Federal Independent Agencies
News releases, reports, statements and associated documents from federal independent agencies.
Featured Stories
USAID Global Water Coordinator Jennifer Mack to Travel to Senegal
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 -- The U.S. Agency for International Development issued the following news release:
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Water Coordinator and Deputy Assistant Administrator for Food Security Jennifer Mack will travel to the Republic of Senegal from December 9-13, 2019.
During her visit, Ms. Mack will meet with the Senegalese Ministry of Water and Sanitation and spotlight Senegal as a high-priority country for USAID's investments under the Water for the World Act of 2014.
Her visit will highlight the country's growing commitment to meeting its goals for
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 -- The U.S. Agency for International Development issued the following news release:
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Global Water Coordinator and Deputy Assistant Administrator for Food Security Jennifer Mack will travel to the Republic of Senegal from December 9-13, 2019.
During her visit, Ms. Mack will meet with the Senegalese Ministry of Water and Sanitation and spotlight Senegal as a high-priority country for USAID's investments under the Water for the World Act of 2014.
Her visit will highlight the country's growing commitment to meeting its goals forimproving water and sanitation. She will also meet with private-sector partners, including operators of water systems and providers of sanitation services, who are critical to Senegal's Journey to Self-Reliance.
Ms. Mack serves as the Global Water Coordinator for USAID and oversees the implementation of the Agency's responsibilities under the U.S. Global Water Strategy.
TVA Seeks Public Comment on New Site for Fill Material at Kingston
KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, Dec. 6 -- The Tennessee Valley Authority issued the following news release:
The Tennessee Valley Authority is asking for input from the public on plans for a new site for soil and other fill material at Kingston Fossil Plant.
Details on the proposal to construct another "borrow" site on roughly 65-acres of TVA property at Kingston can be found in a draft Environmental Assessment posted at http://www.tva.com/nepa. The draft EA considers the potential environmental impacts of creating the site.
Demand for soil and other material to support current and future projects is expected
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KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, Dec. 6 -- The Tennessee Valley Authority issued the following news release:
The Tennessee Valley Authority is asking for input from the public on plans for a new site for soil and other fill material at Kingston Fossil Plant.
Details on the proposal to construct another "borrow" site on roughly 65-acres of TVA property at Kingston can be found in a draft Environmental Assessment posted at http://www.tva.com/nepa. The draft EA considers the potential environmental impacts of creating the site.
Demand for soil and other material to support current and future projects is expectedto be greater than existing supply in the two current borrow areas at Kingston. Additional fill material will be needed for the second phase of a dry storage landfill for coal ash and other coal combustion residuals at Kingston, as well as other future projects at the site. Ongoing projects such as construction of a waste water treatment plant are expected to exhaust the current borrow sites by summer of 2020.
TVA is asking for public input on the draft EA through Dec. 21, 2019. Comments can be submitted online at http://www.tva.com/nepa, by email to nepa@tva.gov, and by mail in writing to Ashley Pilakowski, NEPA Specialist, Tennessee Valley Authority, 400 West Summit Hill Drive, WT 11B, Knoxville, TN 37902. All comments received will become public record, including names and addresses, and will be considered in the development of the final EA next year.
For more information about TVA and its 86-year mission of service to the Tennessee Valley, click here. (https://www.tva.com/About-TVA)
National Gallery of Art: Exhibition of Early European Open-Air Painting Reveals New Scholarship and Recently Discovered Works
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release:
An integral part of art education in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, painting en plein air (in the open air) was a core practice for artists in Europe. Intrepid painters--developing their abilities to quickly capturing effects of light and atmosphere--made sometimes arduous journeys to study landscapes at breathtaking sites, ranging from the Baltic coast and Swiss Alps to the streets of Paris and ruins of Rome. True to Nature: Open-Air Painting in Europe, 1780-1870 presents some 100 oil sketches made outdoors
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 -- The National Gallery of Art issued the following news release:
An integral part of art education in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, painting en plein air (in the open air) was a core practice for artists in Europe. Intrepid painters--developing their abilities to quickly capturing effects of light and atmosphere--made sometimes arduous journeys to study landscapes at breathtaking sites, ranging from the Baltic coast and Swiss Alps to the streets of Paris and ruins of Rome. True to Nature: Open-Air Painting in Europe, 1780-1870 presents some 100 oil sketches made outdoorsacross Europe by artists such as Carl Blechen, Jules Coignet, Andre Giroux, Anton Sminck Pitloo, Carl Frederik Sorensen, and Joseph Mallord William Turner. On view in the West Building of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, from February 2 through May 3, 2020, the exhibition presents dozens of recently discovered studies and explores issues of attribution, chronology, and technique.
