77424 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 24, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

1Petition of the United States Postal Service for 

the Initiation of a Proceeding to Consider Proposed 

Change in Analytical Principles (Proposal 

Thirteen), December 11, 2014 (Petition). 

2Notice of Filing of USPS–RM2015–7/1, USPS– 

RM2015–7/NP1, and Application for Nonpublic 

Treatment, December 11, 2014 (Notice). Library 

Reference USPS–RM2015–7/1 includes the Report 

the Postal Service filed along with the Petition. 

Library Reference USPS–RM2015–7/NP1 contains 

supporting non-public material. The Notice 

incorporates by reference the Application for NonPublic Treatment of Materials contained in 

Attachment Two to the December 27, 2013 United 

States Postal Service Fiscal Year 2013 Annual 

Compliance Report. Notice at 1. See 39 CFR part 

3007 for information on access to non-public 

material. 

3See Docket No. RM2011–3, Notice of the United 

States Postal Service of Filing Proposal to Update 

City Carrier Costing, December 11, 2014. 

4Attendees are advised to allow sufficient time 

for security procedures. 

Dated: December 3, 2014. 

A.B. Cocanour, 

Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Captain of the 

Port Lake Michigan. 

[FR Doc. 2014–30104 Filed 12–23–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–04–P 

POSTAL REGULATORY COMMISSION 

39 CFR Part 3050 

[Docket Nos. RM2015–7; Order No. 2294] 

Periodic Reporting 

AGENCY: Postal Regulatory Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The Commission is noticing a 

recent Postal Service filing concerning 

the initiation of an informal rulemaking 

proceeding to consider a proposed 

change to analytical principles relating 

to periodic reports (Proposal Thirteen). 

This notice informs the public of the 

filing, invites public comment, and 

takes other administrative steps. 

DATES: Comments are due: March 11, 

2015. Reply Comments are due: April 8, 

2015. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments 

electronically via the Commission’s 

Filing Online system at http://

www.prc.gov. Those who cannot submit 

comments electronically should contact 

the person identified in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section by 

telephone for advice on filing 

alternatives. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

David A. Trissell, General Counsel, at 

202–789–6820. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents 

I. Introduction 

II. Summary 

III. Initial Commission Action 

IV. Ordering Paragraphs 

I. Introduction 

On December 11, 2014, the Postal 

Service filed a petition pursuant to 39 

CFR 3050.11 requesting the 

Commission’s initiation of an informal 

rulemaking proceeding to consider a 

proposed change to analytical principles 

relating to periodic reports.1 The subject 

of the Petition is Proposal Thirteen, 

Updating the City Carrier Street Time 

Model. 

The Petition includes two 

attachments. One is a summary of 

Proposal Thirteen (Summary); the other 

is a Report on City Carrier Street Time 

Study (Report). Id. at 1. The Postal 

Service characterizes the Report as a 

more comprehensive discussion of the 

Proposal. Petition at 1. The Postal 

Service concurrently filed two library 

references, along with an application for 

non-public treatment for one.2

The Postal Service notes that Proposal 

Thirteen encompasses a subject which 

has been extensively discussed as part 

of the strategic rulemaking in Docket 

No. RM2011–3, Priorities for Future 

Data Collection and Analytical Work 

Relating to Periodic Reporting. It 

therefore states that it would 

simultaneously file a notice in that 

docket informing participants that it has 

presented Proposal Thirteen in this 

case.3 Petition at 1. 

II. Summary 

City carrier street time costs. The city 

carrier network is the largest part of the 

Postal Service’s delivery network, 

incurring a total direct labor cost in 

Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 of almost $16 

billion, of which over $12 billion were 

in street time costs. Id. Summary at 1. 

These city carrier street time costs 

represented 16.7 percent of total Postal 

Service FY 2013 costs. Id. 

Scope of proposal. Proposal Thirteen 

concerns changes to the city carrier 

street time model, which is used to 

determine the attributable street time 

costs in cost segment 7, City Carriers— 

Street Activities. Id. The Postal Service 

characterizes the changes as an update 

and improvement to the city carrier 

street time model. Id. at 2. It proposes 

accomplishing this by updating and 

refining the three main components of 

the model: construction of the cost 

pools, estimation of regular delivery 

variabilities, and estimation of package 

and accountable delivery variabilities. 

