DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
Foreign-Trade Zones Board
[Docket No. 15-88]
53 FR 8681
March 16, 1988
Foreign-Trade Zone 122, Nueces/San Patricio Counties, TX (Corpus Christi
Port of Entry); Application for Subzone, Reynolds Metals Alumina Plant, San
Patricio & Aransas Counties
TEXT: An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board
(the Board) by the Port of Corpus Christi Authority, grantee of FTZ 122,
requesting special-purpose subzone status for the alumina (aluminum oxide)
plant of Reynolds Metals Company in San Patricio and Aransas Counties,
Texas, adjacent to the Corpus Christi 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 March 4, 1988.
The Reynolds plant is situated on two parcels (1977 acres). The first
site is on State Highway 35 at Route 351 in San Patricio County, some 10
miles northeast of Corpus Christi. The second parcel is on FM Route 881 at
Route 136 in San Patricio and Aransas Counties, some 16 miles northeast of
Corpus Christi. The facility employs 750 persons and is used to refine
bauxite to produce alumina. The bauxite is sourced abroad, and is dutiable
at $.044 per ton. Some two-thirds of the alumina is exported.
Zone procedures would exempt Reynolds from Customs duty payments on the
material used in its exports, and allow it to defer duties on imports. The
company would also be exempt from state and local ad valorem taxes on
foreign-sourced bauxite or alumina produced from foreign-sourced bauxite.
The applicant indicates that the savings will help improve the company's
international competitiveness.
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: Dennis Puccinelli, (Chairman), Foreign-Trade Zones
Staff, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington DC 20230; Don Gough, Deputy
Assistant Regional Commissioner, U.S. Customs Service, Southwest Region,
5850 San Felipe St., Houston, TX 77057; and, Colonel John A. Tudela,
District Engineer, U.S. Army Engineer District Galveston, P.O. Box 1229,
Galveston, TX 77553.
Comments concerning the proposed subzone are invited in writing from
interested parties. They should be addressed to the Board's Executive
Secretary at the address below and postmarked on or before April 25, 1988.
A copy of the application is available for public inspection at each of
the following locations:
Port Director's Office,
U.S. Customs Service,
Government Plaza,
400 Mann St., Suite 305,
Corpus Christi, TX 78401;
Office of the Executive Secretary,
Foreign-Trade Zones Board,
U.S. Department of Commerce, Room 1529,
14th & Pennsylvania, NW.,
Washington, DC 20230.
Dated: March 10, 1988.
John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,
Executive Secretary.
[FR Doc. 88-5735 Filed 3-15-88; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M