NRCS plans to revise the CPS in the NHCP. This notice provides an overview of the planned changes and gives the public an opportunity to offer comments on the specific CPS and NRCS's proposed changes.

NRCS State Conservationists who choose to adopt these practices in their States will incorporate these practices into the respective electronic Field Office Technical Guide. These practices may be used in conservation systems that treat highly erodible land (HEL) or on land determined to be wetland. Section 343 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-127) requires NRCS to make available for public review and comment all proposed revisions to CPS used to carry out HEL and wetland provisions of the law.

The amount of the proposed changes varies considerably for each of the CPS addressed in this notice. To fully understand the proposed changes, individuals are encouraged to compare these changes with the current version for each standard, which can be found at: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/resources/guides-and-instructions/conservation-practice-standards.

NRCS is requesting comments on the following CPS:

• Controlling Existing Flowing Well (Code 352);

• Irrigation Water Management (Code 449);

• Phosphorous Removal System (Code 624);

• Saturated Buffer (Code 604); and

• Wetland Creation (Code 658).

The following paragraphs highlight some of the proposed changes to each standard:

Controlling Existing Flowing Well (Code 352): This is a new CPS that was added to address flowing artesian wells that deplete the aquifer. Flowing wells can also cause ponding, erosion, and ice damage and can waste freshwater resources.

Irrigation Water Management (Code 449): Revised the “Purpose” section to add that the CPS will provide data needed to manage efficient use of irrigation water to promote optimal use of available irrigation water supplies. Additional methods for determining the timing of irrigation, was added to the “General Criteria” section. Added criteria to the standard for “Closed Conduit and Open Channel Irrigation Flow Measurement.” Minor revisions were made for clarity and readability purposes.

Phosphorous Removal System (Code 624): This is a new national standard for a system to remove dissolved phosphorus from surface runoff, subsurface drain, or ditch flows using a phosphorus sorption media within a containment structure. NRCS developed this new national standard in collaboration with Dr. Chad Penn of the USDA Agricultural Research Service.

Saturated Buffer (Code 604): Revised to add text to the “Definition” section to include the nitrate removal feature of the technology. Revised the “General Criteria Applicable to All Purposes” section to allow nitrate removal optimization in vegetated buffer zone sizing and design flow capacity. And added text to clarify the factors that contribute to the probability of bank failure.

Wetland Creation (Code 658): Revised to narrow the practice standard to the creation of wetland hydrology, assuring consistency with the revised CPS on Wetland Restoration (Code 657). In the “Criteria and Considerations” section, the definition was updated and greater clarity was provided and references and corresponding links were updated.

In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, USDA, its agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family or parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident.

Individuals who require alternative means of communication for program information ( e.g., braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible agency or USDA TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and text telephone (TTY)) or dial 711 for Telecommunications Relay Service (both voice and telephone users can initiate this call from any phone). Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English.

To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at https://www.usda.gov/oascr/how-to-file-a-program-discrimination-complaint and at any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all the information requested in the form. To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by: (1) mail to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410; (2) fax: (202) 690-7442; or email: OAC@usda.gov.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

Committee meetings are available to the public through the videoconference link above. Any interested member of the public may listen to the meeting. An open comment period will be provided to allow members of the public to make a statement as time allows. Per the Federal Advisory Committee Act, public minutes of the meeting will include a list of persons who are present at the meeting. If joining via phone, callers can expect to incur regular charges for calls they initiate over wireless lines, according to their wireless plan. The Commission will not refund any incurred charges. Closed captioning will be available for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who have certain cognitive or learning impairments. To request additional accommodations, please email Angelica Trevino, Support Services Specialist, at atrevino@usccr.gov at least 10 business days prior to the meeting.

Members of the public are entitled to make comments during the open period at the end of the meeting. Members of the public may also submit written comments; the comments must be received in the Regional Programs Unit within 30 days following the meeting. Written comments can be sent via email to Ana Fortes (DFO) at afortes@usccr.gov.

Records generated from this meeting may be inspected and reproduced at the Regional Programs Coordination Unit Office, as they become available, both before and after the meeting. Records of the meetings will be available via www.facadatabase.gov under the Commission on Civil Rights, Arizona Advisory Committee link. Persons interested in the work of this Committee are directed to the Commission's website, http://www.usccr.gov, or may contact the Regional Programs Coordination Unit at atrevino@usccr.gov.

This committee meeting is available to the public through the registration link above. Any interested member of the public may listen to the meeting. An open comment period will be provided to allow members of the public to make a statement as time allows. Per the Federal Advisory Committee Act, public minutes of the meeting will include a list of persons who are present at the meeting. If joining via phone, callers can expect to incur regular charges for calls they initiate over wireless lines, according to their wireless plan. The Commission will not refund any incurred charges. Callers will incur no charge for calls they initiate over land-line connections to the toll-free telephone number. Closed captioning will be available for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who have certain cognitive or learning impairments. To request additional accommodations, please email Liliana Schiller, Support Services Specialist, at lschiller@usccr.gov at least 10 business days prior to the meeting.

Members of the public are entitled to submit written comments; the comments must be received in the regional office within 30 days following the meeting. Written comments may be emailed to Kayla Fajota at kfajota@usccr.gov. Persons who desire additional information may contact the Regional Programs Coordination Unit at (434) 515-2395.

Records generated from this meeting may be inspected and reproduced at the Regional Programs Coordination Unit, as they become available, both before and after the meeting. Records of the meeting will be available via the file sharing website, www.box.com. Persons interested in the work of this Committee are directed to the Commission's website, www.usccr.gov, or may contact the Regional Programs Coordination Unit at the above phone number.

Exceptional Circumstance: Pursuant to 41 CFR 102-3.150, the notice for this meeting is given less than 15 calendar days prior to the meeting due to the availability of staff and the Committee.

Committee meetings are available to the public through the videoconference link above. Any interested member of the public may listen to the meeting. An open comment period will be provided to allow members of the public to make a statement as time allows. Per the Federal Advisory Committee Act, public minutes of the meeting will include a list of persons who are present at the meeting. If joining via phone, callers can expect to incur regular charges for calls they initiate over wireless lines, according to their wireless plan. The Commission will not refund any incurred charges. Closed captioning will be available for individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing, or who have certain cognitive or learning impairments. To request additional accommodations, please email Angelica Trevino, Support Services Specialist, at atrevino@usccr.gov at least 10 business days prior to the meeting.

Members of the public are entitled to make comments during the open period at the end of the meeting. Members of the public may also submit written comments; the comments must be received in the Regional Programs Unit within 30 days following the meeting. Written comments can be sent via email to Ana Fortes (DFO) at afortes@usccr.gov

Records generated from this meeting may be inspected and reproduced at the Regional Programs Coordination Unit Office, as they become available, both before and after the meeting. Records of the meetings will be available via www.facadatabase.gov under the Commission on Civil Rights, Arizona Advisory Committee link. Persons interested in the work of this Committee are directed to the Commission's website, http://www.usccr.gov, or may contact the Regional Programs Coordination Unit at atrevino@usccr.gov.

Background

This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation on March 11, 2024. 1 On June 18, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this investigation. 2 On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. 3 The deadline for the preliminary determination is now September 18, 2024.

For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 4 A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

The product covered by this investigation is melamine from Trinidad and Tobago. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see Appendix I.

In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations, 5 we set aside a period of time, as stated in the Initiation Notice, for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage ( i.e., scope). 6 No interested party commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. Commerce is not modifying the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. See the complete description of the scope in Appendix I to this notice.

Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. Pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act, Commerce preliminarily relied upon facts otherwise available to assign an estimated weighted-average dumping margin to Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Limited (MHTL), the sole mandatory respondent in this investigation because MHTL did not submit a response to Commerce's antidumping duty questionnaire. Further, Commerce preliminarily determines that MHTL failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of its ability to comply with a request for information and Commerce is using an adverse inference in selecting from among the facts otherwise available ( i.e., applying adverse facts available (AFA) to this respondent, in accordance with section 776(b) of the Act). For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

On June 17, 2024, the petitioner  7 timely filed a critical circumstances allegation, pursuant to section 733(e)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206(c)(1), alleging that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of the subject merchandise from Trinidad and Tobago. 8 Section 733(e)(1) of the Act provides that Commerce will preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist in an LTFV investigation if there is a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that: (A) there is a history of dumping and material injury by reason of dumped imports in the United States or elsewhere of the subject merchandise, or the person by whom, or for whose account, the merchandise was imported knew or should have known that the exporter was selling the subject merchandise at less than its fair value and that there was likely to be material injury by reason of such sales; and (B) there have been massive imports of the subject merchandise over a relatively short period.

In accordance with section 733(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206, we preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of melamine produced and exported by MHTL. Furthermore, we preliminarily determine that critical circumstances do not exist with respect to imports of melamine produced and exported by all other producers and exporters from Trinidad and Tobago. For a full description of Commerce's preliminary critical circumstances determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Section 733(d)(1)(ii) of the Act provides that, in a preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated all-others rate for all exporters and producers not individually investigated in accordance with section 735(c)(5) of the Act. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act states that generally the estimated rate for all others shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. The estimated weighted-average dumping margin in this preliminary determination was determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. In cases where no weighted-average dumping margins other than zero, de minimis, or those determined entirely under section 776 of the Act have been established for individually examined entities, in accordance with section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, Commerce typically calculates a simple average of the margins alleged in the petition and applies the results to all other entities not individually examined. 9

In the Petition, 10 the petitioner alleged two estimated dumping margins for Trinidad and Tobago, 49.78 and 146.85 percent. 11 Therefore, consistent with our practice, for the all-others rate in this investigation, we preliminarily assign a simple average of the dumping margins alleged in the Petition, which is 98.32 percent.

Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist during the period January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023:

In accordance with section 733(e)(2) of the Act, Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of melamine, as described in the “Scope of the Investigation” in Appendix I, from MHTL that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 90 days prior to the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register . In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, Commerce will direct CBP to suspend liquidation of all other entries of melamine from Trinidad and Tobago, as described in the “Scope of the Investigation” in Appendix I, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register . We will also instruct CBP, pursuant to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), to require a cash deposit equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin or the estimated all-others rate, as follows: (1) the cash deposit rate for the respondents listed above will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margins determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a respondent identified above, but the producer is, then the cash deposit rate will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for that producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the cash deposit rate for all other producers and exporters will be equal to the all-others estimated weighted-average dumping margin.

Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations performed in connection with a preliminary determination within five days of any public announcement or, if there is no public announcement, within five days of the date of publication of the notice of preliminary determination in the Federal Register , in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce preliminarily applied AFA to the mandatory respondent in this investigation and applied an AFA rate based on the Petition, there are no calculations to disclose.

Consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(e), Commerce will analyze and, if appropriate, correct any timely allegations of significant ministerial errors by amending the preliminary determination. However, consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(d), Commerce will not consider incomplete allegations that do not address the significance standard under 19 CFR 351.224(g) following the preliminary determination. Instead, Commerce will address such allegations in the final determination together with issues raised in the case briefs or other written comments.

Because the mandatory respondent in this investigation did not act to the best of its ability to provide information requested by Commerce, and Commerce preliminarily determines the mandatory respondent has been uncooperative, we will not conduct verification.

Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 14 days after the date of publication of the preliminary determination. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed not later than five days after the date for filing case briefs. 12 Interested parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding must submit: (1) a table of contents listing each issue; and (2) a table of authorities. 13

As provided under 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), in prior proceedings we have encouraged interested parties to provide an executive summary of their brief that should be limited to five pages total, including footnotes. In this investigation, we instead request that interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a public, executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs. 14 Further, we request that interested parties limit their public executive summary of each issue to no more than 450 words, not including citations. We intend to use the public executive summaries as the basis of the comment summaries included in the issues and decision memorandum that will accompany the final determination. We request that interested parties include footnotes for relevant citations in the public executive summary of each issue. Note that Commerce has amended certain of its requirements pertaining to the service of documents in 19 CFR 351.303(f). 15

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, filed electronically via ACCESS. Requests should contain: (1) the party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants and whether any participant is a foreign national; and (3) a list of the issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to those raised in the respective case briefs. An electronically filed hearing request must be received successfully in its entirety via ACCESS by 5 p.m. Eastern Time within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.

Section 735(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1) provide that Commerce will issue the final determination within 75 days after the date of its preliminary determination.

Accordingly, Commerce will make its final determination no later than 75 days after the signature date of this preliminary determination.

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of our affirmative preliminary determination. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

On May 16, 2024, Commerce published the Preliminary Results of this review in the Federal Register and invited interested parties to comment on those results. 1 On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. 2 The deadline for the preliminary determination is now September 20, 2024. For a complete description of the events that occurred since the Preliminary Results, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum. 3 Commerce conducted this review in accordance with section 751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).

The product covered by the Order is CAAS from South Africa. For a complete description of the scope, see the Issues and Decision Memorandum.

All issues raised in the case and rebuttal briefs filed by parties in this review are listed in the appendix to this notice and addressed in the Issues and Decision Memorandum. The Issues and Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete version of the Issues and Decision Memorandum can be accessed at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

Commerce determines the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist for the period April 1, 2022, through March 31, 2023:

Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations of the final results of an administrative review within five days of the date of publication of the notice of final results in the Federal Register , in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because we have made no changes to the Preliminary Results, there are no calculations to disclose.

Pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.212(b), Commerce shall determine, and CBP shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries of subject merchandise in accordance with the final results of this review. For any individually examined respondents whose weighted-average dumping margin is above de minimis, we calculated importer-specific ad valorem duty assessment rates by dividing the total amount of antidumping duties calculated for the examined sales by the total entered value of the examined sales to that importer. Where the respondent did not report entered value, we calculated the entered value in order to calculate the assessment rate. Where either the respondent's weighted-average dumping margin is zero or de minimis within the meaning of 19 CFR 351.106(c)(1), or an importer-specific assessment rate is zero or de minimis, we will instruct CBP to liquidate the appropriate entries without regard to antidumping duties.

Commerce's “automatic assessment” will apply to entries of subject merchandise during the POR produced by Hulamin Operations for which the company did not know that the merchandise it sold to an intermediary ( e.g., a reseller, trading company, or exporter) was destined for the United States. In such instances, we will instruct CBP to liquidate such entries at the all-others rate if there is no rate for the intermediate company(ies) involved in the transaction. 5

Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP no earlier than 35 days after the date of publication of the final results of this review in the Federal Register . If a timely summons is filed at the U.S. Court of International Trade, the assessment instructions will direct CBP not to liquidate relevant entries until the time for parties to file a request for a statutory injunction has expired ( i.e., within 90 days of publication).

The following cash deposit requirements will be effective for all shipments of subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date of the final results of this administrative review in the Federal Register , as provided for by section 751(a)(2) of the Act: (1) the cash deposit rate for companies subject to this review will be the rates established in these final results of the review; (2) for merchandise exported by producers or exporters not covered in this review but covered in a prior segment of the proceeding, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-specific rate published for the most recent period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the original investigation but the producer is, then the cash deposit rate will be the rate established for the most recent period for the producer of the merchandise; (4) the cash deposit rate for all other producers or exporters will continue to be 8.85 percent, the all-others rate established in the investigation. 6 These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until further notice.

This notice serves as a final reminder to importers of their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with this requirement could result in Commerce's presumption that reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of double antidumping duties.

This notice also serves as a reminder to parties subject to the administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility concerning the return or destruction of proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3), which continues to govern business proprietary information in this segment of the proceeding. Timely written notification of the return or destruction of APO materials or conversion to judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the regulations and the terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.

We are issuing and publishing these final results in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.221(b)(5).

On August 9, 2024, Commerce published the preliminary results in this administrative review in the Federal Register . 1 Although we provided interested parties with an opportunity to comment on the Preliminary Results, no interested party submitted comments. Accordingly, the final results remain unchanged from the Preliminary Results, and thus, there is no decision memorandum accompanying this notice. Commerce conducted this review in accordance with section 751(a) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act).

The product covered by the Order is CWPs from Oman. For a complete description of the scope of the Order, see the Preliminary Results. 3

For these final results, we determine that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margin exists for the period December 1, 2021, through November 30, 2022:

Normally, Commerce discloses to parties in the proceeding the calculations performed in connection with the final results of review within five days of any public announcement or, if there is no public announcement, within five days of the date of publication of the notice of the final results in the Federal Register , in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because we made no changes from the Preliminary Results, there are no calculations to disclose.

Pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1), Commerce has determined, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries covered by this review. Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1), because Al Jazeera Steel Products Co. SAOG (Al Jazeera) reported the entered value for all of its U.S. sales, we calculated importer-specific ad valorem duty assessment rates based on the ratio of the total amount of dumping calculated for the examined sales to the total entered value of those same sales.

Commerce's “automatic assessment” will apply to entries of subject merchandise during the POR produced by Al Jazeera for which the company did not know that the merchandise it sold to an intermediary ( e.g., a reseller, trading company, or exporter) was destined for the United States. In such instances, we will instruct CBP to liquidate such entries at the all-others rate if there is no rate for the intermediate company(ies) involved in the transaction. 4

Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP no earlier than 35 days after the date of publication of the final results of this review in the Federal Register . If a timely summons is filed at the U.S. Court of International Trade, the assessment instructions will direct CBP not to liquidate relevant entries until the time for parties to file a request for a statutory injunction has expired ( i.e., within 90 days of publication).

The following cash deposit requirements will be effective upon publication in the Federal Register of these final results of administrative review for all shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the publication date, as provided by section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) the cash deposit rate for Al Jazeera will be equal to the weighted-average dumping margin established in these final results of this administrative review; (2) for merchandise exported by companies not covered in this review but covered in a prior completed segment of this proceeding, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-specific rate published in the completed segment for the most recent period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, or the less-than-fair-value (LFTV) investigation, but the producer is, then the cash deposit rate will be the cash deposit rate established for the most recently completed segment for the producer of the subject merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all other producers and exporters will continue to be the all-others rate ( i.e., 7.36 percent). 5 These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until further notice.

This notice serves as a final reminder to importers of their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate regarding the reimbursement of antidumping duties prior to liquidation of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with this requirement could result in Commerce's presumption that reimbursement of antidumping duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of double antidumping duties.

This notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to an APO of their responsibility concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3), which continues to govern business proprietary information in this segment of the proceeding. Timely written notification of the return or destruction of APO materials or conversion to judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the regulations and terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.

This notice is being issued and published in accordance with sections 751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.221(b)(5).

This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation on March 11, 2024. 1 On June 18, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this investigation. 2 On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. 3 The deadline for the preliminary determination is now September 18, 2024.

For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 4 A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

The product covered by this investigation is melamine from Japan. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see Appendix I.

In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations, 5 we set aside a period of time, as stated in the Initiation Notice, for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage ( i.e., scope). 6 No interested party commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. Commerce is not modifying the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. See the complete description of the scope in Appendix I to this notice.

Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. Pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act, Commerce preliminarily relied upon facts otherwise available to assign an estimated weighted-average dumping margin to Mitsui Chemicals, the sole mandatory respondent in this investigation because Mitsui Chemicals did not submit a response to Commerce's antidumping duty questionnaire. Further, Commerce preliminarily determines that Mitsui Chemicals failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of its ability to comply with a request for information and Commerce is using an adverse inference in selecting from among the facts otherwise available ( i.e., applying adverse facts available (AFA) to this respondent, in accordance with section 776(b) of the Act). For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

On June 17, 2024, the petitioner  7 timely filed a critical circumstances allegation, pursuant to section 733(e)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206(c)(1), alleging that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of the subject merchandise from Japan. 8 Section 733(e)(1) of the Act provides that Commerce will preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist in an LTFV investigation if there is a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that: (A) there is a history of dumping and material injury by reason of dumped imports in the United States or elsewhere of the subject merchandise, or the person by whom, or for whose account, the merchandise was imported knew or should have known that the exporter was selling the subject merchandise at less than its fair value and that there was likely to be material injury by reason of such sales; and (B) there have been massive imports of the subject merchandise over a relatively short period.

In accordance with section 733(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206, we preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of melamine produced and exported by Mitsui Chemicals. Furthermore, we preliminarily determine that critical circumstances do not exist with respect to imports of melamine produced and exported by all other producers and exporters from Japan. For a full description of Commerce's preliminary critical circumstances determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Section 733(d)(1)(ii) of the Act provides that, in a preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated all-others rate for all exporters and producers not individually investigated in accordance with section 735(c)(5) of the Act. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act states that generally the estimated rate for all others shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. The estimated weighted-average dumping margin in this preliminary determination was determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. In cases where no weighted-average dumping margins other than zero, de minimis, or those determined entirely under section 776 of the Act have been established for individually examined entities, in accordance with section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, Commerce typically calculates a simple average of the margins alleged in the petition and applies the results to all other entities not individually examined. 9

In the Petition, 10 the petitioner alleged two estimated dumping margins for Japan, 102.53 and 127.69 percent. 11 Therefore, consistent with our practice, for the all-others rate in this investigation, we preliminarily assign a simple average of the dumping margins alleged in the Petition, which is 115.11 percent.

Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist during the period January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023:

In accordance with section 733(e)(2) of the Act, Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of melamine, as described in the “Scope of the Investigation” in Appendix I, from Mitsui Chemicals that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 90 days prior to the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register . In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, Commerce will direct CBP to suspend liquidation of all other entries of melamine from Japan, as described in the “Scope of the Investigation” in Appendix I, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register . We will also instruct CBP, pursuant to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), to require a cash deposit equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin or the estimated all-others rate, as follows: (1) the cash deposit rate for the respondents listed above will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margins determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a respondent identified above, but the producer is, then the cash deposit rate will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for that producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the cash deposit rate for all other producers and exporters will be equal to the all-others estimated weighted-average dumping margin.

Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations performed in connection with a preliminary determination within five days of any public announcement or, if there is no public announcement, within five days of the date of publication of the notice of preliminary determination in the Federal Register, in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce preliminarily applied AFA to the mandatory respondent in this investigation and applied an AFA rate based on the Petition, there are no calculations to disclose.

Consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(e), Commerce will analyze and, if appropriate, correct any timely allegations of significant ministerial errors by amending the preliminary determination. However, consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(d), Commerce will not consider incomplete allegations that do not address the significance standard under 19 CFR 351.224(g) following the preliminary determination. Instead, Commerce will address such allegations in the final determination together with issues raised in the case briefs or other written comments.

Because the mandatory respondent in this investigation did not act to the best of its ability to provide information requested by Commerce, and Commerce preliminarily determines the mandatory respondent has been uncooperative, we will not conduct verification.

Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 14 days after the date of publication of the preliminary determination. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed not later than five days after the date for filing case briefs. 12 Interested parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding must submit: (1) a table of contents listing each issue; and (2) a table of authorities. 13

As provided under 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), in prior proceedings we have encouraged interested parties to provide an executive summary of their brief that should be limited to five pages total, including footnotes. In this investigation, we instead request that interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a public, executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs. 14 Further, we request that interested parties limit their public executive summary of each issue to no more than 450 words, not including citations. We intend to use the public executive summaries as the basis of the comment summaries included in the issues and decision memorandum that will accompany the final determination. We request that interested parties include footnotes for relevant citations in the public executive summary of each issue. Note that Commerce has amended certain of its requirements pertaining to the service of documents in 19 CFR 351.303(f). 15

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, filed electronically via ACCESS. Requests should contain: (1) the party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants and whether any participant is a foreign national; and (3) a list of the issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to those raised in the respective case briefs. An electronically filed hearing request must be received successfully in its entirety via ACCESS by 5 p.m. Eastern Time within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.

Section 735(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1) provide that Commerce will issue the final determination within 75 days after the date of its preliminary determination. Accordingly, Commerce will make its final determination no later than 75 days after the signature date of this preliminary determination.

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of our affirmative preliminary determination. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

Background

This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation on March 11, 2024. 1 On June 18, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this investigation. 2 On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. 3 The deadline for the final results is now September 18, 2024.

For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 4 A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

The product covered by this investigation is melamine from Germany. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see Appendix I.

In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations, 5 we set aside a period of time, as stated in the Initiation Notice, for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage ( i.e., scope). 6 No interested party commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. Commerce is not modifying the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. See the complete description of the scope in Appendix I to this notice.

Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. Pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act, Commerce has preliminarily relied upon facts otherwise available to assign estimated weighted-average dumping margins to LAT Nitrogen Piesteritz GmbH, the sole mandatory respondent in this investigation because LAT Nitrogen Piesteritz GmbH did not submit a response to Commerce's antidumping duty questionnaire. Further, Commerce preliminarily determines that LAT Nitrogen Piesteritz GmbH failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of its ability to comply with a request for information and is using an adverse inference in selecting from among the facts otherwise available ( i.e., applying adverse facts available (AFA)) to this respondent, in accordance with section 776(b) of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Section 733(d)(1)(ii) of the Act provides that, in the preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated all-others rate for all exporters and producers not individually investigated in accordance with section 735(c)(5) of the Act. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act states that generally the estimated rate for all others shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. The estimated weighted-average dumping margins in this preliminary determination were calculated entirely under section 776 of the Act. In cases where no weighted-average dumping margins other than zero, de minimis, or those determined entirely under section 776 of the Act have been established for individually examined entities, in accordance with section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, Commerce typically calculates a simple average of the margins alleged in the petition and applies the results to all other entities not individually examined. 7

In the Petition, 8 Cornerstone Chemical Company (the petitioner) calculated two estimated dumping margins, 139.74 and 218.73 percent. Therefore, consistent with our practice, for the all-others rate in this investigation, we preliminarily assigned a simple average of the dumping margins alleged in the Petition, which is 179.24 percent. 9

Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist during the period January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023:

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of melamine from Germany, as described in the “Scope of the Investigation” in Appendix I, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register . Further, pursuant to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), Commerce will instruct CBP to require a cash deposit equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin or the estimated all-others rate, as follows: (1) The cash deposit rate for the respondents listed above will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margins determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a respondent identified above, but the producer is, then the cash deposit rate will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for that producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the cash deposit rate for all other producers and exporters will be equal to the all-others estimated weighted-average dumping margin.

Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations performed in connection with a preliminary determination within five days of any public announcement or, if there is no public announcement, within five days of the date of publication of the notice of preliminary determination in the Federal Register , in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce preliminarily applied AFA to the mandatory respondent in this investigation and applied an AFA rate based on the Petition, there are no calculations to disclose.

Consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(e), Commerce will analyze and, if appropriate, correct any timely allegations of significant ministerial errors by amending the preliminary determination. However, consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(d), Commerce will not consider incomplete allegations that do not address the significance standard under 19 CFR 351.224(g) following the preliminary determination. Instead, Commerce will address such allegations in the final determination together with issues raised in the case briefs or other written comments.

Because the mandatory respondent in this investigation did not act to the best of its ability to provide information requested by Commerce, and Commerce preliminarily determines the mandatory respondent to be uncooperative, we will not conduct verification.

Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 14 days after the date of publication of the preliminary determination. 10 Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed not later than five days after the date for filing case briefs. 11 Interested parties who submit case or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding must submit: (1) a table of contents listing each issue; and (2) a table of authorities. 12

As provided under 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), in prior proceedings we have encouraged interested parties to provide an executive summary of their brief that should be limited to five pages total, including footnotes. In this investigation, we instead request that interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a public, executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs. 13 Further, we request that interested parties limit their executive summary of each issue to no more than 450 words, not including citations. We intend to use the executive summaries as the basis of the comment summaries included in the issues and decision memorandum that will accompany the final determination. We request that interested parties include footnotes for relevant citations in the executive summary of each issue. Note that Commerce has amended certain of its requirements pertaining to the service of documents in 19 CFR 351.303(f). 14

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, filed electronically via ACCESS. Requests should contain: (1) the party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants and whether any participant is a foreign national; and (3) a list of issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to those raised in the respective case briefs. An electronically filed hearing request must be received successfully in its entirety via ACCESS by 5 p.m. Eastern Time within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.

Section 735(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1) provide that Commerce will issue the final determination within 75 days after the date of its preliminary determination.

Accordingly, Commerce will make its final determination no later than 75 days after the signature date of this preliminary determination.

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of our affirmative preliminary determination. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation in the Federal Register on March 11, 2024. 1 On June 24, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this investigation and the revised deadline was September 11, 2024. 2 On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this proceeding by seven days until September 18, 2024. 3 For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 4 A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

The product covered by this investigation is melamine from Qatar. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see Appendix I.

In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations, 5 we set aside a period of time, as stated in the Initiation Notice, for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage ( i.e., scope). 6 No interested party commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. Commerce is not modifying the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. See the complete description of the scope in Appendix I to this notice.

Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. Commerce calculated export prices in accordance with section 772(a) of the Act. Normal value is calculated in accordance with section 773 of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying the preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margin exists for the period, January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023:  7

On August 19, 2024, Commerce published, in the Federal Register , the final results of the administrative review of the AD order on softwood lumber from Canada for the POR. 1 On August 21, 2024, we received a timely submitted ministerial error allegation from West Fraser Mills, Ltd. (West Fraser), a mandatory respondent in this administrative review. 2 We are amending the Final Results to correct the ministerial error alleged by West Fraser. 3

Section 751(h) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act), defines a “ministerial error” as including “errors in addition, subtraction, or other arithmetic function, clerical errors resulting from inaccurate copying, duplication, or the like, and any other unintentional error which the administering authority considers ministerial.”  4 With respect to final results of administrative reviews, 19 CFR 351.224(e) provides that Commerce “will analyze any comments received and, if appropriate, correct any . . . ministerial error by amending the final results of review . . .”

In the Final Results, we made certain revisions to our preliminary results calculations for West Fraser, including setting the stage of the proceeding in the comparison market program to final. 5 In its ministerial error comments, West Fraser alleged that Commerce failed to make the same adjustment in the corresponding margin calculation program, i.e., setting the stage of the review segment in the margin program to “final.”  6 West Fraser alleged that by failing to set the stage of the review segment to final (instead of preliminary) in the margin calculation program, Commerce inadvertently accessed certain databases from the preliminary results margin program. 7 West Fraser also alleged that the preliminary results margin program databases at issue did not incorporate the calculation changes that Commerce made for the Final Results . 8

We agree with West Fraser that we made a ministerial error in the Final Results, pursuant to section 751(h) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.224(f), and have amended our calculations to correct the stage of the review segment section of the margin program. 9 As a result, we also revised our calculation of the dumping margin for the non-selected companies. 10

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.224(e), we are amending the Final Results to correct this ministerial error in the calculation of the weighted-average dumping margin for West Fraser, which changes from 5.32 percent to 5.04 percent. 11 Furthermore, we are also amending the rate for the companies not selected for individual examination in this review based on the weighted-average dumping margins calculated for the mandatory respondents, 12 which changes from 7.80 percent to 7.66 percent. 13 For a complete discussion of the ministerial error allegation, as well as Commerce's analysis, see the accompanying Ministerial Error Memorandum. 14 The Ministerial Error Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov .

As a result of correcting the ministerial errors described above, we determine the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins for the period January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022:

We intend to disclose the calculations performed in connection with these amended final results of review to parties in this review within five days of the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register , in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

Pursuant to section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1), Commerce has determined, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shall assess, antidumping duties on all appropriate entries of subject merchandise in accordance with the amended final results of this review.

We intend to calculate importer- (or customer-) specific assessment rates on the basis of the ratio of the total amount of antidumping duties calculated for each importer's (or customer's) examined sales and the total entered value of the sales in accordance with 19 CFR 351.212(b)(1). Where an importer- (or customer-) specific rate is zero or de minimis within the meaning of 19 CFR 351.106(c)(1), we will instruct CBP to liquidate the appropriate entries without regard to antidumping duties.

For the companies not selected for individual review, we used an assessment rate based on the weighted average dumping margins of the mandatory respondents, based on their publicly ranged sales data. 16 The amended final results of this review shall be the basis for the assessment of antidumping duties on entries of merchandise covered by the amended final results of this review and for the future deposits of estimated duties where applicable. 17

Commerce's “reseller policy” will apply to entries of subject merchandise during the POR produced by companies included in these final results of review for which the reviewed companies did not know that the merchandise they sold to the intermediary ( e.g., a reseller, trading company, or exporter) was destined for the United States. In such instances, we will instruct CBP to liquidate unreviewed entries at the all-others rate if there is no rate for the intermediate company(ies) involved in the transaction. 18

Commerce intends to issue assessment instructions to CBP no earlier than 41 days after the date of publication of the amended final results of this review in the Federal Register in accordance with 19 CFR 356.8(a). If a timely summons is filed at the U.S. Court of International Trade, the assessment instructions will direct CBP not to liquidate relevant entries until the time for parties to file a request for a statutory injunction has expired ( i.e., within 90 days of publication).

The following amended cash deposit requirements will be effective for all shipments of the subject merchandise entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after August 19, 2024, the publication date of the Final Results, as provided by section 751(a)(2)(C) of the Act: (1) the amended cash deposit rate for the companies listed above will be equal to the weighted-average dumping margin established in these amended final results of review; (2) for merchandise exported by producers or exporters not covered in this review but covered in a prior completed segment of the proceeding, the cash deposit rate will continue to be the company-specific rate published in the completed segment for the most recent period; (3) if the exporter is not a firm covered in this review, a prior review, or the original investigation but the producer has been covered in a prior completed segment of this proceeding, then the cash deposit rate will be the rate established in the completed segment for the most recent period for the producer of the merchandise; and (4) the cash deposit rate for all other manufacturers or exporters will continue to be 6.04 percent ad valorem, the all-others rate established in the less-than-fair-value investigation. 19 These cash deposit requirements, when imposed, shall remain in effect until further notice.

This notice also serves as a final reminder to importers of their responsibility under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a certificate regarding the reimbursement of antidumping and/or countervailing duties prior to liquidation of the relevant entries during this review period. Failure to comply with this requirement could result in Commerce's presumption that reimbursement of antidumping and/or countervailing duties occurred and the subsequent assessment of double antidumping duties, and/or an increase in the amount of antidumping duties by the amount of the countervailing duties.

This notice serves as the only reminder to parties subject to administrative protective order (APO) of their responsibility concerning the disposition of proprietary information disclosed under APO in accordance with 19 CFR 351.305(a)(3), which continues to govern business proprietary information in this segment of the proceeding. Timely written notification of return/destruction of APO materials or conversion to judicial protective order is hereby requested. Failure to comply with the regulations and the terms of an APO is a sanctionable violation.

We are issuing and publishing these amended final results of review in accordance with sections 751(h) and 777(i) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.224(e).

This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation on March 11, 2024. 1 On June 18, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this investigation. 2 On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. 3 The deadline for the preliminary determination is now September 18, 2024.

For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 4 A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

The product covered by this investigation is melamine from the Netherlands. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see Appendix I.

In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations, 5 we set aside a period of time, as stated in the Initiation Notice, for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage ( i.e., scope). 6 No interested party commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. Commerce is not modifying the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. See the complete description of the scope in Appendix I to this notice.

Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. Pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act, Commerce has preliminarily relied upon facts otherwise available to assign an estimated weighted-average dumping margin to OCI Nitrogen, the mandatory respondent in this investigation because OCI Nitrogen did not submit a complete response to Commerce's antidumping duty questionnaire. Further, Commerce preliminarily determines that OCI Nitrogen failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of its ability to comply with a request for information and Commerce is using an adverse inference in selecting from among the facts otherwise available ( i.e., applying adverse facts available (AFA)) to this respondent, in accordance with section 776(b) of the Act. For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Sections 733(d)(1)(ii) of the Act provides that, in the preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated all-others rate for all exporters and producers not individually investigated in accordance with section 735(c)(5) of the Act. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act states that generally the estimated rate for all others shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis rates, and any rates determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. The estimated weighted-average dumping margin in this preliminary determination was determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. In cases where no weighted-average dumping margins other than zero, de minimis, or those determined entirely under section 776 of the Act have been established for individually examined entities, in accordance with section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, Commerce typically calculates a simple average of the dumping margins alleged in the petition and applies the results to all other entities not individually examined. 7

In the Petition, 8 Cornerstone Chemical Company (the petitioner) alleged two estimated dumping margins for the Netherlands, 34.84 and 72.16 percent. Therefore, consistent with our practice, for the all-others rate in this investigation, we preliminarily assign a simple average of the dumping margins alleged in the Petition, which is 53.50 percent.

Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist during the period January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023:

In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of melamine, as described in the “Scope of the Investigation” in Appendix I, from OCI Nitrogen that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register . In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, Commerce will direct CBP to suspend liquidation of all other entries of melamine from the Netherlands, as described in the “Scope of the Investigation” in Appendix I, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register . We will also instruct CBP, pursuant to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), to require a cash deposit equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin or the estimated all-others rate, as follows: (1) the cash deposit rate for the respondents listed above will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margins determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a respondent identified above, but the producer is, then the cash deposit rate will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for that producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the cash deposit rate for all other producers and exporters will be equal to the all-others estimated weighted-average dumping margin.

Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations performed in connection with a preliminary determination within five days of any public announcement or, if there is no public announcement, within five days of the date of publication of the notice of preliminary determination in the Federal Register , in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b).

However, because Commerce preliminarily applied AFA to the sole mandatory respondent in this investigation, and applied an AFA rate based on the Petition, there are no calculations to disclose.

Consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(e), Commerce will analyze and, if appropriate, correct any timely allegations of significant ministerial errors by amending the preliminary determination. However, consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(d), Commerce will not consider incomplete allegations that do not address the significance standard under 19 CFR 351.224(g) following the preliminary determination. Instead, Commerce will address such allegations in the final determination together with issues raised in the case briefs or other written comments.

Because the mandatory respondent in this investigation did not act to the best of its ability to provide information requested by Commerce, and Commerce preliminarily determines the mandatory respondent to be uncooperative, we will not conduct verification.

Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 14 days after the date of publication of the preliminary determination. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed not later than five days after the date for filing case briefs. 9 Interested parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding must submit: (1) a table of contents listing each issue; and (2) a table of authorities. 10

As provided under 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), in prior proceedings we have encouraged interested parties to provide an executive summary of their brief that should be limited to five pages total, including footnotes. In this investigation, we instead request that interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a public, executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs. 11 Further, we request that interested parties limit their executive summary of each issue to no more than 450 words, not including citations. We intend to use the executive summaries as the basis of the comment summaries included in the issues and decision memorandum that will accompany the final determination. We request that interested parties include footnotes for relevant citations in the executive summary of each issue. Note that Commerce has amended certain of its requirements pertaining to the service of documents in 19 CFR 351.303(f). 12

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, filed electronically via ACCESS. Requests should contain: (1) the party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants and whether any participant is a foreign national; and (3) a list of issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to those raised in the respective case briefs. An electronically filed hearing request must be received successfully in its entirety via ACCESS by 5 p.m. Eastern Time within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.

Section 735(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1) provide that Commerce will issue the final determination within 75 days after the date of its preliminary determination. Accordingly, Commerce will make its final determination no later than 75 days after the signature date of this preliminary determination.

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of its affirmative preliminary determination. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

This preliminary determination is made in accordance with section 733(b) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act). Commerce published the notice of initiation of this investigation on March 11, 2024. 1 On June 18, 2024, Commerce postponed the preliminary determination of this investigation. 2 On July 22, 2024, Commerce tolled certain deadlines in this administrative proceeding by seven days. 3 The deadline for the preliminary determination is now September 18, 2024.

For a complete description of the events that followed the initiation of this investigation, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum. 4 A list of topics included in the Preliminary Decision Memorandum is included as Appendix II to this notice. The Preliminary Decision Memorandum is a public document and is on file electronically via Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping and Countervailing Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov. In addition, a complete version of the Preliminary Decision Memorandum can be accessed directly at https://access.trade.gov/public/FRNoticesListLayout.aspx.

The product covered by this investigation is melamine from India. For a full description of the scope of this investigation, see Appendix I.

In accordance with the Preamble to Commerce's regulations, 5 we set aside a period of time, as stated in the Initiation Notice, for parties to raise issues regarding product coverage ( i.e., scope). 6 No interested party commented on the scope of the investigation as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. Commerce is not modifying the scope language as it appeared in the Initiation Notice. See the complete description of the scope in Appendix I to this notice.

Commerce is conducting this investigation in accordance with section 731 of the Act. Pursuant to section 776(a) of the Act, Commerce preliminarily relied upon facts otherwise available to assign an estimated weighted-average dumping margin to Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (GSFC), the sole mandatory respondent in this investigation. Further, Commerce preliminarily determines that GSFC failed to cooperate by not acting to the best of its ability to comply with a request for information and Commerce is using an adverse inference in selecting from among the facts otherwise available ( i.e., applying adverse facts available (AFA) to this respondent, in accordance with section 776(b) of the Act). For a full description of the methodology underlying our preliminary determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

On June 17, 2024, the petitioner  7 timely filed a critical circumstances allegation, pursuant to section 733(e)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206(c)(1), alleging that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of the subject merchandise from India. 8 Section 733(e)(1) of the Act provides that Commerce will preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist in an LTFV investigation if there is a reasonable basis to believe or suspect that: (A) there is a history of dumping and material injury by reason of dumped imports in the United States or elsewhere of the subject merchandise, or the person by whom, or for whose account, the merchandise was imported knew or should have known that the exporter was selling the subject merchandise at less than its fair value and that there was likely to be material injury by reason of such sales; and (B) there have been massive imports of the subject merchandise over a relatively short period.

In accordance with section 733(e) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.206, we preliminarily determine that critical circumstances exist with respect to imports of melamine produced and exported by GSFC. Furthermore, we preliminarily determine that critical circumstances do not exist with respect to imports of melamine produced and exported by all other producers and exporters from India. For a full description of Commerce's preliminary critical circumstances determination, see the Preliminary Decision Memorandum.

Section 733(d)(1)(ii) of the Act provides that, in a preliminary determination, Commerce shall determine an estimated all-others rate for all exporters and producers not individually investigated in accordance with section 735(c)(5) of the Act. Section 735(c)(5)(A) of the Act states that generally the estimated rate for all others shall be an amount equal to the weighted average of the estimated weighted-average dumping margins established for exporters and producers individually investigated, excluding any zero and de minimis margins, and any margins determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. The estimated weighted-average dumping margin in this preliminary determination was determined entirely under section 776 of the Act. In cases where no weighted-average dumping margins other than zero, de minimis, or those determined entirely under section 776 of the Act have been established for individually examined entities, in accordance with section 735(c)(5)(B) of the Act, Commerce typically calculates a simple average of the margins alleged in the petition and applies the results to all other entities not individually examined. 9

In the Petition, 10 the petitioner alleged two estimated dumping margins for India, 393.82 and 632.74 percent. 11 Therefore, consistent with our practice, for the all-others rate in this investigation, we preliminarily assign a simple average of the dumping margins alleged in the Petition, which is 513.28 percent.

Commerce preliminarily determines that the following estimated weighted-average dumping margins exist during the period January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023:

In accordance with section 733(e)(2) of the Act, Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all entries of melamine, as described in the “Scope of the Investigation” in Appendix I, from GSFC that are entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after 90 days prior to the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register . In accordance with section 733(d)(2) of the Act, Commerce will direct U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to suspend liquidation of all other entries of melamine from India, as described in the “Scope of the Investigation” in Appendix I, entered, or withdrawn from warehouse, for consumption on or after the date of publication of this notice in the Federal Register . We will also instruct CBP, pursuant to section 733(d)(1)(B) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.205(d), to require a cash deposit equal to the estimated weighted-average dumping margin or the estimated all-others rate, as follows: (1) the cash deposit rate for the respondents listed above will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margins determined in this preliminary determination; (2) if the exporter is not a respondent identified above, but the producer is, then the cash deposit rate will be equal to the company-specific estimated weighted-average dumping margin established for that producer of the subject merchandise; and (3) the cash deposit rate for all other producers and exporters will be equal to the all-others estimated weighted-average dumping margin.

Commerce normally adjusts cash deposits for estimated antidumping duties by the amount of export subsidies countervailed in a companion countervailing duty (CVD) investigation, when CVD provisional measures are in effect. Accordingly, where Commerce preliminarily made an affirmative determination for countervailable export subsidies, Commerce has offset the estimated weighted-average dumping margin by the appropriate export subsidy rate. Any adjusted cash deposit rate may be found in the “Preliminary Determination” section above.

Should provisional measures in the companion CVD investigation expire prior to the expiration of provisional measures in this LTFV investigation, Commerce will direct CBP to begin collecting estimated antidumping duty cash deposits unadjusted for countervailed export subsidies at the time that the provisional CVD measures expire.

Normally, Commerce discloses to interested parties the calculations performed in connection with a preliminary determination within five days of any public announcement or, if there is no public announcement, within five days of the date of publication of the notice of preliminary determination in the Federal Register , in accordance with 19 CFR 351.224(b). However, because Commerce preliminarily applied AFA to the mandatory respondent in this investigation and applied an AFA rate based on the Petition, there are no calculations to disclose.

Consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(e), Commerce will analyze and, if appropriate, correct any timely allegations of significant ministerial errors by amending the preliminary determination. However, consistent with 19 CFR 351.224(d), Commerce will not consider incomplete allegations that do not address the significance standard under 19 CFR 351.224(g) following the preliminary determination. Instead, Commerce will address such allegations in the final determination together with issues raised in the case briefs or other written comments.

Because the mandatory respondent in this investigation did not act to the best of its ability to provide information requested by Commerce, and Commerce preliminarily determines the mandatory respondent has been uncooperative, we will not conduct verification.

