E9-3893. Inland Waterways Users Board; Request for Nominations

AGENCY:

Department of the Army, DOD.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

Section 302 of Public Law 99-662 established the Inland Waterways Users Board. The Board is an independent Federal advisory committee. The Secretary of the Army appoints its 11 members. This notice is to solicit nominations for five (5) appointments or reappointments to two-year terms that will begin after August 15, 2009.

ADDRESSES:

Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Civil Works Directorate, Attention: Inland Waterways Users Board Nominations Committee, Mr. Mark Pointon, 441 G Street NW., Washington, DC 20314-1000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Civil Works Directorate, [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The selection, service, and appointment of Board members are covered by provisions of Section 302 of Public Law 99-662. The substance of those provisions is as follows:

a. Selection. Members are to be selected from the spectrum of commercial carriers and shippers using the inland and intracoastal waterways, to represent geographical regions, and to be representative of waterborne commerce as determined by commodity ton-miles statistics.

b. Service. The Board is required to meet at least semi-annually to develop and make recommendations to the Secretary of the Army on waterways construction and rehabilitation priorities and spending levels for commercial navigation improvements, and report its recommendations annually to the Secretary and Congress.

c. Appointment. The operation of the Board and appointment of its members are subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, as amended) and departmental implementing regulations. Members serve without compensation but their expenses due to Board activities are reimbursable. The considerations specified in Section 302 for the selection of the Board members, and certain terms used therein, have been interpreted, supplemented, or otherwise clarified as follows:

(1) Carriers and Shippers. The law uses the terms “primary users and shippers.” Primary users have been interpreted to mean the providers of transportation services on inland waterways such as barge or towboat operators. Shippers have been interpreted to mean the purchasers of such services for the movement of commodities they own or control. Individuals are appointed to the Board, but they must be either a carrier or shipper, or represent a firm that is a carrier or shipper. For that purpose a trade or regional association is neither a shipper nor primary user.

(2) Geographical Representation. The law specifies “various” regions. For the purpose of selecting Board members, the waterways subjected to fuel taxes and described in Public Law 95-502, as amended, have been aggregated into six regions. They are (1) the Upper Mississippi River and its tributaries above the mouth of the Ohio; (2) the Lower Mississippi River and its tributaries below the mouth of the Ohio and above Baton Rouge; (3) the Ohio River and its tributaries; (4) the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway in Louisiana and Texas; (5) the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway east of New Orleans and associated fuel-taxed waterways including the Tennessee-Tombigbee, plus the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway below Norfolk; and (6) the Columbia-Snake Rivers System and Upper Willamette. The intent is that each region shall be represented by at least one Board member, with that representation determined by the regional concentration of the individual's traffic on the waterways.

(3) Commodity Representation. Waterway commerce has been aggregated into six commodity categories based on “inland” ton-miles shown in Waterborne Commerce of the United States. These categories are (1) Farm and Food Products; (2) Coal and Coke; (3) Petroleum, Crude and Products; (4) Minerals, Ores, and Primary Metals and Mineral Products; (5) Chemicals and Allied Products; and (6) All Other. A consideration in the selection of Board members will be that the commodities carried or shipped by those individuals or their firms will be reasonably representative of the above commodity categories.

d. Nomination. Reflecting preceding selection criteria, the current representation by the five (5) Board members whose terms will expire is one member each representing regions 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Also, three of these Board members represent carriers, one represents a shipper and one represents a carrier/shipper.

Three of the five members whose terms will expire are eligible for reappointment. Nominations to replace Board members whose terms expire may be made by individuals, firms or associations. Nominations will:

(1) State the region(s) to be represented.

(2) State whether the nominee is representing carriers, shippers or both.

(3) Provide information on the nominee's personal qualifications, such as a bio or a resume.

(4) Include the commercial operations of the carrier and/or shipper with whom the nominee is affiliated. This commercial operations information will show the actual or estimated ton-miles of each commodity carried or shipped on the inland waterways system in a recent year (or years) using the waterway regions and commodity categories previously listed.

Nominations received in response to Federal Register notices published on February 17, 2006 (71 FR 8568), on July 7, 2006 (71 FR 38629), on February 16, 2007 (72 FR 7620) and the notice published on July 11, 2008 (73 FR 39952) have been retained for consideration. Renomination is not required but highly encouraged to indicate continued interest and provide updated information.

e. Deadline for Nominations. All nominations must be received at the address shown above no later than March 31, 2009.

Brenda S. Bowen,

Army Federal Register Liaison Officer.