18462 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 81 / Thursday, April 25, 1996 / Notices

trade. The FALCON LEADER has a

deadweight capacity of 33,542 LTs and

a cargo tank capacity of 224,096 barrels.

The Applicant will hire OspreyAcomarit Ship Management Inc., to

manage the operation of the FALCON

LEADER.

In summary, the Applicant requests

the following under the Act:

(1) Approval under section 608 of the

transfer of ODSA, Contract MA/MSB–

439 from the Estates to Atlantic (and

henceforth to the Applicant) and

approval under section 605(c), section

601, and other provisions of the Act of

financial aid for the operation of the

FALCON LEADER in the worldwide

carriage of liquid bulk cargo in the

foreign commerce of the United States

and the carriage of such cargo between

foreign ports, and, if the Applicant

amends this application, for two

additional vessels in an essential service

in the foreign commerce of the United

States.

(2) Modification of the ODSA for the

worldwide transportation of product in

bulk and any other essential services, as

described in an amendment to this

application.

This application may be inspected in

the Office of the Secretary, Maritime

Administration. Any person, firm or

corporation having any interest in such

request and desiring to submit

comments concerning the application

must file written comments in triplicate

with the Secretary, Maritime

Administration, Room 7210, Nassif

Building, 400 Seventh Street SW.,

Washington D.C. 20590. Comments

must be received no later than 5:00 p.m.

on May 9, 1996. The Maritime Subsidy

Board will consider any comments

submitted and take such action with

respect thereto as may be deemed

appropriate.

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

Program No. 2.804 Operating-Differential

Subsidies)

By Order of the Maritime Subsidy Board.

Dated: April 22, 1996.

Joel C. Richard,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 96–10253 Filed 4–24–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–81–P

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Special Tariff Authority No. 9601]

Petition To Allow Short-Term Notice of

Fuel Cost-Related Increases

AGENCY: Surface Transportation Board.

ACTION: Notice and request for

comments.

SUMMARY: On April 16, 1996, the

American Trucking Associations, Inc.,

the Interstate Truckload Carriers

Conference, and the American Movers

Conference (collectively petitioners)

jointly requested the Surface

Transportation Board (Board) to permit

motor carriers still subject to statutory

tariff-filing requirements to implement

fuel-related surcharges on one day’s

notice. The Board seeks public comment

on petitioners’ request with respect to

motor carriers providing joint service

with water carriers in the

noncontiguous domestic trade, the only

category of motor service for which

carriers must file and maintain tariffs

with the Board.

DATES: Comments are due on May 6,

1996.

ADDRESSES: Send comments (an original

and 10 copies) referring to STB Special

Tariff Authority No. 9601 to: Surface

Transportation Board, Office of the

Secretary, Case Control Branch, 1201

Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington,

DC 20423.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ronald A. Hall, (202) 927–5639. [TDD

for the hearing impaired: (202) 927–

5721.]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Petitioners

request the above-described relief so

that motor carriers may more quickly

recover through rate surcharges their

increased expenditures associated with

rapidly rising diesel fuel prices.

According to petitioners, fuel prices

have risen by more than 17 cents per

gallon, or 15 percent, in the past ten

weeks, and by more than 5 cents in the

past week alone. Petitioners also state

that bulk fuel prices have increased

even more sharply, rising as much as 35

cents per gallon, or 75 percent from

their lows of the past year. Petitioners

submit that, because fuel costs comprise

approximately 20 percent of a carrier’s

operating costs, the rapid increases in

fuel costs can cripple carriers that

cannot pass them through quickly. As a

result, petitioners state that carriers

must be allowed to put tariff rate

increases into effect promptly.

Accordingly, they ask the Board to

reinstate Special Tariff Authorities

previously adopted by the Interstate

Commerce Commission (ICC), the

Board’s predecessor, which allowed for

fuel-related surcharges to take effect on

one day’s notice in similar

circumstances.

