Inland Waterways Users Board

The selection, service, and appointment of Board members are covered by provisions of Section 302 of PL 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 has been interpreted to mean the providers of transportation services on inland waterways such as barge or towboat operators. Shippers has 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 or 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 Pub. L. 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 four (4) Board members whose terms expire December 31, 1999, is one member representing region 1, two members representing region 2, and one member representing region 3. Also, these Board members represent two shippers and two carriers. Two (2) of the four members whose terms expire December 31, 1999, are eligible for reappointment. Nominations to replace Board members whose terms expire December 31, 1999, may be made by individuals, firms or associations. Nominations will: (1) state the region to be represented; (2) state whether the nominee is representing carriers, shippers or both; (3) provide information on the nominee's personal qualifications; (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 last year's Federal Register notice, published on July 16, 1998, have been retained for consideration. Renomination is not required but may be desirable.

e. Deadline for Nominations

All nominations must be received at the address shown above no later than August 31, 1998. Gregory D. Showalter, Army Federal Register Liaison Officer. [FR Doc. 99-19456 Filed 7-28-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 3710-08-M