89372 Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 27, 2023 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology 

Notice of Availability of Draft 

Programmatic Environmental 

Assessment for Modernization and 

Internal Expansion of Existing 

Semiconductor Fabrication Facilities 

Under the CHIPS Incentives Program 

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards 

and Technology, Department of 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; availability of a draft 

Programmatic Environmental 

Assessment; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: The National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST) 

announces the availability of the Draft 

Programmatic Environmental 

Assessment (PEA) for the modernization 

and internal expansion of existing 

semiconductor fabrication facilities 

under the CHIPS Incentives Program. 

The PEA addresses financial assistance 

for the modernization or internal 

expansion of existing current-generation 

and mature-node commercial facilities 

within their existing footprint 

throughout the U.S. (the ‘‘Proposed 

Action’’). NIST is requesting comments 

on the Draft PEA. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before January 25, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: The PEA will be available 

for download and review at https:// 

www.nist.gov/chips/nationalenvironmental-policy-act-nepa no later 

than December 26, 2023, under the 

heading ‘‘NEPA Public Involvement.’’ 

You may submit comments on this 

document by the following methods: 

Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via email to 

ChipsNEPA@chips.gov citing 

‘‘Modernization PEA’’ in the subject 

line. NIST will accept comments in 

attached Word or PDF formats or within 

the body of the email. 

By mail: Comments can also be 

mailed to the CHIPS Incentives Program 

at: Department of Commerce; HCHB 

Room 7419; ATTN: CPO Environmental 

Division; 1401 Constitution Ave., 

Washington, DC 20230. 

Instructions: Comments sent by any 

other method, to any other address or 

individual, or received after the end of 

the comment period, may not be 

considered by NIST. All comments 

received are a part of the public record; 

commenters should not include 

personal identifying information (e.g., 

name, address, etc.), confidential 

business information, or otherwise 

sensitive information. NIST will accept 

anonymous comments. The most 

helpful comments include a specific 

recommendation, explain the reason for 

any recommended change, and provide 

supporting information. NIST will 

consider all relevant comments received 

on or before the closing date. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

David Frenkel, NIST, telephone number 

240–204–1960, email David.Frenkel@

chips.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NIST has 

prepared the draft PEA in accordance 

with the National Environmental Policy 

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

the Council on Environmental Quality’s 

NEPA (CEQ) implementing regulations 

(40 CFR parts 1500–1508). The PEA 

addresses financial assistance for the 

modernization or internal expansion of 

existing current-generation and maturenode commercial facilities within their 

existing footprint throughout the U.S. 

(the ‘‘Proposed Action’’). 

Background 

The CHIPS Incentives Program 

(Program) was authorized by title 

XCIX—Creating Helpful Incentives to 

Produce Semiconductors for America of 

the William M. (Mac) Thornberry 

National Defense Authorization Act for 

Fiscal Year 2021 (Pub. L. 116–283, as 

amended by the CHIPS Act of 2022 

(Division A of Pub. L. 117–167) (the 

‘‘CHIPS Act’’ or ‘‘Act’’). The Program 

aims to boost American semiconductor 

research, development, and production. 

The Program is administered by the 

CHIPS Program Office (CPO) within 

NIST. The CHIPS Incentives Program 

Commercial Fabrication Facilities 

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) 

was originally published in February 

2023 and amended in June 2023. The 

amended NOFO solicits applications for 

the construction, expansion, or 

modernization of commercial facilities 

for the front- and back-end fabrication of 

leading-edge, current-generation, and 

mature-node semiconductors; 

commercial facilities for wafer 

manufacturing; and commercial 

facilities for materials used to 

manufacture semiconductors and 

semiconductor manufacturing 

equipment, provided that the capital 

investment equals or exceeds $300 

million. The potential amount available 

under the NOFO is up to $38.22 billion 

for direct funding and up to $75 billion 

in direct loan or guaranteed principals. 

CPO is responsible for completion of the 

NEPA process before financial 

assistance can be provided. 

Draft PEA 

The purpose of the Proposed Action 

is to invest in U.S. production of 

strategically important semiconductor 

chips, and assure a sufficient, 

sustainable, and secure supply of older 

and current generation chips for 

national security purposes and for 

critical manufacturing industries. As 

part of this effort, CPO aims to increase 

semiconductor manufacturing capacity 

and strengthen the security of the U.S. 

supply chain via the modernization of 

semiconductor production within the 

current footprint of existing eligible 

current-generation and mature-node 

semiconductor fabrication facilities. 

Such projects include the replacement 

or upgrade of existing equipment, the 

addition of new semiconductor 

manufacturing equipment within 

existing spaces, and expansion of 

cleanroom space. 

For proposed projects to be covered 

under the PEA, CPO will evaluate the 

project for consistency with the scope of 

the PEA using an inclusion analysis 

document (e.g., memo, form, or 

checklist). This analysis document will 

include the relevant information learned 

from a site-specific review and serves as 

the NEPA analysis documentation for 

the administrative record as applied to 

specific projects. If the project includes 

activities outside of the scope of the 

PEA, then an additional or tiered NEPA 

document may be required. The PEA 

can be used as a planning tool to 

support tiered, site-specific analyses by 

narrowing the spectrum of 

environmental impacts to focus on 

project-level reviews as needed. The 

following scenarios describe the 

possible application of the PEA to a 

project and whether additional 

environmental review under NEPA is 

required: 

1. All proposed project activities are 

described in the PEA or the activities 

are similar enough to the activities 

analyzed in the PEA to support a 

conclusion that their impacts will not be 

different from those described in the 

PEA; therefore, no additional NEPA 

review required; 

2. One or more proposed project 

activities are within the scope of the 

PEA and others are not; therefore, 

additional NEPA review would be 

required; and 

3. None of the proposed project 

activities are within the scope of the 

PEA; therefore, additional NEPA review 

would be required. 

Authority: This notice is provided 

pursuant to NEPA and CEQ’s NEPA 


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Federal Register / Vol. 88, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 27, 2023 / Notices 89373 

implementing regulations (40 CFR 

1506.6). 

Tamiko Ford, 

NIST Executive Secretariat. 

[FR Doc. 2023–28487 Filed 12–26–23; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology 

National Conference on Weights and 

Measures 2024 Interim Meeting 

AGENCY: National Institute of Standards 

and Technology, Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The 2024 Interim Meeting of 

the National Conference on Weights and 

Measures (NCWM) will be held inperson at the Royal Sonesta New 

Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana from 

Sunday, January 7, 2024, through 

Wednesday, January 10, 2024. This 

notice contains information about some, 

but not all, significant agenda items of 

the NCWM committees. As a result, the 

items are not consecutively numbered. 

DATES: The 2024 NCWM Interim 

Meeting will be held from Sunday, 

January 7, 2024, through Wednesday, 

January 10, 2024. The meeting schedule 

will be available on the NCWM website 

at www.ncwm.com. 

ADDRESSES: This meeting will be held at 

the Royal Sonesta New Orleans, with an 

address at 300 Bourbon Street, New 

Orleans, Louisiana 70130. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Katrice Lippa, NIST, Office of Weights 

and Measures, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 

2600, Gaithersburg, MD 20899–2600. 

You may also contact Dr. Lippa at (301) 

975–3116 or by email at katrice.lippa@

nist.gov. The meeting is open to the 

public, but the payment of a registration 

fee is required. Please see the NCWM 

website (www.ncwm.com) to view the 

meeting agendas, registration forms, and 

hotel reservation information. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Publication of this notice on the 

NCWM’s behalf is undertaken as a 

public service and does not itself 

constitute an endorsement by the 

National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST) of the content of the 

notice. NIST participates in the NCWM 

as an NCWM member and pursuant to 

15 U.S.C. 272(b)(10) and (c)(4) and in 

accordance with Federal policy (e.g., 

OMB Circular A–119 ‘‘Federal 

Participation in the Development and 

Use of Voluntary Consensus 

Standards’’). 

The NCWM is an organization of 

weights and measures officials of the 

states, counties, and cities of the United 

States, and representatives from the 

private sector and federal agencies. 