Petitioners recognize that, as a result

of the ICC Termination Act of 1995, Pub

L. No. 104–88, 109 Stat. 803 (ICCTA),

and the Trucking Industry Regulatory

Reform Act of 1994, Pub. L. No. 103–

311, 108 Stat. 1683 (TIRRA), tariff-filing

requirements for most motor carriers

have been eliminated, and that most

motor carriers may change their rates

without government approval or

oversight. Therefore, they seek relief

only for household goods carriers and

for motor carriers operating in the

noncontiguous domestic trade. While

household goods carriers must maintain

tariffs available for inspection at their

place of business, they are not required

to file those tariffs with the Board, nor

is the Board authorized to promulgate

rules governing their contents or

procedural requirements—including

notice—associated with filing such

tariffs. 49 U.S.C. 13702(c). Thus, like

most other motor carriers, household

goods carriers also remain free to adjust

their rates to deal with fuel cost

increases free from the Board’s

oversight. Tariff-filing requirements,

including notice requirements, remain

only for motor carriers engaged in

noncontiguous domestic trade. 49

U.S.C. 13702(b).

It is not clear how much effect

escalating fuel prices are having on the

extremely limited amount of service that

remains subject to the Board’s tarifffiling jurisdiction, and hence over

which the Board has authority to grant

the relief sought by petitioners.

Accordingly, the Board invites all

interested parties to comment on

petitioners’ request as it pertains to

motor carriers providing joint service

with water carriers in the

noncontiguous domestic trade.

Request for Comments

Comments (an original and 10 copies)

must be in writing and are due 10 days

after publication of this notice.

Small Entities

Because this is not a notice of

proposed rulemaking within the

meaning of the Regulatory Flexibility

Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), we need not

conduct at this point an examination of

impacts on small entities. Commentors

may address whether our consideration

of petitioners’ requested relief would

have significant economic effects on any

substantial number of small entities.

Environment

The issuance of this notice and

request for comments will not

significantly affect either the quality of

the human environment or the

conservation of energy resources.

Commentors may address whether a

determination to grant the requested

relief would significantly affect either

the quality of the human environment

or the conservation of energy resources.

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 721(a) and 13702(a).
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 81 / Thursday, April 25, 1996 / Notices 18463

Decided: April 19, 1996.

By the Board, Chairman Morgan, Vice

Chairman Simmons, and Commissioner

Owen.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 96–10261 Filed 4–24–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

Safety Performance Standards,

Research and Safety Assurance

Programs Meetings

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of NHTSA Industry

Meetings.

SUMMARY: This notice announces a

public meeting at which NHTSA will

answer questions from the public and

the automobile industry regarding the

agency’s vehicle regulatory, safety

assurance and other programs. In

addition, NHTSA will hold a separate

public meeting to describe and discuss

specific research and development

projects.

DATES: The Agency’s regular, quarterly

public meeting relating to its vehicle

regulatory, safety assurance and other

programs will be held on June 13, 1996,

beginning at 9:45 a.m. and ending at

approximately 12:30 p.m. Questions

relating to the above programs must be

submitted in writing by June 3, 1996, to

the address shown below. If sufficient

time is available, questions received

after June 3, may be answered at the

meeting. The individual, group or

company submitting a question(s) does

not have to be present for the

question(s) to be answered. A

consolidated list of the questions

submitted by June 3, 1996, and the

issues to be discussed will be

transmitted to interested persons by

June 7, 1996, and will be available at the

meeting. Also, the agency will hold a

second public meeting on June 12,

devoted exclusively to a presentation of

research and development programs.

This meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. and

end at approximately 5:00 p.m. That

meeting is described more fully in a

separate announcement. After the June

meetings, the next NHTSA Technical

Industry Public Meeting will be held on

September 12 at the Best Western

Tysons Westpark Hotel, 9401 Westpark

Drive, McLean, Virginia. The Research

and Development (R&D) Industry

meeting will be held on September 11

at the same location beginning at 1:30

p.m. The last NHTSA Industry Meeting

of this year will be held on December

12, 1996 from 9:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at

the Royce Hotel, 31500 Wick Road,

Romulus, MI. The Research and

Development Industry meeting will be

held December 11, 1996 from 1:30 p.m.

to 5:00 p.m. at the same location.