Id. In addition, the Postal Service asserts 

that improvements in the city carrier 

operational data systems have made it 

possible to use these systems to produce 

data needed for the update. Id. It states 

that this improvement allows all three 

parts of the model to be based upon 

larger, more stable, data sets and 

improved the statistical foundation for 

calculating attributable street time costs. 

Id. 

Anticipated implementation date. The 

Postal Service anticipates implementing 

this methodology change as the basis for 

FY 2015 reporting of city carrier street 

time costs. Petition at 2. 

III. Initial Commission Action 

The Commission establishes Docket 

No. RM2015–7 for consideration of 

matters raised by the Petition. 

Additional information concerning the 

Petition may be accessed via the 

Commission’s Web site at http://

www.prc.gov. 

A technical conference will be held 

on January 14, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. 

Eastern Standard Time in the 

Commission’s hearing room.4 The 

technical conference will be audiocast. 

The Postal Service is to ensure that 

persons familiar with Proposal Thirteen 

and the supporting data and information 

that have been filed in this docket 

attend and, to the extent required, 

participate in the technical conference. 

Interested persons may submit 

comments on the Petition and Proposal 

Thirteen no later than March 11, 2015. 

Reply comments are due no later than 

April 8, 2015. 

Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, Katalin K. 

Clendenin is designated as an officer of 

the Commission (Public Representative) 

to represent the interests of the general 

public in this proceeding. 

Any additional documents the 

Commission issues in this docket will 

be posted on the Commission’s Web site 

(http://www.prc.gov.), with redaction of 

protected material if warranted. 

IV. Ordering Paragraphs 

It is ordered: 

1. The Commission establishes Docket 

No. RM2015–7 for consideration of the 

matters raised by the Petition of the 

United States Postal Service for the 

Initiation of a Proceeding to Consider 

Proposed Change in Analytical 

Principles (Proposal Thirteen), filed 

December 11, 2014. 

2. A technical conference will be held 

on January 14, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. in the 

Commission’s hearing room at 901 New 

York Avenue NW., Suite 200, 

Washington, DC 20268–0001. 

3. The Postal Service is to ensure that 

persons familiar with Proposal Thirteen, 

including supporting data and 

information that have been filed in this 

docket, attend and, to the extent 

required, participate in the technical 

conference. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 247 / Wednesday, December 24, 2014 / Proposed Rules 77425 

4. Comments are due no later than 

March 11, 2015. Reply comments are 

due no later than April 8, 2015. 

5. Pursuant to 39 U.S.C. 505, the 

Commission appoints Katalin K. 

Clendenin to serve as an officer of the 

Commission (Public Representative) to 

represent the interests of the general 

public in this docket. 

6. The Secretary shall arrange for 

publication of this order in the Federal 

Register. 

By the Commission. 

Shoshana M. Grove, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2014–30111 Filed 12–23–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7710–FW–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

RIN 0648–BE46 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Shrimp 

Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico; 

Amendment 16 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of availability; request 

for comments. 

SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) 

Fishery Management Council (Council) 

has submitted Amendment 16 to the 

Fishery Management Plan for the 

Shrimp Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico 

(FMP) for review, approval, and 

implementation by NMFS. Amendment 

16 includes actions to revise the annual 

catch limit (ACL) for royal red shrimp, 

remove the royal red shrimp quota, and 

revise the accountability measures (AM) 

for royal red shrimp to remove an 

inconsistency in the regulations. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before February 23, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on Amendment 16, identified by 

‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2014–0030’’ by any of 

the following methods: 

• Electronic Submission: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 

www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=

NOAA-NMFS-2014-0030, click the 

‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, complete the 

required fields, and enter or attach your 

comments. 

• Mail: Submit written comments to 

Susan Gerhart, Southeast Regional 

Office, NMFS, 263 13th Avenue South, 

St. Petersburg, FL 33701. 

