This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

40529 

Vol. 77, No. 132 

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 

Agricultural Marketing Service 

7 CFR Part 1220 

[Doc. No. AMS–LS–12–0022] 

Soybean Promotion and Research: 

Amend the Order To Adjust 

Representation on the United Soybean 

Board 

AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing Service, 

USDA. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: This proposed rule would 

adjust the number of members on the 

United Soybean Board (Board) to reflect 

changes in production levels that have 

occurred since the Board was last 

reapportioned in 2009. As required by 

the Soybean Promotion, Research, and 

Consumer Information Act (Act), 

membership on the Board is reviewed 

every 3 years and adjustments are made 

accordingly. This proposed change 

would result in an increase in Board 

membership for one State, increasing 

the total number of Board members from 

69 to 70. These changes would be 

reflected in the Soybean Promotion and 

Research Order (Order) and would be 

effective for the 2013 appointment 

process. 

DATES: Comments must be received by 

September 10, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Comments should be posted 

online at www.regulations.gov. 

Comments received will be posted 

without change, including any personal 

information provided. All comments 

should reference the docket number, 

AMS–LS–12–0022; the date of 

submission; and the page number of this 

issue of the Federal Register. Comments 

may also be sent to Kenneth R. Payne, 

Director, Marketing Programs Division, 

Livestock and Seed Program, 

Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), 

Department of Agriculture (USDA), 

Room 2628–S, STOP 0251, 1400 

Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20250–0251; or via Fax 

to (202) 720–1125. Comments will be 

made available for public inspection at 

the above address during regular 

business hours or via the Internet at 

www.regulations.gov. Comments must 

be received by September 10, 2012. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kenneth R. Payne, Director, Marketing 

Programs Division, Livestock and Seed 

Program, AMS, USDA, Room 2628–S, 

STOP 0251, 1400 Independence Avenue 

SW., Washington, DC 20250–0251; 

Telephone 202/720–1115; Fax 202/720– 

1125; or email to 

Kenneth.Payne@ams.usda.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Executive Order 12866 

The Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) has waived the review process 

required by Executive Order 12866 for 

this action. 

Executive Order 12988 

This proposed rule was reviewed 

under Executive Order 12988, Civil 

Justice Reform. It is not intended to 

have a retroactive effect. This action 

would not preempt any State or local 

laws, regulations, or policies unless they 

present an irreconcilable conflict with 

this rule. 

The Act provides that administrative 

proceedings must be exhausted before 

parties may file suit in court. Under 

section 1971 of the Act, a person subject 

to the Order may file a petition with 

USDA stating that the Order, any 

provision of the Order, or any obligation 

imposed in connection with the Order, 

is not in accordance with the law and 

request a modification of the Order or 

an exemption from the Order. The 

petitioner is afforded the opportunity 

for a hearing on the petition. After a 

hearing, USDA would rule on the 

petition. The Act provides that district 

courts of the United States in any 

district in which such person is an 

inhabitant, or has their principal place 

of business, has jurisdiction to review 

USDA’s ruling on the petition, if a 

complaint for this purpose is filed 

within 20 days after the date of the entry 

of the ruling. 

Regulatory Flexibility Act 

AMS has determined that this rule 

will not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities, as defined by the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (RFA) (5 U.S.C. 601– 

612), because it only adjusts 

representation on the Board to reflect 

changes in production levels that have 

occurred since the Board was last 

reapportioned in 2009. The purpose of 

the RFA is to fit regulatory actions to the 

scale of businesses subject to such 

actions so that small businesses will not 

be disproportionately burdened. As 

such, these changes will not impose a 

significant impact on persons subject to 

the program. 

There are an estimated 589,182 

soybean producers and an estimated 

10,000 first purchasers who collect the 

assessment, most of whom would be 

considered small businesses under the 

criteria established by the Small 

Business Administration (SBA) [13 CFR 

121.201]. SBA defines small agricultural 

producers as those having annual 

receipts of less than $750,000. 

Paperwork Reduction Act 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35), the reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements included in 

7 CFR part 1220 were previously 

approved by OMB and were assigned 

control number 0581–0093. 

Background and Proposed Changes 

The Act (7 U.S.C. 6301–6311) 

provides for the establishment of a 

coordinated program of promotion and 

research designed to strengthen the 

soybean industry’s position in the 

marketplace, and to maintain and 

expand domestic and foreign markets 

and uses for soybeans and soybean 

products. The program is financed by an 

assessment of 0.5 percent of the net 

market price of soybeans sold by 

producers. Pursuant to the Act, an Order 

was made effective July 9, 1991. The 

Order established an initial Board with 

60 members. For purposes of 

establishing the Board, the United States 

was divided into 31 States and 

geographical units. Representation on 

the Board from each unit was 

determined by the level of production in 

each unit. The initial Board was 

appointed on July 11, 1991. The Board 

is composed of soybean producers. 

Section 1220.201(c) of the Order 

provides that at the end of each 3-year 

period, the Board shall review soybean 

production levels in the geographic 

units throughout the United States. The 

Board may recommend to the Secretary 

of Agriculture (Secretary) modification 


wreier-aviles on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
40530 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 132 / Tuesday, July 10, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

in the levels of production necessary for 

Board membership for each unit. 

