Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 214 / Tuesday, November 6, 2007 / Notices 62639 

For Direct Consolidation Loans First 

Disbursed On or After October 1, 1998 

and For Which the Application Was 

Received Before October 1, 1998 

The interest rate for Direct Subsidized 

and Unsubsidized Consolidation Loans 

is the bond equivalent rate of the 91-day 

Treasury bills auctioned at the final 

auction held before June 1 plus 2.3 

percent. However, during in-school, 

grace, and deferment periods, the 

interest rate formula is the bond 

equivalent rate of the 91-day Treasury 

bills auctioned at the final auction held 

before June 1 plus 1.7 percent. These 

interest rates may not exceed 8.25 

percent during any period. From July 1, 

2007, to June 30, 2008, the interest rate 

for Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized 

Consolidation Loans that were first 

disbursed on or after October 1, 1998 

and for which the application was 

received before October 1, 1998, is 6.62 

percent (4.92 percent plus 1.7 percent) 

during in-school, grace, and deferment 

periods and 7.22 percent (4.92 percent 

plus 2.3 percent) during all other 

periods. 

The interest rate for Direct PLUS 

Consolidation Loans is the bond 

equivalent rate of the 91-day Treasury 

bills auctioned at the final auction held 

before June 1 plus 3.1 percent. These 

interest rates may not exceed 9.0 

percent during any period. From July 1, 

2007, to June 30, 2008, the interest rate 

for Direct PLUS Loans and Direct PLUS 

Consolidation Loans that were first 

disbursed on or after October 1, 1998 

and for which the application was 

received before October 1, 1998, is 8.02 

percent (4.92 percent plus 3.1 percent) 

during all periods. 

For Direct Consolidation Loans For 

Which the Application Was Received 

On or After October 1, 1998, and Before 

February 1, 1999 

The interest rate for Direct 

Consolidation Loans for which the 

application was received on or after 

October 1, 1998 and before February 1, 

1999 is the bond equivalent rate of the 

91-day Treasury bills auctioned at the 

final auction held before June 1 plus 2.3 

percent. These interest rates may not 

exceed 8.25 percent during any period. 

From July 1, 2007, to June 30, 2008, the 

interest rate for Direct Consolidation 

Loans for which the application was 

received on or after October 1, 1998 and 

before February 1, 1999, is 7.22 percent 

(4.92 percent plus 2.3 percent) during 

all periods. 

For Direct Consolidation Loans For 

Which the Application Was Received 

On or After February 1, 1999 

The interest rate for Direct 

Consolidation Loans for which the 

application was received on or after 

February 1, 1999, is the lesser of 8.25 

percent, or the weighted average of the 

loans consolidated, rounded to the 

nearest higher 1⁄8 of one percent. 

Electronic Access to This Document: 

You may view this document, as well as 

all other documents of this Department 

published in the Federal Register, in 

text or Adobe Portable Document 

Format (PDF) on the Internet at the 

following site: http://www.ed.gov/news/ 

federegister. 

To use PDF you must have Adobe 

Acrobat Reader, which is available free 

at this site. If you have questions about 

using PDF, call the U.S. Government 

Printing Office (GPO), toll free at 1–888–

293–6498; or in the Washington, DC 

area at (202) 512–1530. 

Note: The official version of this document 

is the document published in the Federal 

Register. Free Internet access to the official 

edition of the Federal Register and the Code 

of Federal Regulations is available on GPO 

Access at: http://www.gpoaccess.gov/nara/ 

index.html. 

Program Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1087 et seq.. 

Dated: October 31, 2007. 

Lawrence A. Warder, 

Acting Chief Operating Officer, Federal 

Student Aid. 

[FR Doc. E7–21807 Filed 11–5–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4000–01–P 

ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION 

Proposed Guidance on Voluntary 

Voting System Guidelines 

AGENCY: United States Election 

Assistance Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of TGDC draft 

recommendations of Voluntary Voting 

System Guidelines and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: The Help America Vote Act of 

2002 (HAVA) (Pub. L. 107–252, October 

29, 2002) established the U.S. Election 

Assistance Commission (EAC). Section 

202 of HAVA directs the EAC to adopt 

voluntary voting system guidelines 

(VVSG) and to provide for the testing, 

certification, decertification, and 

recertification of voting system 

hardware and software. The VVSG 

provides specifications and standards 

against which voting systems can be 

tested to determine if they provide basic 

functionality, accessibility, and security 

capabilities. Section 221 of HAVA 

mandates the creation of the Technical 

Guidelines Development Committee 

(TGDC) to assist the EAC in developing 

its voluntary voting system guidance. 

