Foreign-Trade Zone 29Louisville, Kentucky Application for Expansion and Request for Manufacturing Authority (Military Ordnance)

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 71-96]

Foreign-Trade Zone 29--Louisville, Kentucky Application for

Expansion and Request for Manufacturing Authority (Military Ordnance)

An application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones (FTZ)

Board (the Board) by the Louisville and Jefferson County Riverport

Authority, grantee of Foreign-Trade Zone 29, requesting authority to

expand FTZ 29, Louisville, Kentucky, to include three additional sites,

including a Naval Ordnance facility which is used for military weapons

repair and maintenance activity. 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 September 26, 1996.

FTZ 29 was approved on May 26, 1977 (Board Order 118, 42 FR 29323,

6/8/77), and expanded on January 31, 1989 (Board Order 429, 54 FR 5992,

2/7/89). The zone project currently consists of the following two sites

in the Louisville, Kentucky area: Site 1 (1,319 acres)--located within

the Riverport Industrial Complex; and Site 2 (675 acres)--located at

the junction of Gene Snyder Freeway and La Grange Road in eastern

Jefferson County.

The applicant is now requesting authority to expand the general-

purpose zone. The three additional sites requested are: Proposed Site 3

(142 acres, 1,629,000 sq. ft.)--the United States Navy Ordnance

Facility (currently in the process of being privatized), located at

5403 Southside Drive, Louisville; Proposed Site 4 (2,311 acres,

6,184,406 sq. ft.)--consisting of the Louisville International Airport

and three other airport-related parcels (Parcel A (1,626 acres)--the

Louisville International Airport, including the Airport's industrial

park area; Parcel B (94 acres)--the Dixie Warehouse & Cartage Co.

public warehousing facility located at Grade Lane, Louisville; Parcel C

(475 acres)--the UPS Airport Tank Farm and maintenance facilities

located at the Louisville International Airport; and, Parcel D (116

acres)--the UPS Outer Loop warehousing facility located at Stennett

Lane, Louisville); and, Proposed Site 5 (70 acres)--the Ashland Inc.

Tank Farm (1.3 million barrels) and pipelines, located at 4510

Algonquin Parkway along the Ohio River, Louisville, which supplies part

of the airport's fuel system.

Ownership of the Naval Ordnance Facility (Site 3) is currently

being transferred to the Louisville/Jefferson County Redevelopment

Authority for use by private firms that are authorized by the

Department of Defense (DOD) to conduct weapons repair activity for the

U.S. military, as well as for foreign governments. The facility would

also be available for authorized non-military commercial activity.

Authorization is being requested for activity at Site 3, which will

involve the repair, overhaul and refurbishing of military weapons

systems under FTZ procedures. The weapons include cannons, gun systems

(20mm to 5 inches), missiles, missile hardware, missile and torpedo

launchers, radar, navigational equipment and sights. The components and

materials sourced from abroad include cannons, launchers, guided

missile parts, telescopic sights, mechanical devices, fabricated

structures, air or vacuum pumps, air conditioning machines, electric

motor generators, computer automated data processing machines, gaskets,

magnets, and batteries, transformers, electrical apparatus for line

telephony, headphones and parts, recording media transmission

apparatus, radar apparatus, indicator panels, capacitors, resistors,

printed circuits, displays cathode ray tubes, meters diodes and

transistors, insulators and fittings, optical fibers, lenses and

mirrors lenses for projection, test instruments, oscilloscopes,

analyzers, and measuring/checking instruments. FTZ procedures would

provide duty-free treatment for export shipments, and for shipments to

the U.S. military. While operated as a Naval facility, activity was

conducted under special Customs procedures applicable to DOD. FTZ

status will allow the activity to continue on a similar Customs basis

after conversion takes place.

FTZ procedures will exempt the foreign components used in

production for export from Customs duties. With respect to domestic

sales, most shipments would qualify for duty-free treatment under DOD's

military certificate program rather than being subject to the duty rate

that would otherwise apply to the foreign components (duty-free to

15%). The application indicates that the savings from zone procedures

would help improve the facility's international competitiveness.

In accordance with the Board's regulations, a member of the FTZ

staff has been designated examiner to investigate the application and

report to the Board.

Public comment on the application is invited from interested

parties. Submissions (original and 3 copies) shall be addressed to the

Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing period

for their receipt is December 9, 1996. Rebuttal comments in response to

material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted during

the subsequent 15-day period (to December 23, 1996).

A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be

available during this time for public inspection at each of the

following locations:

U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Assistance Center, 601 W. Broadway,

Room 634B, Louisville, Kentucky 40202

Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zone Board, Room 3716,

U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.,

Washington, DC 20230.

Dated: October 3, 1996.

John J. Da Ponte, Jr.,

Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 96-25956 Filed 10-8-96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P