Section 1220.201(d) of the Order 

provides that at the end of each 3-year 

period, the Secretary must review the 

volume of production of each unit and 

adjust the boundaries of any unit and 

the number of Board members from 

each such unit as necessary to conform 

with the criteria set forth in 

§ 1220.201(e): (1) To the extent 

practicable, States with annual average 

soybean production of less than 

3,000,000 bushels shall be grouped into 

geographically contiguous units, each of 

which has a combined production level 

equal to or greater than 3,000,000 

bushels, and each such group shall be 

entitled to at least one member on the 

Board; (2) units with at least 3,000,000 

bushels, but fewer than 15,000,000 

bushels shall be entitled to one board 

member; (3) units with 15,000,000 

bushels or more but fewer than 

70,000,000 bushels shall be entitled to 

two Board members; (4) units with 

70,000,000 bushels or more but fewer 

than 200,000,000 bushels shall be 

entitled to three Board members; and (5) 

units with 200,000,000 bushels or more 

shall be entitled to four Board members. 

The Board was last reapportioned in 

2009. The total Board membership 

increased from 68 to 69 members, with 

Ohio gaining one additional member. 

This change was effective with the 2010 

appointments. 

Currently, the Board has 69 members 

representing 30 geographical units. This 

membership is based on average 

production levels for the years 2001– 

2005 (excluding crops in years that 

production was the highest and that 

production was the lowest) as reported 

by USDA’s National Agricultural 

Statistics Service (NASS). 

This proposed rule would increase 

total membership on the Board from 69 

to 70. Production data for years 2007– 

2011 (excluding the crops in years in 

which production was the highest and 

in which production was the lowest) 

was gathered from NASS. This change 

would not affect the number of 

geographical units. 

This proposed rule would adjust 

representation on the Board as follows: 

State Current 

representation 

Proposed 

representation 

Mississippi .................................................................................................................................................... 2 3 

Board adjustments as proposed by 

this rulemaking would become effective, 

if adopted, with the 2013 appointment 

process. 

List of Subjects in 7 CFR 1220 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Advertising, Agricultural 

research, Marketing agreements, 

Soybeans and soybean products, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, it is proposed that Title 7, 

part 1220 be amended as follows: 

PART 1220—SOYBEAN PROMOTION, 

RESEARCH, AND CONSUMER 

INFORMATION 

1. The authority citation for 7 CFR 

part 1220 continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 7 U.S.C. 6301–6311 and 7 

U.S.C. 7401. 

2. In § 1220.201, the table 

immediately following paragraph (a) is 

revised to read as follows: 

§ 1220.201 Membership of board. 

* * * * * 

Unit Number of 

members 

Illinois ........................................ 4 

Iowa .......................................... 4 

Minnesota ................................. 4 

Indiana ...................................... 4 

Nebraska .................................. 4 

Ohio .......................................... 4 

Missouri .................................... 3 

Arkansas ................................... 3 

South Dakota ............................ 3 

Kansas ...................................... 3 

Unit Number of 

members 

Michigan ................................... 3 

North Dakota ............................ 3 

Mississippi ................................ 3 

Louisiana .................................. 2 

Tennessee ................................ 2 

North Carolina .......................... 2 

Kentucky ................................... 2 

Pennsylvania ............................ 2 

Virginia ...................................... 2 

Maryland ................................... 2 

Wisconsin ................................. 2 

Georgia ..................................... 1 

South Carolina .......................... 1 

Alabama .................................... 1 

Delaware ................................... 1 

Texas ........................................ 1 

Oklahoma ................................. 1 

New York .................................. 1 

Eastern Region (Florida, Massachusetts, New Jersey Connecticut, Florida, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, West Virginia, 

District of Columbia, and 

Puerto Rico ........................... 1 

Western Region (Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, 

Washington, Oregon, Nevada, California, Hawaii, and 

Alaska) .................................. 1 

* * * * * 

Dated: July 3, 2012. 

David R. Shipman, 

Administrator, Agricultural Marketing 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–16703 Filed 7–9–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–02–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

10 CFR Part 430 

[Docket No. EERE–2010–BT–STD–0011] 

RIN 1904–AC22 

Energy Conservation Standards for 

Residential Furnace Fans: Public 

Meeting and Availability of the 

Preliminary Technical Support 

Document 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy, Department of 

Energy. 

ACTION: Notice of public meeting and 

availability of preliminary technical 

support document. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE) will hold a public meeting 

to discuss and receive comments on the 

product classes that DOE plans to 

analyze for purposes of establishing 

energy conservation standards for 

residential furnace fans; the analytical 

framework, models, and tools that DOE 

is using to evaluate potential standards 

for these products; the results of 

preliminary analyses performed by DOE 

for these products; the potential energy 

conservation standard levels derived 

from these analyses that DOE could 

consider for these products; and any 

other issues relevant to the development 

of energy conservation standards for 

residential furnace fans. In addition, 

DOE encourages written comments on 

these subjects. To inform interested 

parties and to facilitate this process, 

DOE has prepared an agenda, a 

preliminary technical support document 


wreier-aviles on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS