Foreign-Trade Zone 138Columbus, Ohio, Area; Application for Expansion

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 55-98]

Foreign-Trade Zone 138--Columbus, Ohio, Area; Application for

Expansion

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

Board (the Board), by the Rickenbacker Port Authority (RPA), grantee of

Foreign-Trade Zone 138, requesting authority to expand its zone to

include additional sites in Columbus and Lima, Ohio, adjacent to the

Columbus 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 December 4, 1998.

FTZ 138 was approved on March 13, 1987 (Board Order 351, 52 FR

9319, 3/24/87) and expanded on February 23, 1994 (Board Order 685, 59

FR 10783, 3/8/94). The general-purpose zone consists of a site (1,926

acres--3 parcels) at the Rickenbacker International Airport in Franklin

County.

The applicant is now requesting authority to expand the general-

purpose zone to increase the approved area at its existing site and to

include a new site in Lima, Ohio: Site 1--include an additional parcel

(2,787 acres) at the Rickenbacker International Airport, Franklin

County; and, Proposed Site 2 (136 acres, 3 adjacent parcels)--

industrial park project, McClain Road, Lima (Allen County). The

proposed expansion area at Rickenbacker Airport is part of a former

U.S. Air Force Base which is owned by the U.S. Air Force but is under

the control of RPA. The land will eventually be transferred to RPA. The

Lima site is owned by the Allen County Port Authority and will be

developed as an industrial park. No specific manufacturing requests are

being made at this time. Such requests would be made to the Board on a

case-by-case basis.

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 February 16, 1999. Rebuttal comments in response

to material submitted during the foregoing period may be submitted

during the subsequent 15-day period (to March 1, 1999).

A copy of the application and accompanying exhibits will be

available for public inspection at each of the following locations:

U.S. Department of Commerce, Export Assistance Center, International

Trade Administration, US&FCS, 37 North High Street, 4th Floor,

Columbus, Ohio 43215

Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-Trade Zones Board, Room

3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th & Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,

Washington, DC 20230.

Dated: December 7, 1998.

Dennis Puccinelli,

Acting Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98-33328 Filed 12-15-98; 8:45 am]

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