"The Gallery is fortunate to have one of the finest public collections of landscape sketches by 18th- and 19th-century European painters, largely due to acquisitions made by the late Philip Conisbee during his time as the Gallery's senior curator of European paintings from 1993 to 2008," said Kaywin Feldman, director, National Gallery of Art, Washington. "True to Nature builds on recent scholarship as well as the discovery of paintings that have come to light since the 1996 exhibition organized by Conisbee, In the Light of Italy: Corot and Early Open-Air Painting. That exhibition sparked curatorial and collector interest in this genre, and True to Nature continues to expand our understanding of this relatively unstudied, yet central, aspect of European art history. The Gallery is grateful to work with the Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, and the Fitzwilliam Museum to bring together highlights from the best collections of European landscape sketches from this period."
Exhibition Organization and Curators
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, the Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, Paris, and the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
The exhibition is curated by Mary Morton, curator and head of the department of French paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington; Ger Luijten, director, Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, Paris; and Jane Munro, keeper of paintings, drawings and prints, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Exhibition Tour
National Gallery of Art, Washington, February 2-May 3, 2020
Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt,Paris, June 14-September 13, 2020
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, October 6, 2020-January 31, 2021
Exhibition Highlights
True to Nature begins as European artists would have in the late 18th and early 19th century--in Rome. The study of ancient sculpture and architecture, as well as of Renaissance and baroque art, was already a key part of an artist's education, but Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes's influential treatise on landscape painting, published in 1800, went further to recommended that young artists develop their skills by painting oil sketches out of doors. Valenciennes advised exploring the Roman countryside, as he had in Study of Clouds over the Roman Campagna (c. 1782/1785). This section includes examples by a range of European artists who followed his advice, such as Michel Dumas, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, and Johan Thomas Lundbye. Also included is The Island and Bridge of San Bartolomeo, Rome (1825/1828) by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot. Corot was a key figure in 19th-century landscape painting, bringing the practice of open-air painting back to France and inspiring a younger generation of impressionist painters.
Other sections focus on both natural and man-made features that proved challenging to painters, such as waterfalls, trees, skies, coastlines, and rooftops. Examples include rare studies by well-known artists such as John Constable's Sky Study with a Shaft of Sunlight (c. 1822, Fitzwilliam Museum), Jean Honore Fragonard's Mountain Landscape at Sunset (c. 1765), and Odilon Redon's Village on the Coast of Brittany (1840-1916, Fondation Custodia) as well as sketches by lesser-known painters like Louise-Josephine Sarazin del Belmont, one of the few known women artists active during this period. True to Nature illustrates how pervasive plein-air painting became across Europe with examples by many Belgian, Danish, Dutch, German, Swiss, and Swedish artists who studied in Italy before returning home to paint their native surroundings. Sketches by Carl Blechen include an example from his time in Italy, View of the Colosseum in Rome (1829, Fondation Custodia), as well as a study made at home in Germany, View of the Baltic Coast (1798-1840), Fondation Custodia).
Exhibition Catalog
Published by the Fondation Custodia, Collection Frits Lugt, a comprehensive catalog with essays by leading experts in the field will present new information about this key aspect of European art history. Authors include the curatorial team and Michael Clarke, former director of the Scottish National Gallery and deputy director of the National Galleries of Scotland; Anna Ottani Cavina, director of the Fondazione Federico Zeri, Bologna, and professor of art history of the department of visual arts, University of Bologna; and Ann Hoenigswald, former senior conservator of paintings, National Gallery of Art, Washington. With some 140 color illustrations and 250 pages, the catalog will be available in the Gallery shops, at shop.nga.gov, or by calling (800) 697-9350 or (202) 842-6002; faxing (202) 789-3047; or emailing mailorder@nga.gov.
Related Programs
Lecture
Introduction to the Exhibition--True to Nature: Open-Air Painting in Europe, 1780-1870
February 2, 2:00 p.m.
West Building Lecture Hall
Mary Morton, curator and head of the department of French paintings, National Gallery of Art
A signing of the exhibition catalog follows.
Concert
Liquid Music @NGA
yMusic
April 19, 3:30 p.m.
West Building, West Garden Court
yMusic, composed of "six contemporary classical polymaths who playfully overstep the boundaries of musical genres" (New Yorker), performs in concert halls, arenas, and clubs around the world. Founded in New York City in 2008, yMusic believes in presenting excellent, emotionally communicative music, regardless of style or idiom. Liquid Music, led by its founder and curator-producer Kate Nordstrum, develops innovative new projects with iconoclastic artists in unique presentation formats. Collaborations are a central focus of the series, along with risk-taking. This concert features a playlist of works by contemporary composers inspired by nature, and the music enhances the paintings on view in True to Nature.
Isabella Bulkeley, 202/842-6864, i-bulkeley@nga.gov
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Announces New Banking Leader
ST. LOUIS, Missouri, Dec. 6 -- The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis issued the following news release:
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has named Carl White to succeed Julie Stackhouse as the Bank's top managing officer for Banking Supervision, Credit, Community Development and Learning Innovation, upon Stackhouse's planned retirement in early March. She will retire from a career with the Federal Reserve that spanned three Reserve banks, multiple leadership responsibilities at the regional and national level, and more than 34 years of service, 17 of which have been at the St. Louis Fed.
In
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ST. LOUIS, Missouri, Dec. 6 -- The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis issued the following news release:
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has named Carl White to succeed Julie Stackhouse as the Bank's top managing officer for Banking Supervision, Credit, Community Development and Learning Innovation, upon Stackhouse's planned retirement in early March. She will retire from a career with the Federal Reserve that spanned three Reserve banks, multiple leadership responsibilities at the regional and national level, and more than 34 years of service, 17 of which have been at the St. Louis Fed.
Inhis new role as senior vice president, White will oversee the Bank's responsibilities across its seven-state Federal Reserve district for examining and inspecting state-chartered banks that are members of the Federal Reserve System, bank holding companies, savings and loan holding companies, and financial holding companies. The district includes Arkansas and portions of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
White has 32 years of experience in bank supervision at the St. Louis Fed. He began his career as a field examiner, and most recently he has been serving as vice president overseeing Applications, Credit Discount/Payment Risk Management, Statistics and Structure, Community Banking Research and Outreach, and other functions.
He holds a bachelor's degree in finance from Saint Louis University.
Farmer Mac Names Aparna Ramesh as EVP - Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 -- Farmer Mac issued the following news release:
The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac; NYSE: AGM and AGM.A), the nation's secondary market provider that increases the availability and affordability of credit for the benefit of rural America, announced today the selection of Aparna Ramesh as its Executive Vice President - Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, starting January 6, 2020.
Ms. Ramesh joins Farmer Mac with over two decades of financial experience, most recently with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, where she served in increasingly complex
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 -- Farmer Mac issued the following news release:
The Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac; NYSE: AGM and AGM.A), the nation's secondary market provider that increases the availability and affordability of credit for the benefit of rural America, announced today the selection of Aparna Ramesh as its Executive Vice President - Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, starting January 6, 2020.
Ms. Ramesh joins Farmer Mac with over two decades of financial experience, most recently with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, where she served in increasingly complexand senior finance roles culminating in her appointment as Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer. In that position, Ms. Ramesh has led efforts to make the finance function more proactive and strategic, with a focus on incorporating new technologies and data analytics. She has recently served as the Chief Administrative Officer and member of the management committee for the upcoming FedNow (SM) real-time payment and settlement service. In previous leadership roles at the Boston Fed, Ms. Ramesh drove transformative finance initiatives for the entire Federal Reserve System. In 2017, she was one of only 22 executives globally to be selected for the distinguished Aspen Institute Finance Leaders Fellowship for enlightened leadership in finance and society-at-large. Through her fellowship with the Aspen Institute, she has championed initiatives within the Boston Fed to advance thought leadership related to financial technology and financial inclusion. Prior to joining the Boston Fed, Ms. Ramesh spent ten years in commercial banking at M&T Bank and Cambridge Savings Bank in roles spanning product management, asset-liability management, and profitability.
Farmer Mac's President and Chief Executive Officer, Brad Nordholm, said Ms. Ramesh was a natural choice for the position. "We identified Aparna after an extensive nationwide search led by our Board search committee, and she immediately stood out from the other candidates. Aparna has displayed initiative and adaptability time and again in her career, and has combined that with great talent to achieve significant successes for all the organizations she has helped lead. On top of that, Aparna brings an additional dimension of leadership to Farmer Mac beyond just her financial acumen, as her impressive career path has gravitated to mission-driven organizations. We are excited for her to join our efforts to grow our business in a safe and sound manner as we further our vitally-important mission."
Ms. Ramesh stated, "I have long believed that finance can and should be a force for good in the world. I admire Farmer Mac for the company's steadfast devotion to its mission to help build a strong and vital rural America by increasing the availability and affordability of credit for the benefit of American agriculture and rural communities. Farmer Mac is a great fit for my values, skillsets and leadership style, and I'm excited to work with Brad and everyone on the team in helping to deliver the capital and commitment that rural America deserves."
Ms. Ramesh holds three master's degrees, primarily focused in finance and economics. Her most recent is a Master of Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management. She is also a graduate of the America's Community Bankers National School of Banking.
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About Farmer Mac Farmer
Mac is a vital part of the agricultural credit markets and was created to increase access to and reduce the cost of capital for the benefit of American agricultural and rural communities. As the nation's secondary market for agricultural credit, we provide financial solutions to a broad spectrum of the agricultural community, including agricultural lenders, agribusinesses, and other institutions that can benefit from access to flexible, low-cost financing and risk management tools. Farmer Mac's customers benefit from our low cost of funds, low overhead costs and high operational efficiency. In fact, we are often able to provide the lowest cost of borrowing to agricultural and rural borrowers. For more than 30 years, Farmer Mac has been delivering the capital and commitment rural America deserves. Additional information about Farmer Mac is available on Farmer Mac's website at http://www.farmermac.com.
Dr. Erin Flynn-Evans Interviewed on the BBC CrowdScience Podcast
WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 -- NASA's Human Systems Integration Division issued the following news:
In November, 2019, Dr. Erin Flynn-Evans was interviewed on a BBC CrowdScience podcast episode called "Why do I get sleepy?" to talk about sleepiness and the physiology behind the feelings and sensations we experience when we are tired. What is going on in our bodys and brains when tiredness begins to take over?
The podcast episode covers a number of topics relating to fatigue and it's effects on performance, mood and behavior.
Though Dr. Flynn-Evans' research focuses on the aerospace domain, particularly
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WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 -- NASA's Human Systems Integration Division issued the following news:
In November, 2019, Dr. Erin Flynn-Evans was interviewed on a BBC CrowdScience podcast episode called "Why do I get sleepy?" to talk about sleepiness and the physiology behind the feelings and sensations we experience when we are tired. What is going on in our bodys and brains when tiredness begins to take over?
The podcast episode covers a number of topics relating to fatigue and it's effects on performance, mood and behavior.
Though Dr. Flynn-Evans' research focuses on the aerospace domain, particularlywith regard to human performance in the demanding realm of space exploration, her research helps to explain the effects that sleepiness can have on adults, toddlers, teenagers and anyone who is depriving themselves of much-needed sleep.
Dr. Flynn-Evans is the Principal Investigator of the Fatigue Countermeasures Laboratory in the Human Systems Integration Division.
The BBC CloudScience podcast can be found here- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3csz1tw.
Court of International Trade Issues Opinion in Autoliv ASP Case
NEW YORK, Dec. 6 -- The U.S. Court of International Trade issued the following slip opinion (Slip. Op. 19-154):
AUTOLIV ASP, INC., Plaintiff,
v.
UNITED STATES, Defendant,
and
ARCELORMITTAL TUBULAR PRODUCTS, MICHIGAN SEAMLESS TUBE, LLC, PTC ALLIANCE CORP., WEBCO INDUSTRIES, INC., ZEKELMAN INDUSTRIES, INC., and PLYMOUTH TUBE CO., USA, Defendant-Intervenors.
Before: Leo M. Gordon, Judge
Consol. Court No. 18-00037
OPINION
[Sustaining final affirmative material injury determinations.]
Kenneth G. Weigel and Chunlian Yang, Alston & Bird LLP, of Washington, DC, for Plaintiff Autoliv Asp, Inc.
Brian
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NEW YORK, Dec. 6 -- The U.S. Court of International Trade issued the following slip opinion (Slip. Op. 19-154):
AUTOLIV ASP, INC., Plaintiff,
v.
UNITED STATES, Defendant,
and
ARCELORMITTAL TUBULAR PRODUCTS, MICHIGAN SEAMLESS TUBE, LLC, PTC ALLIANCE CORP., WEBCO INDUSTRIES, INC., ZEKELMAN INDUSTRIES, INC., and PLYMOUTH TUBE CO., USA, Defendant-Intervenors.
Before: Leo M. Gordon, Judge
Consol. Court No. 18-00037
OPINION
[Sustaining final affirmative material injury determinations.]
Kenneth G. Weigel and Chunlian Yang, Alston & Bird LLP, of Washington, DC, for Plaintiff Autoliv Asp, Inc.
BrianR. Soiset, Attorney, Office of the General Counsel, U.S. International Trade Commission, of Washington, DC, for Defendant United States International Trade Commission. With him on the brief were Dominic L. Bianchi, General Counsel, and Andrea C. Casson, Assistant General Counsel for Litigation.
R. Alan Luberda, Kathleen W. Cannon, and Melissa M. Brewer, Kelley Drye and Warren LLP, of Washington, DC, for Defendant-Intervenors Arcelormittal Tubular Products, Michigan Seamless Tube, LLC, PTC Alliance Corp., Webco Industries, Inc., Zekelman Industries, Inc., and Plymouth Tube Co., USA.
Gordon, Judge: This consolidated action involves the final affirmative material injury determinations by the U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC" or "Commission") in the countervailing duty ("CVD") and antidumping duty ("AD") investigations into imported cold-drawn mechanical tubing ("CDMT") from various countries. See Cold-Drawn Mechanical Tubing from China and India, 83 Fed. Reg. 4,269 (Int'l Trade Comm'n Jan. 30, 2018), and Cold-Drawn Mechanical Tubing from China, Germany, India, Italy, Korea, and Switzerland, 83 Fed. Reg. 26,088 (Int'l Trade Comm'n June 5, 2018), respectively ("Final Determinations"); see also Cold-Drawn Mechanical Tubing from China and India, Inv. Nos. 701-TA-576-577 (CVD Final), USITC Pub. 4755 (Jan. 2018), PD/1 218 ("Views"), and Cold-Drawn Mechanical Tubing from China, Germany, India, Italy, Korea, and Switzerland, Inv. Nos. 731-TA-1362-1367 (AD Final), USITC Pub. 4790 (May 2018), PD 271.
Before the court is the USCIT Rule 56.2 motion for judgment on the agency record filed by Plaintiff Autoliv ASP, Inc. ("Autoliv"). See Pl.'s Mot. for J. on the Agency R., ECF No. 28 ("Pl.'s Mot."); see also Def.'s Resp. to Pl.'s Mot. for J. on the Agency R., ECF No. 29 ("Def.'s Resp."); Def.-Intervenors Arcelormittal Tubular Products, Michigan Seamless Tube, LLC, PTC Alliance Corp., Webco Industries, Inc., Zekelman Industries, Inc., and Plymouth Tube Co., USA's Resp. Opp. Pl.'s Mot. for J. on the Agency R., ECF No. 30 ("Def.-Intervenors Resp."); Pl.'s Reply in Supp. of Mot. for J. on the Agency R., ECF No. 31 ("Pl.'s Reply"). The court has jurisdiction pursuant to Section 516A(a)(2)(B)(i) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, 19 U.S.C. Sec. 1516a(a)(2)(B)(i),/2 and 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1581(c) (2012). For the reasons set forth below, the ITC's final affirmative injury determinations are sustained.
I. Background
The statute governing unfair trade investigations requires a determination by the Commission on whether imported articles within the scope of a particular investigation (the "subject merchandise") have injured a domestic industry. See 19 U.S.C. Sec.Sec. 1671, 1673. Domestic "industry" is defined as "the producers as a whole of the domestic like product...." 19 U.S.C. Sec. 1677(4)(A). Three types of domestic injury are identified by statute: material injury, threat of material injury, or material retardation of the establishment of an industry. See 19 U.S.C. Sec.Sec. 1671d(b)(1), 1673d(b)(1). There must be a causal nexus between a type of injury and imports of the subject merchandise, i.e., the injury must result "by reason of" imports of the subject merchandise. Id.
In order to make its determination, the Commission compares subject merchandise to its U.S. domestic counterpart, which by statute must be a product "which is like, or in the absence of like, most similar in characteristics and uses with, the article subject to an investigation." 19 U.S.C. Sec. 1677(10). The Commission relies on the "scope" of the subject merchandise provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce ("Commerce") to serve as the outside parameter for defining the domestic like product. See Views at 5 & n.13; see, e.g., NEC Corp. v. Dep't of Commerce, 22 CIT 1108, 1110 (1998) ("[a]lthough the Commission must accept the determination of Commerce as to the scope of the imported merchandise sold at less than fair value, the Commission determines what domestic product is like the imported articles Commerce has identified").
If subject merchandise involves a range of products, as here, the Commission generally does not consider each iteration of merchandise to be a separate like product. Instead, the Commission considers the grouping of products to constitute a single domestic like product, and it will disregard minor variations among them absent a "clear dividing line" between particular products in the group. See Nippon Steel Corp. v. United States, 19 CIT 450, 455 (1995) (the ITC "disregards minor differences, and looks for clear dividing lines between like products"); see also Tapered Roller Bearings from China, Inv. No. 731-TA-344 (Fourth Review), USITC Pub. 4824 at 5-14 (Sept. 2018) (describing variety of sizes specifications, and applications for tapered roller bearings but defining a single domestic like product without clear dividing lines between products)./3
In determining the domestic like product here, the Commission relied on Commerce's definition of the scope, namely, all CDMT of carbon and alloy steel of circular cross-section, 304.8 mm or more in length, in actual outside diameters less than 331 mm, and regardless of wall thickness, surface finish, end finish, industry specification, production process (e.g., welded or seamless), further heat treatment or cold-finishing operations, or dual/multiple certification to standards. See Views at 5-6. Commerce's scope definition broadly covered CDMT steel products in which (1) iron predominates, by weight, over each of the other contained elements, and (2) the carbon content is two percent or less by weight. See id. at 6. In reaching its conclusion regarding injury, the Commission determined that there was a single domestic like product "that is coextensive with the scope of investigations." Id. at 15.
