Iancu, 

Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual 

Property and Director of the United States 

Patent and Trademark Office. 

[FR Doc. 2018–16432 Filed 7–31–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–16–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

State Energy Advisory Board (STEAB) 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Notice of open teleconference. 

SUMMARY: This notice announces a 

teleconference call of the State Energy 

Advisory Board (STEAB). The Federal 

Advisory Committee Act requires that 

public notice of these meetings be 

announced in the Federal Register. 

DATES: Thursday, August 16, 2018 from 

2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (EDT). To receive 

the call-in number and passcode, please 

contact the Board’s Designated Federal 

Officer at the address or phone number 

listed below. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael Li, Designated Federal Officer, 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy, 1000 Independence Ave. SW, 

Washington, DC 20585. Phone number 

202–287–5718; and email: michael.li@

ee.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Purpose of the Board: To make 

recommendations to the Assistant 

Secretary for the Office of Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

regarding goals and objectives, 

programmatic and administrative 

policies, and to otherwise carry out the 

Board’s responsibilities as designated in 

the State Energy Efficiency Programs 

Improvement Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101– 

440). 

Tentative Agenda: Welcome new 

STEAB members. Discuss 

recommendations from STEAB to the 

Assistant Secretary for the Office of 

Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy. 

Public Participation: The meeting is 

open to the public. Written statements 

may be filed with the Board either 

before or after the meeting. Members of 

the public who wish to make oral 

statements pertaining to agenda items 

should contact Michael Li at the address 

or telephone number listed above. 

Requests to make oral comments must 

be received five days prior to the 

meeting; reasonable provision will be 

made to include requested topic(s) on 

the agenda. The Chair of the Board is 

empowered to conduct the meeting in a 

fashion that will facilitate the orderly 

conduct of business. 

Issued at Washington, DC, on July 27, 

2018. 

Latanya Butler, 

Deputy Committee Management Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2018–16458 Filed 7–31–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Notice of Request for Information (RFI) 

on National Offshore Wind Energy 

R&D Test Facilities 

AGENCY: Wind Energy Technologies 

Office, Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Request for information (RFI). 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) invites public comment 

on its Request for Information (RFI) 

regarding national-level test facilities for 

offshore wind-specific research and 

development. The Wind Energy 

Technologies Office (WETO) is seeking 

information on facilities that can 

conduct unique offshore wind research 

and development (R&D) in the U.S., 

what upgrades to existing facilities or 

new facilities are needed for the U.S. to 

be at the cutting edge of offshore wind 

R&D, and what specific tests and 

analyses could be carried out at existing, 

upgraded, or new facilities in order to 

advance the U.S. offshore wind 

industry. 

DATES: Responses to the RFI must be 

received by September 14, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are to 

submit comments electronically to 

osw.rfi@ee.doe.gov. Include ‘‘National 

Offshore Wind Energy R&D Test 

Facilities’’ in the subject of the title. 

Responses must be provided as 

attachments to an email. It is 

recommended that attachments with file 

sizes exceeding 25MB be compressed 

(i.e., zipped) to ensure message delivery. 

Responses must be provided as a 

Microsoft Word (.docx) attachment to 

the email, and no more than 10 pages in 

length, 12 point font, 1 inch margins. 

Only electronic responses will be 

accepted. The complete RFI document 

is located at https://eereexchange.energy.gov/. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Questions may be addressed to Alana 

Duerr, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW, Washington, 

DC 20585, (202) 287–6953, or osw.rfi@

ee.doe.gov. Further instruction can be 

found in the RFI document number DE– 

FOA–0001963 posted on EERE 

Exchange (https://eereexchange.energy.gov/). 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

purpose of this RFI is to solicit feedback 

from industry, academia, research 

laboratories, government agencies, and 

other stakeholders on issues related to 

national offshore wind test facilities. 

WETO is specifically interested in 

information on: The facilities in the U.S. 

that are available for offshore windspecific experimentation and testing; 

facilities upgrades or new facilities that 

are required in the U.S. for offshore 

wind testing in order to perform cutting 

edge R&D; and, the most pressing R&D 

needs that would utilize existing, 

upgraded, or new U.S. offshore wind 

specific facilities. The RFI is available 

at: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov/ 

Confidential Business Information 

Because information received in 

response to this RFI may be used to 

structure future programs, funding and/ 

or otherwise be made available to the 


sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES