[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 90 (Wednesday, May 9, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23731-23732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-11627]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-38,360 and NAFTA-4319]


Georgia Pacific Corp. Structural Panel Division--OSB, 
Baileyville, Maine; Notice of Negative Determination Regarding 
Application for Reconsideration

    By application of February 20, 2001, the Paper, Allied-Industrial, 
Chemical & Energy Workers International Union (PACE) request 
administrative reconsideration of the Department's negative 
determination regarding eligibility for workers and former workers of 
the subject firm to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) and 
North American Free Trade Agreement--Transitional Adjustment Assistance 
(NAFTA-TAA). The denial notices applicable to workers of Georgia 
Pacific Corporation, Structural Panel Division--OSB, Baileyville, 
Maine, were signed on January 5, 2001, and published in the Federal 
Register on February 8, 2001, TA-W-38,360 (66 FR 9599) and NAFTA-4319 
(66 FR 9600).
    Pursuant to 29 CFR 90.18(c) reconsideration may be granted under 
the following circumstances:
    (1) If it appears on the basis of facts not previously considered 
that the determination complained of was erroneous;
    (2) If it appears that the determination complained of was based on 
a mistake in the determination of facts not previously considered; or
    (3) If in the opinion of the Certifying Officer, a 
misinterpretation of facts or of the law justified reconsideration of 
the decision.
    The TAA petition, filed on behalf of workers producing oriented 
strand board at Georgia Pacific, OSB Operations in Baileyville, Maine, 
was denied because the ``contributed importantly'' group eligibility 
requirement of section 222(3) of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended, was 
not met. The ``contributed importantly'' test is generally demonstrated 
through a survey of customers of the workers' firm's. None of the 
customers reported increasing import purchases of OSB while decreasing 
purchases from Georgia Pacific, OSB Operations in Baileyville, Maine.
    The NAFTA-TAA petition for the same worker group was denied because 
criteria (3) and (4) of the group eligibility requirements in paragraph 
(a)(1) of section 250 of the Trade Act, as amended, were not met. A 
survey of the major declining customers of Georgia

[[Page 23732]]

Pacific, Structural Panel Division, showed that none of the respondents 
increased import purchases of oriented strand board from Mexico or 
Canada, while reducing purchases from the subject firm. The subject 
firm did not import oriented strand board, nor was production of 
oriented strand board shifted from the workers' firm to Mexico or 
Canada.
    The petitioner supplemented the application for reconsideration 
with information on U.S. imports of OSB-Waferboard and suggested that 
increased imports of these articles from Canada negatively impacted the 
OSB producers in the northeastern part of the United States. The 
Department, when determining import impact for a worker group, does not 
break out import statistics by port of entry but instead use aggregate 
import data. For NAFTA-TAA petition investigations the Department 
examines aggregate U.S. imports from Mexico and Canada. While U.S. 
import data are helpful in identifying trends in imports of specific 
products, in most cases, the Department relies a survey of the major 
declining customers of the subject firm.
    The petitioner adds that the Department's survey results regarding 
customer purchases of oriented strand board are erroneous, citing that 
a federal official informed PACE that only three customers were 
surveyed, two of which were other Georgia Pacific divisions, and that 
Georgia Pacific imports oriented strand board.
    The information collected by the Department during the petition 
investigation is business confidential and cannot be released to the 
public without express written consent of the individual and/or company 
official providing the information. The Department cannot release how 
many customers of the subject firm were surveyed or who responded. The 
respondents of the survey group for Georgia Pacific represented the 
majority of the subject firm sales of OSB during the time period when 
the Baileyville plant had sales and production declines.
    The petitioner believes that the subject firm imports OSB. The 
Department stands corrected in that Georgia Pacific Corporation does 
import oriented strand board, including purchases from Canada. The 
investigation, however, showed that company imports of OSB declined.
    The petitioner also states that the Department totally disregarded 
the Maine Department of Labor preliminary affirmative finding that all 
eligibility criteria for NAFTA-TAA have been met. The petitioner's 
statement is true, but all preliminary findings for NAFTA-TAA petitions 
are forwarded to the Department of Labor for a final determination.

Conclusion

    After review of the application and investigative findings, I 
conclude that there has been no error or misinterpretation of the law 
or of the facts which would justify reconsideration of the Department 
of Labor's prior decisions. Accordingly, the application is denied.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 30th day of April 2001.
Linda G. Poole,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. 01-11627 Filed 5-8-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-30-M