DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 5-84]
49 FR 7422
February 29, 1984
Foreign-Trade Zone 78, Nashville, Tennessee; Proposed Foreign-Trade Subzones
at TVA Facilities in the Hartsville and Phipps Bend, Tennessee, Areas
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Port Authority,
Grantee of FTZ 78, on behalf of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
requesting authority to establish special-purpose foreign-trade subzones
at the TVA Hartsville Nuclear Plant Site, near Hartsville, Tennessee on
State Highway 25, in Trousdale and Smith Counties, adjacent to the
Nashville Customs port of entry, and at the TVA Phipps Bend Nuclear Plant
Site, U.S. Route 11, near Surgoinsville, Tennessee, in Hawkins County, some
85 miles northeast of the Knoxville Customs port of entry. The application
was submitted pursuant to the provisions of the Foreign-Trade Zones Act,
as amended (19 U.S.C. 81a-81u), and the regulations of the Board (15 CFR
Part 400). It was formally filed on February 23, 1984. The applicant is
authorized to make this proposal under Section 7-5-107, Tennessee Code
Annotated, as amended by Public Chapter 295, Public Acts of 1981.
Subzone status is being requested for storage facilities at the two
plant sites in which certain imported turbine generator parts for three
nuclear plants are stored. Some $12.8 million in Customs duties was paid
on parts imported up to May 1980. From then on, items subject to some $9
million in Customs duties was stored in bonded warehouses. The purpose of
subzone status is to extend the duty-free storage on items subject to $9
million in duties and to assist TVA in obtaining drawback payments on
items which are still eligible for drawback of up to some $700,000 in
duties paid. The costs involved, if not avoided, would be passed on to
TVA ratepayers.
The TVA power system is totally self-financed through electric rates
and the sale of revenue bonds. The system is the nation's largest, serving
some 7 million persons and businesses through local distributors. TVA is
required by law to sell power at rates as low as feasible.
The situation that led to this proposal arose because of the
cancellation of the Phipps Bend Nuclear Plant Project and an indefinite
deferral of the Hartsville project. Other remedies have been considered
in consultation with Customs officials, but it appears that none are
available except foreign-trade zone procedures.
In accordance with the Board's regulations, an examiners committee has
been appointed to investigate the application and report to the Board. The
committee consists of: John J. Da Ponte, Jr. (Chairman), Director,
Foreign-Trade Zones Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C.
20230; Douglas D. Angle, Acting District Director, U.S. Customs Service,
South Central Region, 423 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130; and Colonel
William T. Kirkpatrick, District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District
Nashville, P.O. Box 1070, Nashville, TN 37202.
Comments concerning the proposed subzones are invited in writing from
interested persons and organizations. They should be addressed to the
Board's Executive Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or
before March 21, 1984.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each
of the following locations:
Metropolitan Nashville-Davidson County Port Authority Offices,
Room 926, Stahlman Building,
Nashville, TN 37201.
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1872,
14th and Pennsylvania, NW.,
Washington, D.C. 20230.
Dated: February 24, 1984.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 84-5473 Filed 2-28-84; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M