[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 72 (Friday, April 13, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Page 19234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-9312]



[[Page 19234]]

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[NAFTA-3265]


Georgia-Pacific Corporation Chlorine Plant, Bellingham, 
Washington; Amended Certification Regarding Eligibility to Apply for 
NAFTA-Transitional Adjustment Assistance

    In accordance with section 250(a), Subchapter D, Chapter 2, Title 
II, of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (19 USC 2331), on December 7, 
1999, the Department of Labor issued a Notice of Revised Determination 
on Reconsideration regarding eligibility to apply for NAFTA 
Transitional Adjustment Assistance, applicable to some of the workers 
of the Georgia-Pacific Corporation in Bellingham, Washington. The 
notice was published in the Federal Register December 21, 1999 (64 FR 
71505).
    The Department, on its own motion, reviewed that December 7, 1999 
decision, because of questions it received as to the group of workers 
covered by the decision.
    The initial NAFTA-TAA petition for the workers of the subject firm 
was filed with the Washington Employment and Security Department on 
June 17, 1999, by the Association of Western Pulp & Paper Workers on 
behalf of the workers producing chlorine and related byproducts. The 
petition investigation revealed that the affected workers were employed 
in the Chlorine Plant of the subject firm in Bellingham. Two other 
plants of the subject firm in Bellingham produced pulp and paper.
    The initial investigation resulted in a negative determination 
issued on August 10, 1999, applicable to workers of Georgia-Pacific 
Corporation Chlorine Plant, Bellingham, Washington. The notice was 
published in the Federal Register on September 29, 1999 (64 FR 52542).
    On December 7, 1999, the negative determination was revised on 
reconsideration as new evidence was presented that the layoffs of 
workers at the Chlorine Plant were attributable to increased imports 
from Canada of articles like or directly competitive with the chlorine 
produced by the workers at Georgia-Pacific in Bellingham. Although the 
December 7, 1999, revised determination noted that, ``The workers at 
the subject firm produced liquefied chlorine gas and a byproduct, 
liquid caustic soda,'' it concluded that ``All workers of Georgia-
Pacific Corporation, Bellingham, Washington, . . . are eligible to 
apply for NAFTA-TAA, under Section 250 of the Trade Act of 1974, as 
amended.'' Thus, the revised determination failed to make clear that it 
intended to limit eligibility to the workers engaged in employment 
related to the production of liquefied chlorine gas and liquid caustic 
soda at the Chlorine Plant of Georgia-Pacific, Bellingham, Washington.
    In order to clarify that eligibility was limited to the workers at 
the Chlorine Plant, the Department issued an April 2, 2001 Amended 
Notice of Revised Determination on Reopening. However, because of an 
error in that Notice, it was not published in the Federal Register. 
Accordingly, the Department is now amending the December 7, 1999 
Notice, which will be published in the Federal Register, to clarify the 
covered group of workers.
    Therefore, effective with the date of the publication of this 
notice in the Federal Register, no worker of the Georgia-Pacific 
Corporation, Bellingham, Washington, outside the intended class, 
workers who worked at the Chlorine Plant, will be covered by the 
certification. As to workers who, because of the unclear December 7, 
1999 decision, were found by the Washington Employment and Security 
Department to be covered by the certification prior to the date of 
publication of this Federal Register notice, they may continue to 
receive benefits. Additionally, the Department will not seek 
overpayments for benefits those workers received prior to the 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    The notice applicable to NAFTA-3265 is hereby issued as follows:

    ``All workers of the Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Chlorine 
Plant, Bellingham, Washington, who became totally or partially 
separated from employment on or after June 16, 1998, through 
December 7, 2001, are eligible to apply for NAFTA-TAA under Section 
250 of the Trade Act of 1974.''


    Signed in Washington, D.C. this 9th day of April 2001.
Linda G. Poole,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. 01-9312 Filed 4-12-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-M