[Federal Register: October 10, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 197)]
[Notices]               
[Page 58710]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10oc03-117]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration

[TA-W-37,240]

 
Chevron Products Company, Roosevelt, UT; Notice of Revised 
Determination on Reopening

    The Department of Labor reopened the petition investigation for 
workers of the subject firm.
    The TAA petition filed with the Department on behalf of workers of 
Chevron Products Company, Roosevelt, Utah, was initiated on February 4, 
2000. The petition investigation concluded that the subject firm did 
not produce an article and therefore its workers were not eligible for 
certification. The negative determination was issued on February 17, 
2000, and published in the Federal Register on March 17, 2000 (65 FR 
14627).
    However, the Department determines on reopening that because 
Chevron Products Company, Roosevelt, Utah is affiliated with Chevron 
USA Production Company (as both are wholly owned subsidiaries of 
Chevron USA, Inc.) the Department finds the two firms constituted an 
integrated production process, the final products of which are crude 
oil and natural gas.
    The Department, on July 6, 1999, issued a certification of 
eligibility for workers of Chevron USA Production Company in Utah, to 
apply for trade adjustment assistance (TA-W-36,295I). That 
certification was supported by increased company imports of crude oil 
in January-March 1999 compared to the same time period of 1998. 
Therefore, the Department certifies the Chevron Products, Roosevelt, 
Utah, workers as eligible for assistance under TAA.
    The same worker group had been denied eligibility to apply for 
NAFTA-TAA under petition number NAFTA-3854. The United States Court of 
International Trade (USCIT) remanded for further investigation the 
Secretary of Labor's negative NAFTA-TAA determination in Former 
Employees of Chevron Products Company v. U.S. Secretary of Labor (00-
08-00409). Further investigation in that remand resulted in a negative 
decision. The USCIT again remanded that petition denial for further 
investigation and ordered the Department to again consider whether the 
workers lost their jobs because of increased imports and whether the 
Chevron Products Company workers could be determined eligible for 
NAFTA-TAA as Secondarily Affected under the ``Statement of 
Administrative Action.''
    Although we conducted an additional investigation about whether the 
Chevron Products workers were production workers, we believe that our 
decision that Chevron Products is an appropriate subdivision of Chevron 
USA moots both that inquiry and the inquiry into whether the workers 
qualify as secondary workers under the Statement of Administrative 
Action. Since the workers were a part of a firm which produces an 
article, crude oil, under Labor's existing rules, the characterization 
of the workers as production or service workers becomes irrelevant 
because that distinction only arises in cases where the workers are 
employed by separate firms or there are subdivisions within the firm 
that produce articles that are separately identifiable. Similarly, 
since the workers are part of the firm that produced the article, they 
cannot be secondary workers, who, by definition, are employed by 
separate firms.

Conclusion

    After careful consideration on reopening, it is concluded that 
increased imports of articles like or directly competitive with crude 
oil produced by Chevron USA Production and its affiliate Chevron 
Products Company, Roosevelt, Utah, contributed importantly to the 
decline in sales or production and to the total or partial separation 
of workers of the subject firm.
    In accordance with the provisions of the Trade Act of 1974, I make 
the following revised determination:

    ``All workers of Chevron Products Company, Roosevelt, Utah, who 
became totally or partially separated from employment on or after 
January 4, 1999, through two years from the date of certification, 
are eligible to apply for adjustment assistance under Section 223 of 
the Trade Act of 1974.''

    Signed in Washington, DC, this 25th day of September 2003.
Linda G. Poole,
Certifying Officer, Division of Trade Adjustment Assistance.
[FR Doc. 03-25726 Filed 10-9-03; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4510-30-P