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 NMFS. All comments 

received are a part of the public record 

and will generally be posted for public 

viewing on www.regulations.gov 

without change. All personal identifying 

information (e.g., name, address, etc.), 

confidential business information, or 

otherwise sensitive information 

submitted voluntarily by the sender will 

be publicly accessible. NMFS will 

accept anonymous comments (enter 

‘‘N/A’’ in the required fields if you wish 

to remain anonymous). Attachments to 

electronic comments will be accepted in 

Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF 

file formats only. 

Electronic copies of Amendment 16, 

which includes an environmental 

impact statement, a Regulatory 

Flexibility Act analysis, and a regulatory 

impact review, may be obtained from 

the Southeast Regional Office Web site 

at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/

sustainable_fisheries/gulf_fisheries/

shrimp/2014/am16/index.html. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Susan Gerhart, telephone: 727–824– 

5305, or email: Susan.Gerhart@

noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) requires each 

regional fishery management council to 

submit any FMP or amendment to 

NMFS for review and approval, partial 

approval, or disapproval. The 

Magnuson-Stevens Act also requires 

that NMFS, upon receiving a plan or 

amendment, publish an announcement 

in the Federal Register notifying the 

public that the plan or amendment is 

available for review and comment. 

The FMP being revised by 

Amendment 16 was prepared by the 

Council and implemented through 

regulations at 50 CFR part 622 under the 

authority of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. 

Background 

The FMP was established in 1981, 

and the maximum sustainable yield for 

royal red shrimp was estimated at 

392,000 lb (177.9 mt), tail weight, 

annually and specified as a fixed annual 

quota (46 FR 27489, May 20, 1981). This 

quota has remained in effect since that 

time. On January 30, 2012, NMFS 

implemented regulations developed 

through the Generic ACL Amendment to 

multiple fishery management plans, 

including the Shrimp FMP (December 

29, 2011, 76 FR 82044). That 

amendment included actions to 

establish the commercial ACL and AM 

for royal red shrimp. However, the ‘‘no 

action’’ alternatives and discussions in 

the Generic ACL Amendment 

incorrectly stated that there were 

currently no catch limits or AMs for 

royal red shrimp, even though a quota 

and in-season quota closure were in the 

regulations. As a consequence, through 

the Generic ACL Amendment, both a 

royal red shrimp ACL and AM were 

added to the regulations, but the 

existing quota and in-season quota 

closure provision were not removed. On 

March 11, 2014, NMFS published a 

notice of intent to prepare a 

supplemental environmental impact 

statement for Amendment 16 and 

requested public comment (79 FR 

13623). 

Federal regulations currently include 

a royal red shrimp ACL of 334,000 lb 

(151,000 kg), tail weight and a quota of 

392,000 lb (177.8 mt), tail weight. 

Amendment 16 would remove the royal 

red shrimp quota and update the ACL 

to 337,000 lb (152,861 kg), tail weight, 

which is equal to the acceptable 

biological catch as recommended by the 

Council’s Scientific and Statistical 

Committee at its March 2014 meeting. 

Federal regulations currently include 

a royal red shrimp in-season closure if 

the quota is met or projected to be met, 

based on in-season monitoring (which 

functions as an AM), and include an 

AM that implements in-season 

monitoring and an ACL closure in the 

year following any ACL overage. The 

presence of two AMs in the regulations 

presents an inconsistency in the 

management of royal red shrimp. 

Amendment 16 would remove the inseason quota closure associated with the 

royal red shrimp quota and retain the 

AM associated with the ACL. 

A proposed rule that would 

implement measures outlined in 

Amendment 16 has been drafted. In 

accordance with the Magnuson-Stevens 

Act, NMFS is evaluating the proposed 

rule to determine whether it is 

consistent with the FMP, the MagnusonStevens Act, and other applicable law. 

If that determination is affirmative, 

NMFS will publish the proposed rule in 

the Federal Register for public review 

and comment. 

Consideration of Public Comments 

The Council submitted Amendment 

16 for Secretarial review, approval, and 

implementation on November 19, 2014. 

Comments received by February 23, 

2015, whether specifically directed to 

the amendment or the proposed rule, 

will be considered by NMFS in its 

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