Notice of a Project Waiver of Section 1605 (Buy American Requirement) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to the Gwinnett County, GA, Department of Water Resources, 61685-61686 [E9-28293]

Agencies

• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 226 (Wednesday, November 25, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 61685-61686]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-28293]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8984-2]


Notice of a Project Waiver of Section 1605 (Buy American 
Requirement) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 
(ARRA) to the Gwinnett County, GA, Department of Water Resources

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is hereby granting a project waiver of the Buy 
American requirements of ARRA Section 1605 under the authority of 
Section 1605(b)(2) [manufactured goods are not produced in the United 
States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a 
satisfactory quality] to the Gwinnett County, Georgia, Department of 
Water Resources (County) for the purchase of an Austrian manufactured 
Anaerobic digester gas fueled engine generator set specified as General 
Electric (GE) Jenbacher JMS 616, 2147 kilowatts for application in a 
combined heat and power system for use at the F. Wayne Hill Resources 
Center in the County. The product is manufactured by GE Jenbacher 
(Jenbach, Austria) and provided by General Electric Water & Process 
Technologies. The County stated that there was no apparent domestic 
manufactured biogas engine generator set with the specific fuel 
utilization/electric power output capacity and variable fuel blending 
capability required for the utility's combined heat and power needs. 
This is a project specific waiver and only applies to the use of the 
specified product for the ARRA funded project being proposed. Any other 
ARRA project that may wish to use the same product must apply for a 
separate waiver based on the specific project circumstances. The Acting 
Regional Administrator is making this determination based on the review 
and recommendation of the EPA Region 4, Water Protection Division, 
Grants and Infrastructure Branch. The County has provided sufficient 
documentation to support their request. The Assistant Administrator of 
the Office of Administration and Resources Management has concurred on 
this decision to make an exception to Section 1605 of ARRA. This action 
permits the purchase of an anaerobic digester gas fueled engine 
generator set manufactured by GE Jenbacher for the proposed project 
being implemented by Gwinnett County, Georgia.

DATES: Effective Date: October 7, 2009.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carl Biemiller, Project Officer, (404) 
562-9341, Grants and Infrastructure Branch, Water Protection Division, 
Region 4, US EPA, Atlanta Federal Center, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., 
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with ARRA Section 1605(c) and 
pursuant to Section 1605(b)(2) of Public Law 111-5, Buy American 
requirements, the EPA hereby provides notice that it is granting a 
project waiver to the County for the acquisition of the GE Jenbacher 
Austrian manufactured biogas engine generator set. The manufacturer is 
GE Water & Process Technologies Company.
    Section 1605 of the ARRA requires that none of the appropriated 
funds may be used for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or 
repair of a public building or public work unless all of the iron, 
steel, and manufactured good use in the project are produced in the 
United States, unless a waiver is provided to the recipient by the EPA. 
A waiver may be provided if EPA determines that (1) Applying these 
requirements would be inconsistent with the public interest; (2) iron, 
steel, and the relevant manufactured goods are not produced in the 
United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of 
a satisfactory quality; or (3) iron, steel and the relevant 
manufactured goods produced in the United States will increase the cost 
of the overall project by more than 25 percent.
    The County's Department of Water Resources proposes to construct 
the F. Wayne Hill Water Resources Center (WRC) Digester Gas to Energy 
Project. This project would permit a renewable energy source for use by 
the project and the nearby wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The 
project intends to convert previously flared anaerobic digester gas to 
electricity and heat for plant operations. The County proposes to use a 
General Electric (GE) Jenbacher JMS 616, 2147 kilowatts gas engine to 
convert digester gas to electrical and thermal energy with the 
recapture of the heat from the engine-generator in a combined heat and 
power (CHP) design. Electrical energy generated by the CHP system will 
reduce the utility needs of the WRC by an estimated thirty (30) 
percent, partially replacing grid purchased electricity. Thermal energy 
from the CHP system will be beneficially utilized to maintain the 
optimum temperature in the anaerobic digestion process now performed by 
natural gas boilers. The County's specifications require that the 
design rating of the biogas engine generator be sized to utilize as 
much of the WRC's available biogas as possible. The application states 
that based on this requirement, the engine generator set to be supplied 
must be rated for a power output in excess of 2000 kw. Also, to 
maximize the utilization of the Center's available biogas, the engine 
generator

[[Page 61686]]

