97-6496. Notice of Price Regulation Procedure: Request for Additional Comments

[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 50 (Friday, March 14, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12252-12253]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-6496]


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NORTHEAST DAIRY COMPACT COMMISSION


Notice of Price Regulation Procedure: Request for Additional 
Comments

AGENCY: Northeast Dairy Compact Commission.

SUMMARY: The Commission has previously sought comment, and held a 
hearing, on a variety of issues relating to the possible establishment 
of a compact over-order price regulation. See 61 FR 65604 dated 
December 13, 1996. In this notice, the Commission is providing an 
additional opportunity for public comment on issues identified in the 
earlier notice and in the December hearings, and on related subjects.
    1. The Commission seeks comment on historical trends or patterns as 
well as statistical methods or data that relate to the issues 
identified in the earlier notice.
    2. The Commission also seeks comment on the prevailing farm, 
wholesale and retail costs and/or prices, for bulk and/or packaged 
milk, both inside and outside the New England region; the impact, if 
any, on the various production and processing costs discussed in the 
earlier notice attributable to the distance that bulk and packaged 
product must travel to and from a processing facility; and the 
elasticity of demand for Class I fluid milk products.
    3. The Commission seeks comment on the impact, if any on the retail 
price of milk in the New England region caused by movement of the 
epicenter of the milk supply away from the region's processing 
facilities, and the identification of statistical data and 
methodologies for measuring that impact.
    4. The Commission seeks comment on the impact, if any, of a flat, 
regulated, minimum Class I price (a price that combines the federal 
Market Order and Compact over-order prices) on wholesale costs, 
prevailing market

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premium surcharges, state over-order pricing programs, Class I prices 
in the areas of New England not regulated under Federal Market Order 
1 and any other potential impacts on the wholesale market for 
milk. The Commission also seeks comment on the level of premium 
surcharges that have been present in the New England market over time, 
the movement of bulk milk from New England to other regions of the 
country and the means for tracking the movement of packaged milk into 
New England from other regions.
    5. The Commission seeks comment of the impact, if any, of such a 
flat Class I price on retail costs and prices, the fluid milk costs and 
price disbursements of the Women, Infants and Children Special 
Supplemental Nutrition Program of the United States Child Nutrition Act 
of 1966, and/or the fluid milk procurement process of school lunch 
programs. The Commission also seeks comment on the means to assess 
these impacts.
    6. The Commission seeks comment on the most appropriate means to 
account for its responsibility to reimburse the Commodity Credit 
Corporation (CCC) for CCC purchases attributable to an increase in milk 
production in the New England region above the national average rate of 
increase.
    7. The Commission also seeks comment on the appropriate, necessary 
and feasible, action to take, as required by the Compact, to ensure 
that Compact over-order price regulation does not result in additional 
supplies of milk.
    8. The Commission is considering a possible Compact over-order 
price regulation that will be based, at least in part, on an adjustment 
for inflation to the Class I, fluid milk price, over time. The 
Commission seeks comment on the advisability of such an approach, as 
well as possible methodologies for determining the impact that such an 
adjustment would have on the Class I, fluid milk price, over time.
    9. The Commission also seeks comment on any other issue of concern 
relating to establishment of a Compact over-order price regulation.

DATES: Comments and any exhibits, accompanied by affidavit, must be 
received by March 31, 1997.
    Additional, reply comments, accompanied by affidavit, must be 
received by April 9, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments and exhibits should be submitted to: Northeast 
Dairy Compact Commission, 43 State Street, PO Box 1058, Montpelier, VT 
05601-1058, [phone] (phone), [phone] (fax).

    Authority: This notice is issued under the following authority:
    (a) Article V, Section 11 of the Northeast Interstate Dairy 
Compact, and all other applicable Articles and Sections, as approved 
by Section 147 of the Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform 
Act (FAIR ACT), P.L. 104-127, and as thereby set forth in S.J. Res. 
28(1)(b) of the 104th Congress; Finding of Compelling Public 
Interest by United States Department of Agriculture Secretary Dan 
Glickman, August 9, 1996.
    (b) Bylaws of the Northeast Dairy Compact Commission, adopted 
November 21, 1996.
    (c) Resolution adopted by Northeast Dairy Compact Commission, 
November 21, 1996.
    (d) Resolution adopted by Northeast Dairy Compact Commission, 
March 7, 1997.
Daniel Smith,
Executive Director.
[FR Doc. 97-6496 Filed 3-13-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1650-01-M