[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