*Pages 1--1 from Microsoft Word - 15603* PUBLIC NOTICE Federal Communications Commission 445 12 th St., S. W. Washington, D. C. 20554 News Media Information 202 / 418- 0500 Internet: http:// www. fcc. gov TTY: 1- 888- 835- 5322 March 8, 2002 FCC ANNOUNCES DISPOSITION OF CERTAIN MAIL The Commission is issuing this Public Notice to provide an update about the handling of U. S. Postal Service (USPS) mail at its mail processing facilities in Capitol Heights, Maryland and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. As noted in an earlier Fact Sheet, the Commission stopped all USPS mail deliveries to its mailroom in Capitol Heights, Maryland on January 30, 2002, following the discovery of a small trace of anthrax during a routine test on January 29. Deliveries were stopped pending the completion of decontamination and retesting of that facility. This process was completed and the Commission resumed USPS deliveries to its Capitol Heights facility on February 13. The Commission possesses a large volume of unprocessed mail received from USPS during late January 2002, as well as an additional quantity received in late October and early November 2001 following the discovery of anthrax contamination on Capitol Hill and at certain USPS mail processing facilities. All of this mail has been commercially cleansed and is now being processed for delivery within the Commission. We expect the processing and delivery of all backlogged mail to be completed by March 29, 2002. In order to continue timely processing of applications and other urgent agency business, on November 29, 2001, the Commission released an Order amending its procedural rules on an emergency, interim basis to require that certain Commission filings be made electronically (i. e., by facsimile or e- mail), by overnight delivery service (i. e., other than USPS Express Mail and USPS Priority Mail), or by hand delivery to the Commission's Capitol Heights, Maryland location. See FCC 01- 345. That Order remains in effect. In addition, see DA 01- 2919, “FCC Announces a New Filing Location for Paper Documents and a New Fax Number for General Correspondence.” If you have any questions about this Public Notice, please contact Ginger Weasenforth by e- mail at gweasenf@ fcc. gov or by phone at 202- 418- 0340, or Harold Hardy by e- mail at hhardy@ fcc. gov or by phone at 202- 418- 1956. - FCC - 1