Autoliv imported "airbag tubing" for use in the manufacture of automotive safety airbag systems during the respective periods of the investigations ("POIs") of imported CDMT. In its comments to the Commission on the definition of the domestic like product, Autoliv did not dispute that the scope conceptually covered airbag tubing. Nevertheless, Autoliv contended that airbag tubing was a critical component of its production of airbag safety systems and that there was a "clear dividing line" in terms of production process, chemical and mechanical properties, and uses, between airbag tubing and CDMT generally. See, e.g., Views at 10-11, 13-15; Pl.'s Mot. at 4 (citing Prehearing Brief of Autoliv at 3, PD 165, CD 524). Autoliv further maintained that airbag tubing must be extremely hard, and at the same time ductile, in order to meet its critical safety purposes, and that there was no production currently of the domestic equivalent of airbag tubing nor did the domestic industry have plans to produce it. Id. Autoliv argued that the absence of domestic production did not preclude the Commission from finding airbag tubing to be a separate domestic like product and that the Commission should have, in these circumstances, considered whether domestic production of airbag tubing was materially retarded under the third prong of the statute.
In response, the petitioners argued that Autoliv did not timely file comments requesting the Commission to collect separate data on U.S.-produced products like or most similar to airbag tubing. See Views at 10. Petitioners further contended that Autoliv's argument for a material retardation analysis was misplaced because Autoliv did not and could not allege the existence of material retardation, given that there is an established domestic industry producing CDMT that had previously produced airbag tubing and that retains the equipment to do so. See id. at 10, 14.
Ultimately the Commission agreed with the petitioners, explaining that the statute precluded it from considering airbag tubing as a separate domestic like product because there were no "like" domestic products or production of airbag tubing during the POIs. See id. at 14-15. The ITC observed that the domestic industry included U.S. producers who had previously manufactured airbag tubing and did not currently manufacture airbag tubing but retained the capacity to do so. Id. at 14. Accordingly, the Commission determined that imports of CDMT from China, Germany, India, Italy, Korea, and Switzerland caused material injury to a U.S. industry. See Final Determinations.
II. Standard of Review
The court sustains the Commission's "determinations, findings, or conclusions" unless they are "unsupported by substantial evidence on the record, or otherwise not in accordance with law." 19 U.S.C Sec. 1516a(b)(1)(B)(i). More specifically, when reviewing agency determinations, findings or conclusions for substantial evidence, the court assesses whether the agency action is reasonable given the record as a whole. Nippon Steel Corp v. United States, 458 F.3d 1345, 1350-51 (Fed. Cir. 2006). Substantial evidence has been described as "such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion." DuPont Teijin Films USA v. United States, 407 F.3d 1211, 1215 (Fed. Cir. 2005) (quoting Consol. Edison Co. v. NLRB, 305 U.S. 197, 229 (1938)). Substantial evidence has also been described as "something less than the weight of evidence, and the possibility of drawing two inconsistent conclusions from the evidence does not prevent an administrative agency's findings from being supported by substantial evidence." Consolo v. Fed. Mar. Comm'n, 383 U.S. 607, 620 (1966). Fundamentally, though, "substantial evidence" is best understood as a word formula connoting a reasonableness review. 3 Charles H. Koch, Jr., Administrative Law and Practice Sec. 9.24[1] (3d ed. 2019). Therefore, when addressing a substantial evidence issue raised by a party, the court analyzes whether the challenged agency action "was reasonable given the circumstances presented by the whole record." 8A West's Fed. Forms, National Courts Sec. 3.6 (5th ed. 2019).
View continuation at https://www.cit.uscourts.gov/sites/cit/files/19-154.pdf
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1/ "PD" refers to a document in the public administrative record, which is found in ECF No. 22, unless otherwise noted. "CD" refers to a document in the confidential administrative record, which is found in ECF No. 21, unless otherwise noted.
2/ Further citations to the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, are to relevant provisions of Title 19 of the U.S. Code, 2012 edition.
3/ The following factors are considered in the Commission's like-product analysis: (1) physical appearance, (2) interchangeability, (3) channels of distribution, (4) customer perceptions, (5) common manufacturing facilities and production employees, and where appropriate, (6) price. See NEC Corp., 22 CIT at 1110. These factors are not exhaustive, as an investigation may give rise to other considerations relevant to the factual determination on the domestic like product, and the Commission's practice in defining domestic like product is on a case-by-case basis with no single factor considered dispositive. See, e.g., Views at 5.