ADDRESSES: Questions for the June 13,

NHTSA Technical Industry Meeting,

relating to the agency’s vehicle

regulatory and safety assurance

programs, should be submitted to Barry

Felrice, Associate Administrator for

Safety Performance Standards, NPS–01,

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration, Room 5401, 400

Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC

20590, Fax number (202) 366–4329. The

meeting will be held at the Royce

Hotel—Detroit Metro Airport, 31500

Wick Road, Romulus, Michigan 48174.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NHTSA

will hold this regular, quarterly meeting

to answer questions from the public and

the regulated industries regarding the

agency’s vehicle regulatory, safety

assurance and other programs.

Questions on aspects of the agency’s

research and development activities that

relate to ongoing regulatory actions

should be submitted, as in the past, the

agency’s Safety Performance Standards

Office. The purpose of this meeting is to

focus on those phases of NHTSA

activities which are technical,

interpretative or procedural in nature.

Transcripts of these meetings will be

available for public inspection in the

NHTSA Technical Reference Section in

Washington, DC, within four weeks after

the meeting. Copies of the transcript

will then be available at ten cents a

page, (length has varied from 100 to 150

pages) upon request to NHTSA

Technical Reference Section, Room

5108, 400 Seventh Street, SW.,

Washington DC 20590.

The Technical Reference Section is

open to the public from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00

p.m.

We would appreciate the questions

you send us to be organized by

categories to help us to process the

questions into agenda form more

efficiently.

Sample format as follows:

I. Rulemaking

A. Crashavoidance

B. Crashworthiness

C. Other Rulemakings

II. Consumer Information

III. Miscellaneous

NHTSA will provide auxiliary aids to

participants as necessary. Any person

desiring assistance of ‘‘auxiliary aids’’

(e.g., sign-language interpreter,

telecommunications devices for deaf

persons (TDDs), readers, taped texts,

Brailled materials, or large print

materials and/or a magnifying device),

please contact Barbara Carnes on (202)

366–1810, by COB May 31, 1996.

Barry Felrice,

Associate Administrator for Safety

Performance Standards.

[FR Doc. 96–10122 Filed 4–24–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–M

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

Domestic Finance; Notice of Open

Meeting of the Advisory Committee;

U.S. Community Adjustment and

Investment Program

The Department of the Treasury,

pursuant to the North American Free

Trade Agreement (‘‘NAFTA’’)

Implementation Act (Pub. L. No. 103–

182), established an advisory committee

(the ‘‘Advisory Committee’’) for the

community adjustment and investment

program (the ‘‘Program’’). The Program

will provide financing to businesses and

individuals to create new jobs in

communities adversely impacted by

NAFTA. The charter of the Advisory

Committee has been filed in accordance

with the Federal Advisory Committee

Act of October 6, 1972 (Pub. L. No. 92–

463), with the approval of the Secretary

of the Treasury.

The Advisory Committee consists of

nine members of the public, appointed

by the President, who collectively

represent: (1) Community groups whose

constituencies include low-income

families; (2) scientific, professional,

business, nonprofit, or public interest

organizations or associations, which are

neither affiliated with, nor under the

direction of, a government; and (3) forprofit business interests.

The objectives of the Advisory

Committee are to: (1) Provide informed

advice to the President regarding the

implementation of the Program; and (2)

review on a regular basis, the operation

of the Program, and provide the

President with the conclusions of its

review. Pursuant to Executive Order No.

12916, dated May 13, 1994, the

President established an interagency

committee to implement the Program

and to receive, on behalf of the

President, advice of the Advisory

Committee. The committee is chaired by

the Secretary of the Treasury.

A meeting of the Advisory Committee,

which will be open to the public, will

be held on Friday, May 10, 1996 from

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the U.S.

Department of Agriculture, Jamie L.

Whitten Administration Building, Room

107A, 14th and Independence Avenue,

SW., Washington, DC 20250 (main