Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 115 / Thursday, June 14, 2001 / Notices 32315

can also visit the Council’s website at

www.amtrakreformcouncil.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The ARC

was created by the Amtrak Reform and

Accountability Act of 1997 (Reform

Act), as an independent commission, to

evaluate Amtrak’s performance and to

make recommendations to Amtrak for

achieving further cost containment,

productivity improvements, and

financial reforms. In addition, the

Reform Act provides: that the Council is

to monitor cost savings from work rules

established under new agreements

between Amtrak and its labor unions;

that the Council submit an annual

report to Congress that includes an

assessment of Amtrak’s progress on the

resolution of productivity issues; and

that, after a specified period, the

Council has the authority to determine

whether Amtrak can meet certain

financial goals specified under the

Reform Act and, if it finds that Amtrak

cannot, to notify the President and the

Congress.

The Reform Act prescribes that the

Council is to consist of eleven members,

including the Secretary of

Transportation and ten others

nominated by the President and the

leadership of the Congress. Members

serve a five-year term.

Issued in Washington, DC—June 8, 2001.

Thomas A. Till,

Executive Director.

[FR Doc. 01–15025 Filed 6–13–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Bureau of Export Administration

[Docket No. 010412092–1149–02]

Public Hearings on Section 232

National Security Investigation of

Imports of Iron Ore and Semi-Finished

Steel

AGENCY: Bureau of Export

Administration, Office of Strategic

Industries and Economic Security,

Strategic Analysis Division, Department

of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public hearings on

section 232 national security

investigation of imports of iron ore and

semi-finished steel.

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Export

Administration (BXA) is holding public

hearings on the investigation that the

Department of Commerce initiated, on

February 1, 2001, to determine the

effects on the national security of

imports of iron ore and semi-finished

steel. This investigation is being

conducted under section 232 of the

Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as

amended (19 U.S.C. 1862). This notice

identifies the issues on which the

Department is interested in obtaining

the public s views. It also sets forth the

procedures for public participation in

the hearings.

DATES: The hearings will be held on

Thursday, July 5, 2001 at the Virginia

High School, Goodman Auditorium, 411

5th Avenue, South, Virginia, MN 55792;

on Sunday, July 15, 2001 at the

Northern Michigan University,

University Center, Michigan Room,

1401 Presque Isle, Marquette, MI 49855;

and on Thursday, July 19, 2001 at the

Newport Gateway, 19900 MacArthur

Boulevard, Suite 300 (Food and Drug

Administration Office), Irvine, CA

92612. All hearings will begin at 12

noon local time and conclude at 7 PM

local time.

ADDRESSES: Send requests to speak and

written summaries of the oral

presentations to Brad Botwin, Director,

Strategic Analysis Division, Bureau of

Export Administration, U.S. Department

of Commerce, Room 3876, 14th Street

and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC 20230, by June 25,

2001. Any person, whether presenting

or not, may submit a written statement

through August 17, 2001; 30 days after

the last hearing date.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brad

Botwin, Director, Strategic Analysis

Division, Bureau of Export

Administration, U.S. Department of

Commerce, (202) 482–4060,

bbotwin@bxa.doc.gov or Michael

Vaccaro, Trade and Industry Analyst,

Bureau of Export Administration, U.S.

Department of Commerce, (202) 482–

8232, mvaccaro@bxa.doc.gov. For more

information about the section 232

program, including the regulations and

the text of previous investigations, see

www.doc-bxa.bmpcoe.org under

‘‘Programs.’’

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background and Specific Comments

Requested

On February 1, 2001, the Department

of Commerce initiated an investigation

under section 232 of the Trade

Expansion Act of 1962, as amended (19

U.S.C. 1862), to determine the effects on

the national security of imports of iron

ore and semi-finished steel. The

findings and recommendations of the

investigation are to be reported by the

Secretary of Commerce to the President

no later than October 29, 2001. For

further details on this investigation, see

the Federal Register notices of February

6, 2001 (66 FR 9067) and April 18, 2001

(66 FR 19917).

The iron ore and semi-finished steel

products subject to this investigation

include:

1. Iron Ore

—Briquettes

—Pellets

—Sinter

2. Semi-finished Steel

—Ingots

—Billets

—Blooms

—Slab

Consistent with the interest of the

U.S. Department of Commerce in

soliciting public comments on issues

affecting U.S. industry and national

security, BXA is holding public hearings

as part of the investigation. The hearings

will assist the Department in

determining whether imports of iron ore

and semi-finished steel threaten to

impair the national security and in

recommending remedies if such a threat

is found to exist.

The Department is particularly

interested in comments and information

directed to the criteria listed in 15 CFR

part 705.4, Effect of Imported Articles

on the National Security (‘‘the

regulations’’), including the following:

(a) Quantity of the articles subject to the

investigation and other circumstances

related to the importation of such

articles; (b) Domestic production

capacity needed for these articles to

meet projected national defense

requirements; (c) The capacity of

domestic industries to meet projected

national defense requirements; (d)

Existing and anticipated availability of

human resources, products, raw

materials, production equipment,

facilities, and other supplies and

services essential to the national

defense; (e) Growth requirements of

domestic industries needed to meet

national defense requirements and the

supplies and services including the

investment, exploration and

development necessary to assure such

growth; (f) The impact of foreign

competition on the economic welfare of

any domestic industry essential to our

national security; (g) The displacement

of any domestic products causing

substantial unemployment, decrease in

the revenues of government, loss of

investment or specialized skills and

productive capacity, or other serious

effects; (h) Relevant factors that are

causing or will cause a weakening of our

national economy; and (i) Any other

relevant factors.