The TGDC has recommended standards 

to the EAC. These recommended 

standards were submitted by the TGDC 

to the EAC’s Executive Director 

pursuant to section 221 of HAVA. 

As part of its development process the 

EAC is seeking public comment on the 

TGDC’s recommended standards. The 

EAC encourages the public to offer 

specific and detailed comments on all 

aspects and sections of the 

requirements. The EAC is particularly 

interested in receiving comments on 

three distinct issues: 

(1) The concept of Software 

Independence and the corresponding 

requirements for Independent Voter 

Verifiable Records and the Innovation 

class; 

(2) Open Ended Vulnerability Testing; 

and 

(3) the usability and accessibility 

benchmarks developed for this iteration 

of the VVSG. 

All three of these concepts are new to 

the VVSG and could have a substantial 

impact on the cost of implementation 

and on the security and accessibility of 

voting systems. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before 4 p.m. on March 5, 2008. 

Submission of Comments: The EAC 

provides two means of submission of 

comments: (1) On-line electronic 

comment form at http://www.eac.gov, 

and (2) by mail to Voluntary Voting 

System Guidelines Comments, U.S. 

Election Assistance Commission, 1225 

New York Ave., NW., Suite 1100, 

Washington, DC 20005. Commenters are 

encouraged to submit comments 

electronically to ensure timely receipt 

and consideration. 

In order to allow efficient and 

effective review of comments the EAC 

requests that: 

(1) Comments should refer to the 

specific section that is the subject of the 

comment. 

(2) Comments regarding a term that is 

included or that should be added to the 

‘‘Appendix A: Definitions of Words 

with Special Meanings’’ should 

reference the term, part, and section 

number to which the comment refers. 

(3) General comments regarding the 

entire document or comments that refer 

to more than one section should be 

made as specifically as possible so that 

EAC can clearly understand to which 

portion(s) of the documents the 

comment refers. 

(4) To the extent that a comment 

suggests a change in the wording of a 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES

62640 Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 214 / Tuesday, November 6, 2007 / Notices 

requirement or section of the guidelines, 

please provide proposed language for 

the suggested change. 

To Obtain a copy of the TGDC Draft 

Recommendations of the Voluntary 

Voting System Guidelines: Due to the 

fact that the Voluntary Voting System 

Guidelines are more than 550 pages in 

length, the entire draft document has 

not been attached to this notice. A 

complete copy of the TGDC draft 

recommendations of the Voluntary 

Voting System Guidelines is available 

from the EAC in electronic format. An 

electronic copy can be downloaded in 

PDF format or read in HTML version on 

EAC’s Web site, http;://www.eac.gov. In 

order to obtain a paper copy of the 

TGDC draft recommendations please 

mail a written request to Voluntary 

Voting System Guidelines Comments, 

U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 

1225 New York Ave., NW., Suite 1100, 

Washington, DC 20005. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Matthew Masterson, Phone (202) 566–

3100, e-mail 

votingsystemstandards@eac.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Prior to 

the passage of HAVA, the Federal 

Election Commission (FEC) published 

the 2002 Voting System Standards 

(VSS). HAVA mandated that the EAC 

update the VSS. In December of 2005 

the EAC adopted the 2005 VVSG. The 

2005 VVSG used many of the same 

requirements as the 2002 VSS but it 

expanded the security, accessibility, and 

usability sections. On March 29, 2006, 

the TGDC held its first meeting to 

discuss the next iteration of the VVSG. 

Since that time, the TGDC has held 

numerous public meetings and 

subcommittee conference calls to create 

a set of draft guidelines for 

recommendation to the EAC (all TGDC 

meeting materials can be found at 

http://www.vote.nist.gov). On August 

17, 2007, the TGDC voted to complete 

final edits of their recommendations 

and submit them to the Executive 

Director of the EAC. The EAC received 

the draft guidelines from the TGDC on 

August 31, 2007. 