must be capable of utilizing a blended fuel mixture of petroleum 
derived gas and biogas in order to be capable of operating continuously 
between the specified range of methane gas production (varying between 
400 SCFM and 700 SCFM). This variable blending fuel capacity feature is 
known as ``blend-on-the fly.''
    The County's Department of Water Resources has requested a waiver 
from the Buy American provision for the purchase of a GE Jenbacher JMS 
616, 2147 kilowatts gas engine set manufactured in Jenbach, Austria. 
The project specifications provided listed manufacturers for the 
project, and the prospective bidders consulted with multiple suppliers. 
All of the prospective bidders provided alternative pricing for a 
Caterpillar G3520C DM 5860, 1600kw/12.47V low BTU gas cogeneration 
system assembled in Mapelton, IL. Upon evaluation of the domestic 
manufacturer's product, the county determined that a single Caterpillar 
unit could not produce excess of 2000kw that could operate continuously 
over the specified range (as low as 400 SCFM and as high as 700 SCFM). 
The Caterpillar unit is rated at 1600kw and also has no blending 
capabilities.
    The application also states that the Caterpillar unit is not able 
to run continuously due to its inability to ``blend-on-the-fly'' until 
the influent flow of a facility is in excess of approximately 50 
million gallons per day (MGD). Above 50 MGD, the gas would have to be 
stored to burn at a later time. If the gas storage tanks are full, the 
gas would be burned through the flairs. Conversely, the GE Jenbacher 
gas engine generator can utilize the full range of gas production 
quantities by operating at reduced engine speeds with a variable speed 
drive or by operating at the full engine speed-supplementing the low 
BTU digester gas with natural gas provided by the gas utility to 
provide the greatest electrical output. This ``blend-on-the-fly'' 
technology beneficially utilizes the full amount of available gas, 
allowing for continuous operations through periods of variable digester 
gas production. Therefore, the GE Jenbacher gas engine can still be run 
during periods of low digester gas production to reduce utility fed 
electricity usage during peak consumption periods. Continuous operation 
of the engine-generator will also provide a contant heat source to meet 
the digester's process heating requirement, thereby eliminating the 
need for natural gas boilers. These boilers would still be required 
with the Caterpillar gas engine generator. Thus, the Caterpillar unit 
is neither as efficient nor is it otherwise of a satisfactory quality 
to meet the specifications of the project.
    The functional requirement to maximize biogas use is clearly 
essential to the objective of substantially increasing the energy 
efficiency of the facility and turning the current environmental 
detriment of flaring methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas, 
into an energy asset. By doing so, the project has also qualified for 
the ARRA Green Project Reserve, which is a high priority ARRA objective 
for SRF funded projects. Requiring a less efficient product would be 
inconsistent with the explicit and specific intent of Congress to 
achieve greater energy efficiency as stated in the SRF specific 20% 
Green Project Reserve requirements of Title VII of the ARRA. The 
County's submission clearly articulates entirely functional reasons for 
its technical specifications, and has provided sufficient documentation 
that the relevant manufactured goods are not produced in the United 
States in sufficient and reasonably available quantity and of a 
satisfactory quality to meet its technical requirements and 
specifications.
    The April 28, 2009 EPA Headquarters Memorandum, ``Implementation of 
Buy American provisions of Public Law 111-5, the American Recovery and 
Reinvestment Act of 2009,'' defines ``satisfactory quality'' as ``the 
quality of steel, iron or manufactured goods specified in the project 
plans and designs.''
    EPA's national contractor prepared a technical assessment report 
dated August 14, 2009 based on the submitted waiver request. The report 
determined that the waiver request submittal was complete, that 
adequate technical information was provided, and that there were no 
weaknesses in the justification provided. The report confirmed the 
waiver applicant's claim that there are no comparable domestic products 
that can meet both the power output of the engine generator and the 
dual fuel capability needed for the project.
    Furthermore, the purpose of the ARRA is to stimulate economic 
recovery in part by funding current infrastructure construction, not to 
delay projects that are ready to proceed. Approval of the waiver would 
permit construction to promptly proceed with positive economic benefits 
to the County in the form of jobs and related services and materials 
which would aid the economic recovery.
    The Region 4 Grants and Infrastructure Branch has reviewed this 
waiver request and has determined that the supporting documentation 
provided by the County is sufficient to meet the criteria listed under 
ARRA Section 1605(b), OMB's regulation at 2 CFR 176.100 and the 
aforementioned EPA Headquarters Memorandum of April 28, 2009. ARRA 
Section 1605(b) (2) permits a waiver if ``Iron, steel, and manufactured 
goods are not produced in the United States in sufficient and 
reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality.'' Based 
on the information provided to EPA from the County, and to the best of 
our knowledge at the time of the review, there does not appear to be 
any biogas engine generator set currently manufactured in the United 
States available to meet the County's specifications and requirements. 
Therefore, this waiver request meets the applicable criteria and is 
justified.
    The Administrator's March 31, 2009, delegation of authority 
memorandum provided acting Regional Administrators with the authority 
to issue exceptions to Section 1605 of ARRA within the geographic 
boundaries of their respective regions and with respect to requests by 
individual grant recipients. Having established both a proper basis to 
specify the particular good required for this project, and that this 
manufactured good was not available from a producer in the United 
States, the Gwinnett County, Georgia, Department of Water Resources is 
granted a waiver from the Buy American requirements of Section 1605(a) 
of Public Law 111-5 for the purchase of a anaerobic digester gas-fueled 
engine generator set specified as GE Jenbacher JMS 616, 2147 kilowatts 
for application in a combined heat and power system as specified in the 
County's request of July 22, 2009, with supplemental information. This 
supplementary information constitutes the detailed written 
justification required by Section 1605(c) for waivers ``based on a 
finding under subsection 9b.''

    Authority:  Public Law 111-5, section 1605.

    Dated: October 7, 2009.
J. Scott Gordon,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. E9-28293 Filed 11-24-09; 8:45 am]
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