Case briefs or other written comments may be submitted to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance no later than 14 days after the date of publication of the preliminary determination. Rebuttal briefs, limited to issues raised in the case briefs, may be filed not later than five days after the date for filing case briefs. 13 Interested parties who submit case briefs or rebuttal briefs in this proceeding must submit: (1) a table of contents listing each issue; and (2) a table of authorities. 14

As provided under 19 CFR 351.309(c)(2) and (d)(2), in prior proceedings we have encouraged interested parties to provide an executive summary of their brief that should be limited to five pages total, including footnotes. In this investigation, we instead request that interested parties provide at the beginning of their briefs a public, executive summary for each issue raised in their briefs. 15 Further, we request that interested parties limit their public executive summary of each issue to no more than 450 words, not including citations. We intend to use the public executive summaries as the basis of the comment summaries included in the issues and decision memorandum that will accompany the final determination. We request that interested parties include footnotes for relevant citations in the public executive summary of each issue. Note that Commerce has amended certain of its requirements pertaining to the service of documents in 19 CFR 351.303(f). 16

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), interested parties who wish to request a hearing must submit a written request to the Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, U.S. Department of Commerce, filed electronically via ACCESS. Requests should contain: (1) the party's name, address, and telephone number; (2) the number of participants and whether any participant is a foreign national; and (3) a list of the issues to be discussed. Issues raised in the hearing will be limited to those raised in the respective case briefs. An electronically filed hearing request must be received successfully in its entirety via ACCESS by 5 p.m. Eastern Time within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice.

Section 735(a)(1) of the Act and 19 CFR 351.210(b)(1) provide that Commerce will issue the final determination within 75 days after the date of its preliminary determination. Accordingly, Commerce will make its final determination no later than 75 days after the signature date of this preliminary determination.

In accordance with section 733(f) of the Act, Commerce will notify the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) of our affirmative preliminary determination. If our final determination is affirmative, the ITC will determine before the later of 120 days after the date of this preliminary determination or 45 days after our final determination whether these imports are materially injuring, or threaten material injury to, the U.S. industry.

This determination is issued and published in accordance with sections 733(f) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 CFR 351.205(c).

I. Abstract

This is a request to extend this currently approved information collection. This information is collected from all testing or calibration laboratories that apply for NVLAP accreditation. Applicants provide the minimum information necessary for NVLAP to evaluate the competency of laboratories to carry out specific tests or calibrations or types of tests or calibrations. The collection is mandated by 15 CFR part 285.

Each new or renewal applicant laboratory electronically submits its application for NVLAP accreditation through a self-service, web-based portal called the “NVLAP Interactive Web System” (NIWS). This method of collection also gives applicant laboratories the ability to upload document files needed to support the application process and to maintain their own profile information.

OMB Control Number: 0693-0003.

Form Number(s): None.

Type of Review: Regular submission, extension of a current information collection.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit organizations; not-for-profit institutions; and Federal, State or local government.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 630.

Estimated Time per Response: 3 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1,890 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0.

Respondent's Obligation: Required to obtain benefits.

We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

Exoskeletons—sometimes called wearable robots—are a very rapidly expanding domain with a range of applications and a broad diversity of designs. NIST's Engineering Laboratory will be developing methods to evaluate performance of exoskeletons in two key areas (1) The fit and motion of the exoskeleton device with respect to the users' body and (2) The impact that using an exoskeleton has on the performance of users executing tasks that are representative of activities in industrial settings and emergency response applications. The results of these experiments will inform future test method development at NIST, other organizations, and under the purview of the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM) Committee F48 on Exoskeletons and Exosuits.

For the first research topic, NIST will be measuring the difference in performance of a person wearing an exoskeleton versus the person's baseline without the exoskeleton while positioning loads and tools. The NIST Position and Load Test Apparatus for Exoskeletons (PoLoTAE), which presents abstractions of industrial task challenges, will be used in this research. NIST researchers will also develop standard test methods to represent real world applications for emergency responders such as mobility tasks, climbing over, around and thru obstacles.

For the second research topic, NIST will evaluate a method for measuring the alignment of an exoskeleton to human joint (knee) and any relative movement between the exoskeleton and user. Measurement methods prototyped by NIST for evaluating exoskeleton on mannequin position and motion will be applied to human subjects to verify the usefulness of optical tracking system and designed artifacts worn by users as measurement methods.

Participants will be chosen from volunteers within NIST and adult NIST visitors to participate in the study. Gender and size diversity will be sought in the population of participants. No personally identifiable information (PII) will be recorded unless subject consent for PII disclosure is received. NIST intends to publish information on the analysis and results.

Participants will give informed consent prior to participating in the research. Information may be collected via a paper background questionnaire which may include disclosure of health information which may be relevant for safety and research reasons. Data will be collected using a combination of heart rate monitor, video and still cameras to collect time and subject activity to correlate heart rate with activity and an optical tracking system which detects markers worn by the subject. Participants will be asked to complete a paper survey once data is collected for the research.

OMB Control Number: 0693-0083.

Form Number(s): None.

Type of Review: Regular submission, extension of a current information collection.

Affected Public: Individuals or households.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 240.

Estimated Time per Response: 10 minutes.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 40 hours.

Estimated Total Annual Cost to Public: $0.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

We are soliciting public comments to permit the Department/Bureau to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed information collection is necessary for the proper functions of the Department, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) Evaluate the accuracy of our estimate of the time and cost burden for this proposed collection, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (c) Evaluate ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) Minimize the reporting burden on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of public record. We will include or summarize each comment in our request to OMB to approve this ICR. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment—including your personal identifying information—may be made publicly available at any time. While you may ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

The MMPA prohibits the “take” of marine mammals, with certain exceptions. Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq. ) direct the Secretary of Commerce (as delegated to NMFS) to allow, upon request, the incidental, but not intentional, taking of small numbers of marine mammals by U.S. citizens who engage in a specified activity (other than commercial fishing) within a specified geographical region if certain findings are made and either regulations are proposed or, if the taking is limited to harassment, a notice of a proposed IHA is provided to the public for review.

Authorization for incidental takings shall be granted if NMFS finds that the taking will have a negligible impact on the species or stock(s) and will not have an unmitigable adverse impact on the availability of the species or stock(s) for taking for subsistence uses (where relevant). Further, NMFS must prescribe the permissible methods of taking and other “means of effecting the least practicable adverse impact” on the affected species or stocks and their habitat, paying particular attention to rookeries, mating grounds, and areas of similar significance, and on the availability of the species or stocks for taking for certain subsistence uses (referred to in shorthand as “mitigation”); and requirements pertaining to the monitoring and reporting of the takings. The definitions of all applicable MMPA statutory terms cited above are included in the relevant sections below.

On July 19, 2023, NMFS received a request from Furie for two consecutive IHAs to take marine mammals incidental to natural gas activities in Cook Inlet, Alaska. The application was deemed adequate and complete on April 5, 2024. Furie's request is for take of 12 species of marine mammals, by Level B harassment and, for harbor seals, Level A harassment. Neither Furie nor NMFS expect serious injury or mortality to result from this activity and, therefore, an IHA is appropriate.

From September 13, 2024, through September 12, 2025 (year 1), and from September 13, 2025 through September 12, 2026 (year 2), Furie is planning to conduct the following natural gas activities in Middle Cook Inlet, Alaska. In year 1, Furie proposes to relocate the Enterprise 151 jack-up production rig (Enterprise 151 or rig) to the Julius R. Platform (JRP) site, install up to two conductor piles using an impact hammer, and conduct production drilling of up to two natural gas wells at the JRP with the Enterprise 151 rig (or a similar rig) across 45-180 days. During year 2, Furie proposes to relocate the Enterprise 151 rig to the JRP site again, potentially install one to two conductor piles using an impact hammer (depending on whether either or both of these piles are installed or not during year 1), and conduct additional production drilling at the JRP. Furie proposes to conduct the rig towing and pile driving activities between April 1 and November 15 each year, but if favorable ice conditions occur outside of that period, it may tow the rig or pile drive outside of that period. Noise produced by rig towing and installation of the conductor piles may result in take, by Level B harassment, of marine mammals, and for harbor seals, also Level A harassment. Thus, references to tugging activities herein refer to activities where tugs are under load with the rig.

A detailed description of the planned tugging and pile driving project is provided in the Federal Register notice for the proposed IHA (89 FR 51102, June 14, 2024). Since that time, no changes have been made to the planned activities. Therefore, a detailed description is not provided here. Please refer to that Federal Register notice for the description of the specific activity.