The recommended guidelines 

currently consist of an Introduction and 

three distinct Parts. The Introduction is 

an overview of the requirements and 

explanations of new or expanded 

materials. Part 1 contains the equipment 

requirements including upgraded 

requirements for security and new 

usability benchmarks for voting 

machines. Part 2 details the 

documentation requirements for both 

the manufacturers and the Voting 

System Test Laboratories (VSTL). Part 2 

also includes a section on the 

submission of the Technical Data 

Package and requirements for full 

system user documentation. Part 3 

contains the testing requirements for 

voting machines. This includes new 

material on open ended vulnerability 

testing and new benchmarks for 

performance testing. In addition to the 

introduction and the three parts, the 

guidelines contain (1) an appendix for 

‘‘definitions of words with special 

meaning’’ specific to the requirements 

and (2) an appendix detailing all 

references and end notes. 

Now that the TGDC has submitted its 

draft recommendations to the EAC for 

publication in the Federal Register, the 

EAC will begin its review and 

development process. This is a four 

phase plan: 

Phase I—EAC will submit the TGDC’s 

draft document to the Federal Register 

and provide a public comment feature 

on www.eac.gov. The public comment 

period will last for 120 days and all 

comments will be made available for 

public review. This public comment 

period is not required by law; however, 

the EAC thought it was extremely 

important to receive public input before 

proceeding with the process. During this 

public comment period the EAC will 

conduct public hearings regarding the 

TGDC’s draft recommendations. The 

TGDC draft is currently available at 

http://www.eac.gov. 

Phase II—EAC will collect and review 

all public comments submitted on the 

TGDC draft. After consideration of all 

public comments, the EAC will then 

perform an internal review. 

Phase III—Based upon public 

comment and internal review of the 

TGDC document, the EAC will develop 

and publish its draft version in the 

Federal Register. The public will have 

another 120 days to comment on the 

EAC draft version. EAC will conduct 

public hearings to discuss its draft 

version. 

Phase IV—EAC will collect and 

review all comments submitted and 

make final modifications. The final 

version of the VVSG will be adopted by 

vote of the Commission at a public 

meeting and then published in the 

Federal Register. 

Thomas R. Wilkey, 

Executive Director, U.S. Election Assistance 

Commission. 

[FR Doc. 07–5526 Filed 11–5–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6820–KF–M 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

Notice of Effectiveness of Exempt 

Wholesale Generator or Foreign Utility 

Company Status 

October 26, 2007. 

Benton County Wind Farm ... EG07–64–000 

Scurry County Wind L.P. ...... EG07–65–000 

Jeffers Wind 20, LLC ............ EG07–66–000 

Mansfield 2007 Trust A ........ EG07–67–000 

Mansfield 2007 Trust B ........ EG07–68–000 

Mansfield 2007 Trust C ........ EG07–69–000 

Mansfield 2007 Trust D ........ EG07–70–000 

Mansfield 2007 Trust E ........ EG07–71–000 

Mansfield 2007 Trust F ........ EG07–72–000 

Airtricity Munnsville Wind 

Farm, LLC ......................... EG07–73–000 

CPV Liberty, LLC .................. EG07–74–000 

Gas Natural BAN, S.A. ......... FC07–52–000 

Transportista Ele ́ctrica 

Centroamericana, S.A. ...... FC07–53–000 

Take notice that during the month of 

September 2007, the status of the abovecaptioned entities as Exempt Wholesale 

Generators or Foreign Utility Companies 

became effective by operation of the 

Commission’s regulations, with the 

exception of EG07–65–000, which 

became effective in July 2007. 18 CFR 

366.7(a). 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. E7–21732 Filed 11–5–07; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. CP08–7–000] 

Quicksilver Resources, Inc.; BreitBurn 

Operating L.P; Notice of Petition for 

Declaratory Order 

October 26, 2007. 

Take notice that on October 5, 2007, 

Quicksilver Resources, Inc. and 

BreitBurn Operating L.P. (collectively 

Petitioners), under Rule 207(a)(2) of the 

Commission’s Rules of Practice and 

Procedure, 18 CFR 385.207(a)(2) (2007), 

filed a petition for a declaratory order 

requesting that the Commission 

disclaim jurisdiction over certain 

natural gas facilities because such 

facilities perform a gathering function 

exempt from the Commission’s 

jurisdiction under section 1(b) of the 

Natural Gas Act. 

Any person desiring to intervene or to 

protest this filing must file in 

accordance with Rules 211 and 214 of 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES