38752 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 156 / Tuesday, August 15, 2017 / Notices 

making capacity must constitute a course of 

dealings reasonably calculated to contribute to the 

maintenance of a fair and orderly market, and 

Market Makers should not make bids or offers or 

enter into transactions that are inconsistent with 

such course of dealings. Further, all Market Makers 

are designated as specialists on NOM for all 

purposes under the Act or rules thereunder. See 

Chapter VII, Section 5. 

18See note 17 above. 

19 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii). 

20 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

1 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(1). 

2 17 CFR 240.19b–4. 

commitment of capital. In addition, 

encouraging NOM Market Makers to add 

greater liquidity benefits all Participants 

in the quality of order interaction. The 

Exchange believes it is equitable and not 

unfairly discriminatory to offer only 

NOM Market Makers the opportunity to 

earn the discounted fee described above 

because of the obligations borne by 

these market participants, as noted 

herein. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

The Exchange does not believe that 

the proposed rule change will impose 

any burden on competition not 

necessary or appropriate in furtherance 

of the purposes of the Act. In terms of 

inter-market competition, the Exchange 

notes that it operates in a highly 

competitive market in which market 

participants can readily favor competing 

venues if they deem fee levels at a 

particular venue to be excessive, or 

rebate opportunities available at other 

venues to be more favorable. The 

Exchange believes that the proposed 

pricing changes are competitive and 

does not impose a burden on intermarket competition. If the changes 

proposed herein are unattractive to 

market participants, it is likely that the 

Exchange will lose market share as a 

result. Accordingly, the Exchange does 

not believe that the proposed changes 

will impair the ability of members or 

competing order execution venues to 

maintain their competitive standing in 

the financial markets. 

As it relates to the proposed fee 

change to lower the NOM Volume 

Threshold, the Exchange does not 

believe that its proposal imposes an 

undue burden on intra-market 

competition because all Participants are 

eligible to earn rebates and these rebates 

would be uniformly paid to all 

qualifying Participants. The Exchange 

also does not believe that its proposal to 

offer Participants an opportunity to 

reduce the NOM Market Maker NonPenny Pilot Options Fee for Adding 

Liquidity from $0.35 to $0.00 if they 

meet the volume-based standard 

described above imposes an undue 

burden on intra-market competition 

because NOM Market Makers, unlike 

other market participants, add value 

through continuous quoting 18 and the 

commitment of capital. 

C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change Received From 

Members, Participants, or Others 

No written comments were either 

solicited or received. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

The foregoing rule change has become 

effective pursuant to Section 

19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act.19

At any time within 60 days of the 

filing of the proposed rule change, the 

Commission summarily may 

temporarily suspend such rule change if 

it appears to the Commission that such 

action is: (i) Necessary or appropriate in 

the public interest; (ii) for the protection 

of investors; or (iii) otherwise in 

furtherance of the purposes of the Act. 

If the Commission takes such action, the 

Commission shall institute proceedings 

to determine whether the proposed rule 

should be approved or disapproved. 

IV. Solicitation of Comments 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

arguments concerning the foregoing, 

including whether the proposed rule 

change is consistent with the Act. 

Comments may be submitted by any of 

the following methods: 

Electronic Comments 

• Use the Commission’s Internet 

comment form (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 

NASDAQ–2017–080 on the subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Secretary, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, 100 F Street NE., 

Washington, DC 20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–NASDAQ–2017–080. This 

file number should be included on the 

subject line if email is used. To help the 

Commission process and review your 

comments more efficiently, please use 

only one method. The Commission will 

post all comments on the Commission’s 

Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the 

submission, all subsequent 

amendments, all written statements 

with respect to the proposed rule 

change that are filed with the 

Commission, and all written 

communications relating to the 

proposed rule change between the 

Commission and any person, other than 

those that may be withheld from the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be 

available for Web site viewing and 

printing in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, 100 F Street NE., 

Washington, DC 20549, on official 

business days between the hours of 

10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the 

filing also will be available for 

inspection and copying at the principal 

office of the Exchange. All comments 

received will be posted without change; 

the Commission does not edit personal 

identifying information from 

submissions. You should submit only 

information that you wish to make 

available publicly. All submissions 

should refer to File Number SR– 

NASDAQ–2017–080, and should be 

submitted on or before September 5, 

2017. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.20

Eduardo A. Aleman, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2017–17169 Filed 8–14–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE 

COMMISSION 

[Release No. 34–81360; File No. SR– 

NASDAQ–2017–079] 

Self-Regulatory Organizations; The 

NASDAQ Stock Market LLC; Notice of 

Filing and Immediate Effectiveness of 

Proposed Rule Change To Amend the 

Market Access and Routing Subsidy 

Program 

August 9, 2017. 

Pursuant to Section 19(b)(1) of the 

Securities Exchange Act of 1934 

(‘‘Act’’),1 and Rule 19b–4 thereunder,2

notice is hereby given that on August 1, 

2017, The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC 

(‘‘Nasdaq’’ or ‘‘Exchange’’) filed with the 

Securities and Exchange Commission 

(‘‘Commission’’) the proposed rule 

change as described in Items I, II, and 

III, below, which Items have been 

prepared by the Exchange. The 

Commission is publishing this notice to 

solicit comments on the proposed rule 

change from interested persons. 

mstockstill on DSK30JT082PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 156 / Tuesday, August 15, 2017 / Notices 38753 

3The order routing functionalities permit a NOM 

Participant to provide access and connectivity to 

other Participants as well as utilize such access for 

themselves. The Exchange notes that one NOM 

Participant is eligible for payments under MARS, 

while another NOM Participant might potentially 

be liable for transaction charges associated with the 

execution of the order, because those orders were 

delivered to the Exchange through a NOM 

Participant’s connection to the Exchange and that 

Participant qualified for the MARS Payment. 

4To qualify for MARS, the Participant’s routing 

system (‘‘System’’) is required to: (1) Enable the 

electronic routing of orders to all of the U.S. options 

exchanges, including NOM; (2) provide current 

consolidated market data from the U.S. options 

exchanges; and (3) be capable of interfacing with 

NOM’s API to access current NOM match engine 

functionality. Further, the Participant’s System 

would also need to cause NOM to be one of the top 

three default destination exchanges for (a) 

individually executed marketable orders if NOM is 

at the national best bid or offer (‘‘NBBO’’), 

regardless of size or time or (b) orders that establish 

a new NBBO on NOM’s Order Book, but allow any 

user to manually override NOM as a default 

destination on an order-by-order basis. Any NOM 

Participant would be permitted to avail itself of this 

arrangement, provided that its order routing 

functionality incorporates the features described 

above and satisfies NOM that it appears to be robust 

and reliable. The Participant remains solely 

responsible for implementing and operating its 

System. See Chapter XV, Section 2(6). 

5The term ‘‘Firm’’ or (‘‘F’’) applies to any 

transaction that is identified by a Participant for 

clearing in the Firm range at OCC. 

6The term ‘‘Non-NOM Market Maker’’ or (‘‘O’’) is 

a registered market maker on another options 

exchange that is not a NOM Market Maker. A NonNOM Market Maker must append the proper NonNOM Market Maker designation to orders routed to 

NOM. 

7The term ‘‘Broker-Dealer’’ or (‘‘B’’) applies to 

any transaction which is not subject to any of the 

other transaction fees applicable within a particular 

category. 

8The term ‘‘Joint Back Office’’ or ‘‘JBO’’ applies 

to any transaction that is identified by a Participant 

for clearing in the Firm range at OCC and is 

identified with an origin code as a JBO. A JBO will 

be priced the same as a Broker-Dealer as of 

September 1, 2014. A JBO participant is a 

Participant that maintains a JBO arrangement with 

a clearing broker-dealer (‘‘JBO Broker’’) subject to 

the requirements of Regulation T Section 220.7 of 

the Federal Reserve System as further discussed in 

Chapter XIII, Section 5. 

9Eligible Contracts do not include Mini Option 

orders. Mini Options are further specified in 

Chapter XV, Section 2(4). 

10Average Daily Volume is all Eligible Contracts 

daily in a month aggregating Penny and Non-Penny 

Pilot Options. 

11A Participant will not be entitled to receive any 

other revenue for the use of its System specifically 

with respect to orders routed to NOM. The 

Exchange believes that MARS Payment will 

subsidize the costs of NOM Participants in 

providing the routing services. 

I. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Terms of Substance of 

the Proposed Rule Change 

The Exchange proposes to amend the 

Exchange’s transaction fees at Chapter 

XV, Section 2 entitled ‘‘NASDAQ 

Options Market—Fees and Rebates,’’ 

which governs pricing for Nasdaq 

Participants using the NASDAQ Options 

Market (‘‘NOM’’), Nasdaq’s facility for 

executing and routing standardized 

equity and index options. The Exchange 

proposes to amend its subsidy program, 

the Market Access and Routing Subsidy 

or ‘‘MARS,’’ for NOM Participants that 

provide certain order routing 

functionalities 3 to other NOM 

Participants and/or use such 

functionalities themselves. 

The text of the proposed rule change 

is available on the Exchange’s Web site 

at http://nasdaq.cchwallstreet.com, at 

the principal office of the Exchange, and 

at the Commission’s Public Reference 

Room. 

II. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

In its filing with the Commission, the 

Exchange included statements 

concerning the purpose of and basis for 

the proposed rule change and discussed 

any comments it received on the 

proposed rule change. The text of these 

statements may be examined at the 

places specified in Item IV below. The 

Exchange has prepared summaries, set 

forth in sections A, B, and C below, of 

the most significant aspects of such 

statements. 

A. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement of the Purpose of, and the 

Statutory Basis for, the Proposed Rule 

Change 

1. Purpose 

The Exchange proposes to amend its 

MARS subsidy program, which pays a 

subsidy to NOM Participants that 

provide certain order routing 

functionalities to other NOM 

Participants and/or use such 

functionalities themselves. Generally, 

under MARS, the Exchange pays 

participating NOM Participants to 

subsidize their costs of providing 

routing services to route orders to NOM. 

At this time, the Exchange proposes to 

amend Chapter XV, Section 2(6) to 

expand the MARS Payment tiers as 

described further below. 

Today, NOM Participants that have 

System Eligibility 4 and have routed the 

requisite number of Eligible Contracts 

daily in a month (‘‘Average Daily 

Volume’’), which were executed on 

NOM, are entitled to a MARS Payment. 

For the purpose of qualifying for the 

MARS Payment, Eligible Contracts may 

include Firm,5 Non-NOM Market 

Maker,6 Broker-Dealer,7 or Joint Back 

Office or ‘‘JBO’’ 8 equity option orders 

that add liquidity and are electronically 

delivered and executed.9

The Exchange currently pays the 

following MARS Payments according to 

Average Daily Volume (‘‘ADV’’) 10

submitted on NOM: 

Tiers 

Average daily 

volume 

(‘‘ADV’’) 

MARS Payment 

(penny) 

MARS Payment 

(non-penny) 

1 ................................................................................................................................. 2,500 $0.07 $0.15 

2 ................................................................................................................................. 5,000 0.09 0.20 

3 ................................................................................................................................. 10,000 0.11 0.30 

4 ................................................................................................................................. 20,000 0.15 0.50 

Also, NOM Participants that qualify 

for Customer and Professional Penny 

Pilot Options Rebate to Add Liquidity 

Tier 8 in Chapter XV, Section 2(1) will 

receive $0.09 per contract in addition to 

any MARS Payment tier on MARS 

Eligible Contracts the NOM Participant 

qualifies for in a given month. The 

specified MARS Payment will be paid 

on all executed Eligible Contracts that 

add liquidity, which are routed to NOM 

through a participating NOM 

Participant’s System and meet the 

requisite Eligible Contracts ADV. No 

payments will be made with respect to 

orders that are routed to NOM, but not 

executed.11

The Exchange proposes to add a new 

Tier 5 with an ADV of 45,000 contracts 

and pay a MARS Payment of (i) $0.17 

per contract for Penny Pilot Options 

transactions that qualify for the MARS 

Payment tier program and (ii) $0.60 per 

contract for Non-Penny Pilot Options 

transactions that qualify for the MARS 

Payment tier program. The Exchange 

would continue to pay an additional 

$0.09 per contract in addition to any 

MARS Payment tier on MARS Eligible 

Contracts in a given month, provided 

mstockstill on DSK30JT082PROD with NOTICES

38754 Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 156 / Tuesday, August 15, 2017 / Notices 

12 15 U.S.C. 78f(b). 

13 15 U.S.C. 78f(b)(4) and (5). 14 15 U.S.C. 78s(b)(3)(A)(ii). 

the NOM Participant qualified for the 

Customer and Professional Penny Pilot 

Options Rebate to Add Liquidity Tier 8 

in Chapter XV, Section 2(1). The 

Exchange believes that as proposed, 

MARS will continue to attract higher 

volumes of electronic equity and ETF 

options volume to the Exchange from 

non-NOM Participants as well as NOM 

Participants. 

2. Statutory Basis 

The Exchange believes that its 

proposal is consistent with Section 6(b) 

of the Act,12 in general, and furthers the 

objectives of Sections 6(b)(4) and 6(b)(5) 

of the Act,13 in particular, in that it 

provides for the equitable allocation of 

reasonable dues, fees and other charges 

among members and issuers and other 

persons using any facility, and is not 

designed to permit unfair 

discrimination between customers, 

issuers, brokers, or dealers. 

The Exchange’s proposal to add a new 

Tier 5 with an ADV of 45,000 contracts 

and pay the MARS Payment in the 

amounts described above is reasonable 

because the amendments will attract 

higher volumes of electronic equity and 

ETF options volume to the Exchange, 

which will benefit all NOM Participants 

by offering greater price discovery, 

increased transparency, and an 

increased opportunity to trade on the 

Exchange. The expanded MARS 

Payments should enhance the 

competitiveness of the Exchange, 

particularly with respect to those 

exchanges that offer their own front-end 

order entry system or one they subsidize 

in some manner. The amendment to add 

Tier 5 will incentivize NOM 

Participants to achieve an even higher 

Penny Pilot Options Rebate, provided 

the NOM Participant is eligible for 

MARS. Further, the tier structure will 

allow NOM Participants to price their 

services at a level that will enable them 

to attract order flow from market 

participants who would otherwise 

utilize an existing front-end order entry 

mechanism offered by the Exchange’s 

competitors instead of incurring the cost 

in time and money to develop their own 

internal systems to be able to deliver 

orders directly to the Exchange’s 

System. 

The Exchange’s proposal to add a new 

Tier 5 and pay the MARS Payment in 

the amounts described above is 

equitable and not unfairly 

discriminatory because the Exchange 

will uniformly pay all NOM Participants 

the rebates specified in the proposed 

MARS Payment tiers provided the NOM 

Participant has executed the requisite 

number of Eligible Contracts. Moreover, 

the Exchange believes that the proposed 

MARS Payments offered by the 

Exchange are equitable and not unfairly 

discriminatory because any qualifying 

NOM Participant that offers market 

access and connectivity to the Exchange 

and/or utilize such functionality 

themselves may earn the MARS 

Payments for all Eligible Contracts. 

B. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Burden on Competition 

The Exchange does not believe that 

the proposed rule change will impose 

any burden on competition not 

necessary or appropriate in furtherance 

of the purposes of the Act. In terms of 

inter-market competition, the Exchange 

notes that it operates in a highly 

competitive market in which market 

participants can readily favor competing 

venues if they deem fee levels at a 

particular venue to be excessive, or 

rebate opportunities available at other 

venues to be more favorable. In such an 

environment, the Exchange must 

continually adjust its fees to remain 

competitive with other exchanges and 

with alternative trading systems that 

have been exempted from compliance 

with the statutory standards applicable 

to exchanges. Because competitors are 

free to modify their own fees in 

response, and because market 

participants may readily adjust their 

order routing practices, the Exchange 

believes that the degree to which fee 

changes in this market may impose any 

burden on competition is extremely 

limited. 

In sum, if the fee changes proposed 

herein are unattractive to market 

participants, it is likely that the 

Exchange will lose market share as a 

result. Accordingly, the Exchange does 

not believe that the proposed changes 

will impair the ability of members or 

competing order execution venues to 

maintain their competitive standing in 

the financial markets. 

Further, the Exchange’s proposal does 

not impose an undue burden on intramarket competition because the 

Exchange will uniformly pay all NOM 

Participants the rebates specified in the 

proposed MARS Payment tiers provided 

the NOM Participant has executed the 

requisite number of Eligible Contracts. 

Moreover, any qualifying NOM 

Participant that offers market access and 

connectivity to the Exchange and/or 

utilizes such functionality themselves 

may earn the proposed MARS Payment 

for all Eligible Contracts. 

C. Self-Regulatory Organization’s 

Statement on Comments on the 

Proposed Rule Change Received From 

Members, Participants, or Others 

No written comments were either 

solicited or received. 

III. Date of Effectiveness of the 

Proposed Rule Change and Timing for 

Commission Action 

The foregoing rule change has become 

effective pursuant to Section 

19(b)(3)(A)(ii) of the Act.14

At any time within 60 days of the 

filing of the proposed rule change, the 

Commission summarily may 

temporarily suspend such rule change if 

it appears to the Commission that such 

action is: (i) Necessary or appropriate in 

the public interest; (ii) for the protection 

of investors; or (iii) otherwise in 

furtherance of the purposes of the Act. 

If the Commission takes such action, the 

Commission shall institute proceedings 

to determine whether the proposed rule 

should be approved or disapproved. 

IV. Solicitation of Comments 

Interested persons are invited to 

submit written data, views, and 

arguments concerning the foregoing, 

including whether the proposed rule 

change is consistent with the Act. 

Comments may be submitted by any of 

the following methods: 

Electronic Comments 

• Use the Commission’s Internet 

comment form (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml); or 

• Send an email to rule-comments@

sec.gov. Please include File Number SR– 

NASDAQ–2017–079 on the subject line. 

Paper Comments 

• Send paper comments in triplicate 

to Secretary, Securities and Exchange 

Commission, 100 F Street NE., 

Washington, DC 20549–1090. 

All submissions should refer to File 

Number SR–NASDAQ–2017–079. This 

file number should be included on the 

subject line if email is used. To help the 

Commission process and review your 

comments more efficiently, please use 

only one method. The Commission will 

post all comments on the Commission’s 

Internet Web site (http://www.sec.gov/ 

rules/sro.shtml). Copies of the 

submission, all subsequent 

amendments, all written statements 

with respect to the proposed rule 

change that are filed with the 

Commission, and all written 

communications relating to the 

proposed rule change between the 

Commission and any person, other than 

mstockstill on DSK30JT082PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 82, No. 156 / Tuesday, August 15, 2017 / Notices 38755 

15 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12). 

those that may be withheld from the 

public in accordance with the 

provisions of 5 U.S.C. 552, will be 

available for Web site viewing and 

printing in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room, 100 F Street, NE., 

Washington, DC 20549, on official 

business days between the hours of 

10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. Copies of the 

filing also will be available for 

inspection and copying at the principal 

office of the Exchange. All comments 

received will be posted without change; 

the Commission does not edit personal 

identifying information from 

submissions. You should submit only 

information that you wish to make 

available publicly. All submissions 

should refer to File Number SR– 

NASDAQ–2017–079, and should be 

submitted on or before September 5, 

2017. 

For the Commission, by the Division of 

Trading and Markets, pursuant to delegated 

authority.15

Eduardo A. Aleman, 

Assistant Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2017–17168 Filed 8–14–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8011–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

[Disaster Declaration #15240 and #15241; 

Oregon Disaster Number OR–00086] 

Presidential Declaration of a Major 

Disaster for Public Assistance Only for 

the State of Oregon 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This is a Notice of the 

Presidential declaration of a major 

disaster for Public Assistance Only for 

the State of Oregon (FEMA–4328–DR), 

dated 08/08/2017. 

Incident: Severe Winter Storms, 

Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides. 

Incident Period: 01/07/2017 through 

01/10/2017. 

DATES: Issued on 08/08/2017. 

Physical Loan Application Deadline 

Date: 10/10/2017. 

Economic Injury (EIDL) Loan 

Application Deadline Date: 05/08/2018. 

ADDRESSES: Submit completed loan 

applications to: U.S. Small Business 

Administration, Processing and 

Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport 

Road, Fort Worth, TX 76155. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: A. 

Escobar, Office of Disaster Assistance, 

U.S. Small Business Administration, 

409 3rd Street SW., Suite 6050, 

Washington, DC 20416, (202) 205–6734. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is 

hereby given that as a result of the 

President’s major disaster declaration on 

08/08/2017, Private Non-Profit 

organizations that provide essential 

services of a governmental nature may 

file disaster loan applications at the 

address listed above or other locally 

announced locations. 

The following areas have been 

determined to be adversely affected by 

the disaster: 

Primary Counties: Columbia, Deschutes, 

Hood River, Josephine. 

The Interest Rates are: 

Percent 

For Physical Damage: 

Non-Profit Organizations with 

Credit Available Elsewhere ... 2.500 

Non-Profit Organizations without Credit Available Elsewhere ..................................... 2.500 

For Economic Injury: 

Non-Profit Organizations without Credit Available Elsewhere ..................................... 2.500 

The number assigned to this disaster 

for physical damage is 15240B and for 

economic injury is 152410. 

(Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance 

Number 59008) 

James E. Rivera, 

Associate Administrator for Disaster 

Assistance. 

[FR Doc. 2017–17174 Filed 8–14–17; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8025–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF STATE 

[Public notice: 10083] 

International Joint Commission: 

Invites Public Comment on Review of 

Emergency Levels for Rainy and 

Namakan Lakes 

AGENCY: Department of State. 

ACTION: International Joint Commission: 

Invites Public Comment on Review of 

Emergency Levels for Rainy and 

Namakan Lakes. 

SUMMARY: The International Joint 

Commission (IJC) announced today that 

it is inviting public comment on 

Emergency Levels for Rainy and 

Namakan Lakes (also known as Rule 

Curves). Comments will be accepted at 

public hearings and by mail, email and 

on-line until September 1, 2017. 

Following receipt of the International 

Rainy and Namakan Lakes Rule Curves 

Study Board’s final report in late June, 

the International Joint Commission will 

be holding public hearings in the basin 

on its own report. Draft Changes to the 

Rainy and Namakan Lakes Rule Curves 

for Public Comment. The Commission is 

considering proposed changes to its 

Orders of Approval for the emergency 

regulation of Rainy and Namakan Lakes 

that have been recommended by the 

Study. 

DATES: Commissioners will be present to 

hear comments at four public hearings 

throughout the basin from August 16 to 

18, 2017. A public comment period on 

the Commission’s report will also be 

open from July 24 to September 1, 2017. 

ADDRESSES: The public hearings will be 

held at the following locations: 

Wednesday, Fort Frances, Ontario 

August 16: Fort Frances Library— 

Shaw Hub Room, 601 Reid Avenue, 

Fort Frances, ON P9A 0A2, 7:00 

p.m.–9:00 p.m. 

Thursday, Kabetogama, Minnesota 

August 17: Kabetogama Lake 

Community Centre, 9707 Gamma 

Road, Kabetogama, MN 56669, 3:00 

p.m.–5:00 p.m. 

Thursday, International Falls, 

Minnesota 

August 17: Backus Community 

Centre—Conference Room 101/102, 

900 5th Street, International Falls, 

MN 56649, 7:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m. 

Friday, Rainy River, Ontario 

August 18: Rainy River Recreation 

Centre, 302 Broadway Avenue, 

Rainy River, ON P0W 1L0, 9:30 

a.m.–11:30 a.m. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Sarah Lobrichon (Ottawa), 613–992– 

5368, lobrichons@ottawa.ijc.org 

Frank Bevacqua (Washington), 202– 

736–9024, bevacqauf@

washington.ijc.org 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Commission’s proposal relating to the 

Emergency Regulation of Levels on 

Rainy and Namakan Lakes are centered 

on five general themes: 

Changes to existing Rule Curves: 

Alternative C for the rule curves for 

Rainy and Namakan lakes, which 

includes a rule curve for high flood risk 

years for Rainy Lake, should be adopted. 

An expanded role for the Water Levels 

Committee (WLC) of the International 

Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed 

Board (IRLWWB): The WLC should be 

empowered to target specific levels 

outside of the middle portion of the rule 

curve for each lake. New operational 

guidelines are needed for the WLC, and 

further guidance, in the form of a 

refined directive for the IRLWWB and 

the WLC, is needed. 

Adaptive Management: The 

Commission will work with the 

mstockstill on DSK30JT082PROD with NOTICES