These meetings bring together 

government officials and representatives 

of business, industry, trade associations, 

and consumer organizations on subjects 

related to the field of weights and 

measures technology, administration, 

and enforcement. NIST hosted the first 

meeting of the NCWM in 1905. Since 

then, the conference has provided a 

model of cooperation between Federal, 

State, and local governments and the 

private sector. NIST participates in the 

NCWM to provide technical insights 

and expertise and encourage 

cooperation between the private sector, 

federal agencies, and the states in the 

development of legal metrology 

requirements. NIST also promotes 

uniformity in state laws, regulations, 

and testing procedures used in the 

regulatory control of commercial 

weighing and measuring devices, 

packaged goods, and for other trade and 

commerce issues. 

The NCWM has established multiple 

committees, task groups, and other 

working bodies to address legal 

metrology issues of interest to, inter 

alia, regulatory officials, industry 

representatives, and consumers. 

Comments will be taken by the various 

NCWM committees on agenda items 

during the open hearing portions of the 

conference identified in the meeting 

schedule. At this stage, the items are 

proposals. The open hearing sessions 

are accessible to all registered attendees 

of the conference, including both 

NCWM members and non-members. 

The conference also includes committee 

work sessions in which the committees 

may, inter alia, accept comments, 

withdraw or carryover agenda items that 

need additional maturation, and 

develop recommendations for the 

agenda items for consideration and 

possible adoption at the NCWM 109th 

Annual Meeting. 

These notices are intended to make 

interested parties aware of significant 

agenda items and alert them to the 

committees’ intentions to share reports 

on the status of each at the 2024 NCWM 

Interim Meeting. The notices are also 

presented to invite the participation of 

manufacturers, experts, consumers, 

users, and others who may be interested 

in these efforts. 

The following are brief descriptions of 

some of the significant agenda items 

that will receive further consideration 

by the standing committees at the 

upcoming 2024 NCWM Interim 

Meeting. The full agenda of each 

standing committee is provided in 

NCWM Publication 15 (ncwm.com/ 

publication-15). Comments will be 

taken on recommendations intended to 

amend NIST Handbook 44, 

‘‘Specifications, Tolerances, and Other 

Technical Requirements for Weighing 

and Measuring Devices’’ (NIST HB 44), 

NIST Handbook 130, ‘‘Uniform Laws 

and Regulations in the Areas of Legal 

Metrology and Fuel Quality’’ (NIST HB 

130), and NIST Handbook 133, 

‘‘Checking the Net Contents of Packaged 

Goods’’ (NIST HB 133). The NIST 

Handbooks are regularly adopted by the 

states, either by reference or through 

administrative procedures. 

NCWM S&T Committee 

The NCWM Specifications and 

Tolerances Committee (S&T Committee) 

will consider proposed amendments to 

NIST HB 44, including those identified 

below. A detailed technical review of 

the S&T Committee agenda items will be 

made available prior to the 2024 NCWM 

Interim Meeting in the 2024 NIST OWM 

Interim Technical Analysis at https://

www.nist.gov/pml/owm/publications/ 

owm-technical-analysis. 

SCL—Scales 

SCL–23.3. Verification Scale Division 

e: Multiple Sections. 

The S&T Committee will consider a 

proposal submitted by the NCWM 

Verification Scale Division e Task 

Group that has an Assigned Status and 

is intended to update NIST Handbook 

44, Section 2.20 Scales to: 

1. Clarify how error is determined in 

relation to the verification scale division 

(e) and the scale division (d) 

2. Clarify which is the proper 

reference; the verification scale division 

(e) or the scale division (d) throughout 

this section 

3. Ensure proper selection of a scale 

in reference to the verification scale 

division (e) and the scale division (d) 

4. Clarify the relationship between the 

verification scale division (e) and the 

scale division (d). 

WIM—Weigh-In-Motion Systems 

WIM–23.1. 2.26 Weigh-in-Motion 

Systems Used for Vehicle Direct 

Enforcement. 

The S&T Committee will consider a 

proposal submitted by New York City 

DOT, C2SMART, Kistler, and Maryland 

DOT that has an Informational Status. 

The proposal to include a new Section 

2.26. Weigh-in-Motion Systems Used for 

Vehicle Direct Enforcement to NIST HB 

44 is intended to provide a legal 

document that can be used by local and 

State agencies to certify Weigh-InVerDate Sep<11>2014 19:00 Dec 26, 2023 Jkt 262001 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 E:\FR\FM\27DEN1.SGM 27DEN1

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