A notice of NMFS' proposal to issue two consecutive IHAs to Furie was published in the Federal Register on June 14, 2024 (89 FR 51102). That notice described, in detail, Furie's activity, the marine mammal species that may be affected by the activity, and the anticipated effects on marine mammals. In that notice, we requested public input on the request for authorization described therein, our analyses, the proposed authorizations, and any other aspect of the notice of proposed IHAs, and requested that interested persons submit relevant information, suggestions, and comments.

During the 30-day public comment period, NMFS received comments from Furie, Friends of Animals (FoA), and a member of the public. Further, U.S. Geological Survey provided a recent paper that its researchers co-authored (Himes Boor et al. 2022) that found that Cook Inlet beluga whale population declines are likely due to both low survival rates and low birth rates. All relevant, substantive comments, and NMFS' responses, are provided below and are organized by topic. The comments and recommendations are available online at: https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/marine-mammal-protection/ incidental-take-authorizations-construction-activities. Please see the comment submissions for full details regarding the recommendations and supporting rationale.

Comment 1: Furie stated that the notice of the proposed IHA (89 FR 51102, June 14, 2024) characterizes its planned activities as “oil and gas activities.” Furie stated that it only produces natural gas in Cook Inlet and is not planning to drill for or produce oil. The wells planned during the activities target proven natural gas reserves and will not intersect oil-bearing formations. Furie recommended revising the proposed IHA (89 FR 51102, June 14, 2024) and the Federal Register notice to refer to the planned activities as “natural gas production activities.”

Response: NMFS concurs that it is more appropriate to refer to Furie's activities as natural gas activities rather than oil and gas, and has replaced “oil and gas activities” with “natural gas activities” throughout. Given the inclusion of tugging, NMFS did not include “production” in the overarching term.

Comment 2: Furie stated that the notice of the proposed IHA (89 FR 51102, June 14, 2024) includes language adapted from its application (finalized in October 2023), in which it stated that it was Furie's understanding that Hilcorp Alaska, LLC (Hilcorp) did not intend to operate Enterprise 151 at the Tyonek platform in 2024 and 2025. In subsequent discussions with Hilcorp regarding a potential hand-off of the rig, Furie realized that its understanding was incorrect. In meetings and emails with NMFS in February and March of 2024, Furie clarified that Hilcorp did intend to operate the jack-up rig at the Tyonek platform and provided additional information to amend its planned activities to include towing the rig from the Tyonek platform to Furie's JRP. Furie recommends removing statements characterizing Hilcorp's intent not to operate at the Tyonek Platform.

Response: NMFS' reference to Hilcorp not intending to conduct work with the Enterprise 151 at the Tyonek platform in 2024 or 2025 was in error. NMFS thanks Furie for further clarifying this matter. Of note, while the notice of proposed IHA mistakenly included this outdated statement, NMFS did consider the potential for Hilcorp to operate the Enterprise 151 at the Tyonek platform in its analysis, including as it relates to required mitigation, and the analysis included in the IHA remains appropriate and incorporates the farthest distance that Furie may tow the tug (originating from the Rig Tenders Dock).

Comment 3: Furie stated that the notice of the proposed IHA (89 FR 51102, June 14, 2024) describes Furie's planned activities as taking place in “. . . an otherwise nonindustrial setting for a period of several days.” Oil and gas platforms have operated in this area of Cook Inlet for 60 years with daily activity. Similarly, Furie will tow the jack-up rig in shipping lanes that are transited nearly every day, often several times per day, by commercial ships, offshore supply vessels, and tugs and barges. Thus Furie states it is incorrect to characterize the project area as a “non-industrial setting.”

Response: The full statement in the notice of the proposed IHA (89 FR 51102, June 14, 2024) that Furie is referencing states, “essentially, the project area will become a concentrated work area in an otherwise non-industrial setting for a period of several days.” NMFS recognizes that industrial activities, such as construction and operation of oil and gas platforms as well as vessel transit, as highlighted by Furie, occur in middle Cook Inlet and include overlap with the area that Furie will operate. NMFS did not intend for its statement to imply that no industrial activity occurs in the project area, but instead to highlight that the project will cause a concentrated increase in a specific area in comparison to the baseline in that same area, as this relative comparison can inform how marine mammals may or may not respond to an applicant's activities.

Comment 4: Furie stated that it plans to install the conductors inside the caisson monopod leg of the JRP platform. Therefore, no area of the seafloor will be impacted by pile driving and will not cause a decrease in water quality as NMFS stated in the notice of the proposed IHA (89 FR 51102, June 14, 2024). Furie recommended alternate language in its letter.

Response: NMFS concurs that the reference to decreased water quality and seafloor habitat impacts is in error given that the pile driving will occur within the caisson monopod leg of the JRP platform. The referenced language is not included in this notice of final IHA.

Comment 5: Furie stated in its letter that its application mistakenly proposed a proxy source level of 184 decibels (dB) sound exposure level (SEL) for installation of 20-in conductor piles in Sections 1.1.2.1, 6.2.3, and 6.3.3, while the user spreadsheet in Appendix A of its application used 181 dB SEL for the same activity. Furie intended to propose use of 181 dB SEL. In the proposed IHA (89 FR 51102, June 14, 2024), NMFS estimated the Level A harassment zones using 184 dB SEL. Furie stated that Navy (2015) lists the 184 dB SEL as applicable to 24-inch (in), 30-in, and 36-in piles collectively, but lists 181 dB SEL as specifically applicable to 24-in piles.

Given that the source level applies to piles ranging from 24-in to 36-in, Furie suggested that NMFS retain the Level A harassment zones presented in table 8 of the corrected notice (89 FR 53961; June 28, 2024) and the resulting estimate of take by Level A harassment as valid analyses for installation of conductor piles up to 36-in. That way, NMFS' analysis would encompass all conductor sizes available to Furie, should it choose to use larger conductors in our wells.

Furie noted that this would not affect the Level B harassment zones which are calculated using a different sound source level.

Response: NMFS concurs with Furie that it is appropriate to use 184 dB SEL as a proxy source level for calculating Level A harassment zones for installation of piles that range in size from 20 to 36 in diameters. NMFS has retained the analysis for installation of conductor piles (using sound source levels of 184 dB SEL and 193 dB sound pressure level root mean square (SPL rms ) at 10 m) as included in the notice of the proposed IHA (89 FR 51102, June 14, 2024) but recognizes that the conductor piles that Furie installs may have a diameter of up to 36 in rather than 20 in. NMFS further concurs that this does not affect the calculated Level B harassment zones, as those are calculated using 193 dB SPL rms at 10 m.

Comment 6: Furie stated that the notice of proposed IHA (89 FR 51102, June 14, 2024) states, “ Site-specific TL (transmission loss) data for pile driving at the JRP site are not available” but that this is not entirely accurate. Furie contracted with JASCO Applied Sciences during the 2015 installation of the JRP to conduct a sound source verification (SSV) to evaluate the impact installation of the 42-in pin piles that hold the JRP in place (cited as Austin et al. 2015 in Section 6.2.3 of Furie's application). The calculated transmission loss coefficient was 20.3 Because the hammer is rated at four times the energy of the one planned for use at the JRP and because it was for the installation of 42- in piles, Furie did not view it as a suitable proxy for the sound source levels (SSL) for the installation of the conductor pipes inside the monopod leg of the platform. Furie stated that it acknowledges that many factors affect transmission loss, including the frequencies of the predominant sound energy emanating from the piles as they are impacted, which may vary with pile size and impact energy. However, the other factors affecting transmission loss, such as bathymetry, depth, salinity, and temperature, are “site-specific” and are relevant to Furie's planned installation of conductors. Furie states that the use of a 15 dB per decade transmission loss likely overestimates the Level A harassment and Level B harassment isopleths and the degree of incidental take.