[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 155 (Friday, August 10, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47826-47827]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-19622]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army


Inland Waterways Users Board; Request for Nominations

AGENCY: Department of the Army, DOD.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Section 302 of Public Law 99-662 established the Inland 
Waterways Users Board. The Board is an independent Federal advisory 
committee. The Secretary of the Army appoints its 11 (eleven) 
representative organizations. This notice is to solicit nominations for 
11 appointments to two-year terms that will begin after February 23, 
2013.

ADDRESSES: Institute for Water Resources, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 
Attention: Inland Waterways Users Board Nominations Committee, Mr. Mark 
R. Pointon, 7701 Telegraph Road, Casey Building, Alexandria, Virginia 
22315-3868.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Institute for Water Resources, U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers, Mr. Mark R. Pointon, (703) 428-6438.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The selection, service, and appointment of 
representative organizations to the Board are covered by provisions of 
Section 302 of Public Law 99-662. The substance of those provisions is 
as follows:
    a. Selection. Representative organizations are to be selected from 
the spectrum of commercial carriers and shippers using the inland and 
intracoastal waterways, to represent geographical regions, and to be

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representative of waterborne commerce as determined by commodity ton-
miles and tonnage statistics.
    b. Service. The Board is required to meet at least semi-annually to 
develop and make recommendations to the Secretary of the Army on 
waterways construction and rehabilitation priorities and spending 
levels for commercial navigation improvements, and report its 
recommendations annually to the Secretary and Congress.
    c. Appointment. The operation of the Board and appointment of 
representative organizations are subject to the Federal Advisory 
Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, as amended) and departmental 
implementing regulations. Representative organizations serve without 
compensation but their expenses due to Board activities are 
reimbursable. The considerations specified in Section 302 for the 
selection of representative organizations to the Board, and certain 
terms used therein, have been interpreted, supplemented, or otherwise 
clarified as follows:
    (1) Carriers and Shippers. The law uses the terms ``primary users 
and shippers.'' Primary users have been interpreted to mean the 
providers of transportation services on inland waterways such as barge 
or towboat operators. Shippers have been interpreted to mean the 
purchasers of such services for the movement of commodities they own or 
control. Representative firms are appointed to the Board, and they must 
be either a carrier or shipper or both. For that purpose a trade or 
regional association is neither a shipper nor primary user.
    (2) Geographical Representation. The law specifies ``various'' 
regions. For the purposes of the Board, the waterways subjected to fuel 
taxes and described in Public Law 95-502, as amended, have been 
aggregated into six regions. They are (1) the Upper Mississippi River 
and its tributaries above the mouth of the Ohio; (2) the Lower 
Mississippi River and its tributaries below the mouth of the Ohio and 
above Baton Rouge; (3) the Ohio River and its tributaries; (4) the Gulf 
Intracoastal Waterway in Louisiana and Texas; (5) the Gulf Intracoastal 
Waterway east of New Orleans and associated fuel-taxed waterways 
including the Tennessee-Tombigbee, plus the Atlantic Intracoastal 
Waterway below Norfolk; and (6) the Columbia-Snake Rivers System and 
Upper Willamette. The intent is that each region shall be represented 
by at least one representative organization, with that representation 
determined by the regional concentration of the firm's traffic on the 
waterways.
    (3) Commodity Representation. Waterway commerce has been aggregated 
into six commodity categories based on ``inland'' ton-miles shown in 
Waterborne Commerce of the United States. These categories are (1) Farm 
and Food Products; (2) Coal and Coke; (3) Petroleum, Crude and 
Products; (4) Minerals, Ores, and Primary Metals and Mineral Products; 
(5) Chemicals and Allied Products; and (6) All Other. A consideration 
in the selection of representative organizations to the Board will be 
that the commodities carried or shipped by those firms will be 
reasonably representative of the above commodity categories.
    d. Nomination. Reflecting preceding selection criteria, the current 
representation by the ten (10) organizations whose terms expire 
includes all Regions 1-6, all carrier and/or shipper representation and 
all commodity representation.
    All ten representative organizations whose interim terms expire are 
eligible for consideration. Individuals, firms or associations may 
nominate representative organizations to serve on the Board. 
Nominations will:
    (1) Include the commercial operations of the carrier and/or shipper 
representative organization being nominated. This commercial operations 
information will show the actual or estimated ton-miles of each 
commodity carried or shipped on the inland waterways system in a recent 
year (or years), using the waterway regions and commodity categories 
previously listed.
    (2) State the region(s) to be represented.
    (3) State whether the nominated representative organization is a 
carrier, shipper or both.
    (4) Provide the name of an individual to be the principle person 
representing the organization and information pertaining to their 
personal qualifications, to include a bio or a resume.
    Previous nominations received in response to notices published in 
the Federal Register in prior years will not be retained for 
consideration. Renomination of representative organizations is 
required.
    e. Deadline for Nominations. All nominations must be received at 
the address shown above no later than October 1, 2012.

Brenda S. Bowen,
Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 2012-19622 Filed 8-9-12; 8:45 am]
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