33094 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 124 / Wednesday, June 26, 1996 / Notices

refinery complex (220,000 BPD

capacity) located at the intersection of

Interstate Hwy 64 and US Hwy 23 on

the Big Sandy River, Boyd County,

Kentucky, south of Catlettsburg,

including a refined product storage and

terminal facility located north of the

refinery, across the river in Kenova

(Wayne County), West Virginia; Site 2

(30 acres)—Ashland Pipe Line Co. crude

oil terminal (4 tanks/771,000 barrel

capacity) located at 1046 Pleasant

Valley Road, Daviess County, east of

Owensboro, Kentucky. The refinery,

terminals and pipelines operate as an

integrated refinery complex.

The refinery complex is used to

produce fuels and petrochemical

feedstocks. Fuel products produced

include gasoline, jet fuel, distillates,

diesel fuel, fuel oil, naphtha and MTBE.

Petrochemical feedstocks and refinery

by-products include methane, ethane,

propane, benzene, toluene, xylene,

cumene, propylene, ethylene, butylene,

butadiene, isobutene-isoprene,

naphthalene, carbon black oil, paraffin

waxes, sulfur and asphalt. Some 70

percent of the crude oil (97 percent of

inputs), and some feedstocks and motor

fuel blendstocks used in producing fuel

products may be sourced abroad.

Zone procedures would exempt the

operations involved from Customs duty

payments on the foreign products used

in its exports. On domestic sales, the

company would be able to choose the

finished product duty rate

(nonprivileged foreign status—NPF) on

certain petrochemical feedstocks and

refinery by-products (duty-free) instead

of the duty rates that would otherwise

apply to the foreign-sourced inputs (e.g.,

crude oil, natural gas condensate). The

duty rates on inputs ranges from 5.25¢/

barrel to 10.5¢/barrel. Foreign

merchandise would also be exempt from

state and local ad valorem taxes. The

application indicates that the savings

from zone procedures would help

improve the refinery’s international

competitiveness.

In accordance with the Board’s

regulations, a member of the FTZ Staff

has been designated examiner to

investigate the application and report to

the Board.

Public comment is invited from

interested parties. Submissions (original

and 3 copies) shall be addressed to the

Board’s Executive Secretary at the

address below. The closing period for

their receipt is August 26, 1996.

Rebuttal comments in response to

material submitted during the foregoing

period may be submitted during the

subsequent 15-day period (to September

9, 1996).

A copy of the application and

accompanying exhibits will be available

for public inspection at each of the

following locations:

U.S. Department of Commerce, Export

Assistance Center, Suite 807, 405

Capitol Street, Charleston, West

Virginia 25301

Office of the Executive Secretary,

Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room

3716, U.S. Department of Commerce,

14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.,

Washington, DC 20230.

Dated: June 18, 1996.

John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,

Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 96–16190 Filed 6–25–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P

[Order No. 828]

Approval of Manufacturing Activity

Within Foreign-Trade Zone 21,

Charleston, South Carolina; Hubner

Manufacturing Corporation (Industrial

Bellows/Molded Parts)

Pursuant to its authority under the

Foreign-Trade Zones Act of June 18,

1934, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a–81u),

the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the

Board) adopts the following Order:

Whereas, § 400.28(a)(2) of the Board’s

regulations, requires approval of the

Board prior to commencement of new

manufacturing/processing activity

within existing zone facilities;

Whereas, the South Carolina State

Ports Authority, grantee of FTZ 21, has

requested authority under § 400.32(b)(1)

of the Board’s regulations on behalf of

the Hubner Manufacturing Corporation,

to manufacture industrial bellows and

plastic/rubber molded parts under zone

procedures within FTZ 21, Charleston,

South Carolina (filed 11–30–95, FTZ

Docket A(32b1)–20–95; Doc. 43–96,

assigned 5–23–96);

Whereas, pursuant to § 400.32(b)(1),

the Commerce Department’s Assistant

Secretary for Import Administration has

the authority to act for the Board in

making such decisions on new

manufacturing/processing activity

under certain circumstances, including

situations where the proposed zone

benefits do not involve the election of

nonprivileged foreign status on items

involving inverted tariff benefits

(§ 400.32(b)(1)(iii)); and,

Whereas, the request, as amended,

states that Hubner Manufacturing

Corporation will destroy all foreign

status scrap merchandise within FTZ

21;

Whereas, the Assistant Secretary for

Import Administration, acting for the

Board, pursuant to § 400.32(b)(1),

concurring in the findings and

recommendations of the FTZ Staff and

Executive Secretary, approves the

request;

Now, therefore, the application for

manufacturing authority is approved,

subject to the Act and the Board’s

regulations, including § 400.28, and

subject to the following restrictions:

1. Privileged foreign status (19 CFR

§ 146.41) shall be elected on all foreignorigin merchandise admitted to the zone

for the Hubner Manufacturing

Corporation operation; and,

2. Initial approval is for a period of

three (3) years from the date of

activation of zone procedures at the

plant, subject to extension upon review.

Signed at Washington, DC, this 17th day of

June 1996.

Robert S. LaRussa,

Acting Assistant Secretary of Commerce for

Import Administration, Alternate Chairman,

Foreign-Trade Zones Board.

Attest:

John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,

Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 96–16189 Filed 6–25–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P

[Docket 52–96]

Foreign-Trade Zone 116—Port Arthur,

TX Application for Subzone Status U.S.

Department of Energy Strategic

Petroleum Reserve (Crude Oil Storage)

Jefferson County, TX

An application has been submitted to

the Foreign-Trade Zones Board (the

Board) by the Foreign-Trade Zone of

Southeast Texas, Inc., grantee of FTZ

116, Port Arthur, Texas, requesting

special-purpose subzone status for the

crude oil storage facilities of the U.S.

Department of Energy Strategic

Petroleum Reserve (SPR) located in

Jefferson County, Texas. The application

was submitted pursuant to the

provisions of the Foreign-Trade Zones

Act, as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-81u),

and the regulations of the Board (15 CFR

part 400). It was formally filed on June

18, 1996.

The SPR involves an emergency

stockpile of crude oil (over 590 million

barrels) stored in underground caverns

at five sites in Louisiana and Texas.

Currently, all crude oil is owned by the

U.S. Government. However, in 1995, the

U.S. Department of Energy commenced

plans to conduct commercial crude oil

storage and terminal activities at SPR

facilities for foreign governments.

This application involves SPR’s ‘‘Big

Hill’’ facility (274 acres, 149

employees), located in Jefferson County,

Texas, some 25 miles west of Port