Notice of Public Hearings

The hearings will be held on

Thursday, July 5, 2001 at the Virginia

32316 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 115 / Thursday, June 14, 2001 / Notices

High School, Goodman Auditorium, 411

5th Avenue, South, Virginia, MN 55792;

on Sunday, July 15, 2001 at the

Northern Michigan University’s

University Center, Michigan Room,

1401 Presque Isle, Marquette, MI 49855;

and on Thursday, July 19, 2001 at the

Newport Gateway, 19900 MacArthur

Boulevard, Suite 300 (Food and Drug

Administration Office), Irvine, CA

92612. All hearings will begin at 12

noon local time and conclude at 7 PM

local time.

Procedure for Requesting Participation

The Department encourages interested

public participants to present their

views orally at the hearings. Any person

wishing to make an oral presentation at

the hearings must submit a written

request to the Department of Commerce

at the address indicated in the

ADDRESSES section of this notice. The

request to participate in the hearings

must be accompanied by 3 copies of a

summary of the oral presentation. The

written request and summary must be

received by the Department no later

than Monday, June 25, 2001. In

addition, the request to speak should

contain (1) the name and address of the

person requesting to make a

presentation; (2) a daytime phone

number where the person who would be

making the oral presentation may be

contacted before the hearing; (3) the

organization or company they represent;

(4) an e-mail address, if available, and

(5) the location you will attend to make

your presentation.

Please note that the submission of

comments for presentation at the public

hearings is separate from the request for

written comments contained in the

February 6, 2001 and April 18, 2001

Federal Register notices. Since it may

be necessary to limit the number of

persons making presentations, the

written request to participate in the

public hearing should describe the

individual’s interest in the hearings and,

where appropriate, explain why the

individual is a proper representative of

a group or class of persons that has such

an interest. If all interested parties

cannot be accommodated at the

hearings, the summaries of the oral

presentations will be used to allocate

speaking time and to ensure that a full

range of comments is heard.

Each person selected to make a

presentation will be notified by the

Department of Commerce no later than

8 PM EDT on Friday, June 29, 2001. The

Department will arrange the

presentation times for the speakers.

Attendees will be seated on a first-come,

first-served basis. Persons selected to be

heard are requested to bring 100 copies

of their oral presentation and of all

exhibits to the hearing site on the day

of the hearing. All such material must

be of a size consistent with ease of

handling, transportation and filing.

While large exhibits may be used during

a hearing, copies of such exhibits in

reduced size must be provided to the

panel. Written submissions by persons

not selected to make presentations will

be made part of the public record of the

proceeding. Any person, whether

presenting or not, may submit a written

statement through August 17, 2001; 30

days after the last hearing date.

Confidential business information may

not be submitted at a public hearing. In

the event confidential business

information is submitted it will be

handled according to the same

procedures applicable to such

information provided in the course of an

investigation. See 15 CFR 705.6. Each

hearing will be stenographically

reported. Transcripts of the hearings

may be purchased after the hearings

have been completed from the

Department for actual cost of

duplication.

Copies of the requests to participate in

the public hearings, and the transcripts

of the hearings will be maintained on

the Bureau of Export Administration’s

web page, which can be found at

http://www.bxa.doc.gov (see Freedom of

Information Act (FOIA) heading). If the

requesters cannot access the web site,

they may call (202) 482–2165 for

assistance. The records related to this

assessment are made accessible in

accordance with the regulations

published in part 4 of title 15 of the

Code of Federal Regulations (15 CFR 4.1

et seq.)

Conduct of the Hearing

The Department reserves the right to

select the persons to be heard at the

hearings, to schedule their respective

presentations, and to establish the

procedures governing the conduct of the

hearing. Each speaker will be limited to

10 minutes, and comments must be

directly related to the criteria listed in

15 CFR part 705.4 of the regulations.

A Commerce Department official will

be designated to preside at the hearings.

The presiding officer shall determine all

procedural matters during the hearings.

Representatives from the Commerce

Department and other U.S. Government

agencies will make up the hearing

panel. This will be a fact-finding

proceeding; it will not be a judicial or

evidentiary-type hearing. Only members

of the hearing panel may ask questions,

and there will be no cross-examination

of persons presenting statements.

However, questions submitted to the

presiding officer in writing may, at the

discretion of the presiding officer, be

posed to the presenter. No formal rules

of evidence will apply to the hearings.

Any further procedural rules for the

proper conduct of the hearing will be

announced by the presiding officer.

Special Accommodations

These meetings are physically

accessible to people with disabilities.

Requests for sign language

interpretation or other auxiliary aids

should be received by the Department of

Commerce no later than Friday, June 29,

2001 at the address indicated in the

ADDRESSES section of this notice.

Dated: June 8, 2001.

Matthew S. Borman,

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Export

Administration.

[FR Doc. 01–15024 Filed 6–13–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–DT–U

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[I.D. 061101B]

Pacific Albacore Logbook

AGENCY: National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

ACTION: Proposed information

collection; comment request.

SUMMARY: The Department of

Commerce, as part of its continuing

effort to reduce paperwork and

respondent burden, invites the general

public and other Federal agencies to

take this opportunity to comment on

proposed and/or continuing information

collections, as required by the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Pub.

L. 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 3506 (c)(2)(A)).

DATES: Written comments must be

submitted on or before August 13, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Direct all written comments

to Madeleine Clayton, Departmental

Paperwork Clearance Officer,

Department of Commerce, Room 6086,

14th and Constitution Avenue NW,

Washington DC 20230 (or via Internet at

MClayton@doc.gov).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Requests for additional information or

copies of the information collection

instrument(s) and instructions should

be directed to Al Coan, Southwest

Fisheries Science Center, 8604 La Jolla

Shores Drive, P.O. Box 271, La Jolla, CA

92038–0271 (phone 858–546–7079).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: