[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 197 (Wednesday, October 9, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Page 52909]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-25956]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket 71-96]


Foreign-Trade Zone 29--Louisville, Kentucky Application for 
Expansion and Request for Manufacturing Authority (Military Ordnance)

    An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ) 
Board (the Board) by the Louisville and Jefferson County Riverport 
Authority, grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone 29, requesting authority to 
expand FTZ 29, Louisville, Kentucky, to include three additional sites, 
including a Naval Ordnance facility which is used for military weapons 
repair and maintenance activity. 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 September 26, 1996.
    FTZ 29 was approved on May 26, 1977 (Board Order 118, 42 FR 29323, 
6/8/77), and expanded on January 31, 1989 (Board Order 429, 54 FR 5992, 
2/7/89). The zone project currently consists of the following two sites 
in the Louisville, Kentucky area: Site 1 (1,319 acres)--located within 
the Riverport Industrial Complex; and Site 2 (675 acres)--located at 
the junction of Gene Snyder Freeway and La Grange Road in eastern 
Jefferson County.
    The applicant is now requesting authority to expand the general-
purpose zone. The three additional sites requested are: Proposed Site 3 
(142 acres, 1,629,000 sq. ft.)--the United States Navy Ordnance 
Facility (currently in the process of being privatized), located at 
5403 Southside Drive, Louisville; Proposed Site 4 (2,311 acres, 
6,184,406 sq. ft.)--consisting of the Louisville International Airport 
and three other airport-related parcels (Parcel A (1,626 acres)--the 
Louisville International Airport, including the Airport's industrial 
park area; Parcel B (94 acres)--the Dixie Warehouse & Cartage Co. 
public warehousing facility located at Grade Lane, Louisville; Parcel C 
(475 acres)--the UPS Airport Tank Farm and maintenance facilities 
located at the Louisville International Airport; and, Parcel D (116 
acres)--the UPS Outer Loop warehousing facility located at Stennett 
Lane, Louisville); and, Proposed Site 5 (70 acres)--the Ashland Inc. 
Tank Farm (1.3 million barrels) and pipelines, located at 4510 
Algonquin Parkway along the Ohio River, Louisville, which supplies part 
of the airport's fuel system.
    Ownership of the Naval Ordnance Facility (Site 3) is currently 
being transferred to the Louisville/Jefferson County Redevelopment 
Authority for use by private firms that are authorized by the 
Department of Defense (DOD) to conduct weapons repair activity for the 
U.S. military, as well as for foreign governments. The facility would 
also be available for authorized non-military commercial activity.
    Authorization is being requested for activity at Site 3, which will 
involve the repair, overhaul and refurbishing of military weapons 
systems under FTZ procedures. The weapons include cannons, gun systems 
(20mm to 5 inches), missiles, missile hardware, missile and torpedo 
launchers, radar, navigational equipment and sights. The components and 
materials sourced from abroad include cannons, launchers, guided 
missile parts, telescopic sights, mechanical devices, fabricated 
structures, air or vacuum pumps, air conditioning machines, electric 
motor generators, computer automated data processing machines, gaskets, 
magnets, and batteries, transformers, electrical apparatus for line 
telephony, headphones and parts, recording media transmission 
apparatus, radar apparatus, indicator panels, capacitors, resistors, 
printed circuits, displays cathode ray tubes, meters diodes and 
transistors, insulators and fittings, optical fibers, lenses and 
mirrors lenses for projection, test instruments, oscilloscopes, 
analyzers, and measuring/checking instruments. FTZ procedures would 
provide duty-free treatment for export shipments, and for shipments to 
the U.S. military. While operated as a Naval facility, activity was 
conducted under special Customs procedures applicable to DOD. FTZ 
status will allow the activity to continue on a similar Customs basis 
after conversion takes place.
    FTZ procedures will exempt the foreign components used in 
production for export from Customs duties. With respect to domestic 
sales, most shipments would qualify for duty-free treatment under DOD's 
military certificate program rather than being subject to the duty rate 
that would otherwise apply to the foreign components (duty-free to 
15%). The application indicates that the savings from zone procedures 
would help improve the facility'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 on the application 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 December 9, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to 
material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during 
the subsequent 15-day period (to December 23, 1996).
    A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be 
available during this time for public inspection at each of the 
following locations:

U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Assistance Center, 601 W. Broadway, 
Room 634B, Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zone Board, Room 3716, 
U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., 
Washington, DC 20230.

    Dated: October 3, 1996.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-25956 Filed 10-8-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P