[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 8, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27085-27086]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-11056]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-80,454]


TMI Forest Products, Inc., Crane Creek Division, Morton, WA; 
Notice of Negative Determination Regarding Application for 
Reconsideration

    By application dated March 6, 2012, a representative of the 
Washington State Labor Counsel, AFL-CIO, requested administrative 
reconsideration of the Department of Labor's negative determination 
regarding eligibility to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), 
applicable to workers and former workers of TMI Forest Products, Inc., 
Crane Creek Division, Morton, Washington (subject firm). The

[[Page 27086]]

determination was signed on February 17, 2012. The Notice of 
Determination was published in the Federal Register on March 6, 2012 
(77 FR 13355).
    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 mis-
interpretation of facts or of the law justified reconsideration of the 
decision.
    The negative determination of the TAA petition filed on behalf of 
workers at the subject firm was based on the findings that the subject 
firm did not, during the period under investigation, shift to a foreign 
country production of articles like or directly competitive with the 
fence boards produced by the workers or acquire such production from a 
foreign country. Additionally, the findings revealed that the workers' 
separation, or threat of separation, was not related to any increase in 
imports, by the subject firm or its customers, of articles like or 
directly competitive with fence boards; and that the workers' firm is 
not a supplier or a downstream producer to a firm that employed a group 
of workers who are eligible to apply for TAA.
    In the request for reconsideration, the petitioner stated that 
worker separations are attributable to increased import competition of 
articles like or directly competitive with the fence boards produced by 
the workers, to foreign competition of raw material used in the 
production of fence boards, and to the Canadian practice of using Bark 
Beetle affected timber. The documentation supplied by the petitioner 
included import and export data, news and opinion articles, printed web 
pages, and a copy of a certification of another fencing company (based 
on increased imports by that company's major declining customers).
    The Department has carefully reviewed the petitioner's allegations 
and support documentation, as well as previously-submitted information.
    The petitioner did not supply facts not previously considered; nor 
provide additional documentation indicating that there was either (1) a 
mistake in the determination of facts not previously considered or (2) 
a misinterpretation of facts or of the law justifying reconsideration 
of the initial determination. Based on these findings, the Department 
determines that 29 CFR 90.18(c) has not been met.

Conclusion

    After careful 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 decision. Accordingly, the application is denied.

    Signed in Washington, DC, this 24th day of April 2012.
Del Min Amy Chen,
Certifying Officer, Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. 2012-11056 Filed 5-7-12; 8:45 am]
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