Notice of a Regional Project Waiver of Section 1605 (Buy American) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, California. Project # C-06-5332-110 Funded by the California CWSRF ARRA Loan # 08-823-550, 8943-8944 [2010-4073]
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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 38 / Friday, February 26, 2010 / Notices
end-use products until such stocks are
exhausted.
2. Persons other than the registrant
may continue to sell or distribute
existing stocks of maneb products
identified in Table 1 with previously
approved labeling until such stocks are
exhausted.
3. Persons other than the registrant
may use the maneb end use products
identified in Table 1 until exhausted.
Any use of existing stocks must be in a
manner consistent with the previously
approved labeling for that product.
List of Subjects
Environmental protection, Pesticides
and pests.
Dated: February 18, 2010.
Richard P. Keigwin, Jr.
Director, Pesticide Re-evaluation Division,
Office of Pesticide Programs.
[FR Doc. 2010–4083 Filed 2–25–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–S
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
[FRL–9119–1]
Notice of a Regional Project Waiver of
Section 1605 (Buy American) of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 (ARRA) to the Inland
Empire Utilities Agency, California.
Project # C–06–5332–110 Funded by
the California CWSRF ARRA Loan #
08–823–550
sroberts on DSKD5P82C1PROD with NOTICES
AGENCY: Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is hereby granting a
waiver of the Buy American
requirements of ARRA Section 1605
under the authority of Section
1605(b)(1) [applying the Buy American
provision would be inconsistent with
the public interest] to the Inland Empire
Utilities Agency (‘‘IEUA’’) for the
purchase of foreign data collection
transducers. This is a project-specific
waiver and only applies to the use of the
specified product for the ARRA project
being proposed. Any other ARRA
recipient that wishes to use the same
product must apply for a separate
waiver based on project specific
circumstances. The IEUA’s Rancho
Cucamonga groundwater recharge
project will include the purchase of
three transducers with associated
hardware manufactured by Solinst in
Canada, for monitoring in two recharge
basins. Beginning in about 2005 (prior
to the enactment of ARRA), the IEUA
VerDate Nov<24>2008
16:39 Feb 25, 2010
Jkt 220001
started procuring Solinst transducers,
and they developed standard training
and maintenance procedures for using
the Solinst transducers. They currently
use approximately 20 Solinst
transducers at eight recharge basins. The
IEUA submitted a memorandum dated
January 21, 2010, explaining the basis in
performance characteristics for the preARRA selection of Solinst transducers,
and explaining the IEUA’s prior
decision to make Solinst transducers
their standard transducer for this type of
application. This pre-ARRA selection of
a product on which to standardize was
undertaken to best enable the IEUA to
comply with water quality permit
requirements for recharged water
imposed by State regulatory agencies.
The procurement of transducers for the
IEUA’s ARRA project is subject to
ARRA section 1605 requirements, but
IEUA has requested a waiver of these
requirements as they pertain to the
transducers, because the use of nonstandard transducers would
detrimentally affect performance,
operation and maintenance of the
recharge project. Based on review of the
information provided, EPA has
concluded a waiver of the Buy
American provision is justified pursuant
to Section 1605(b)(1) [applying the Buy
American provision would be
inconsistent with the public interest].
The Assistant Administrator of the
Office of Administration and Resources
Management has concurred with this
decision to make an exception to
Section 1605 of ARRA. This action
permits the IEUA to purchase three
transducers manufactured by Solinst, a
Canadian company, as specified in its
November 3, 2009 request, as amended
by its January 21, 2010 memorandum.
DATES: Effective Date: February 10,
2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Abimbola Odusoga, Environmental
Engineer, Water Division (WTR–4),
USEPA Region 9, (415) 972–3437, 75
Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA
94105.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In
accordance with ARRA Sections 1605(c)
and 1605(b)(1), the EPA is hereby
granting a project waiver of the
requirements of Sections 1605(a) of
Public Law 111–5, Buy American
requirements, to the IEUA, Chino,
California, for the purchase of
transducers manufactured by Solinst, a
Canadian company. EPA has evaluated
the IEUA’s basis for standardizing to the
Solinst transducers. Based on the
information provided by the applicant,
EPA has determined it is inconsistent
with the public interest for the IEUA to
PO 00000
Frm 00049
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
8943
pursue the purchase of incompatible
domestically manufactured transducers.
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 goods
used in the project are produced in the
United States, or unless a waiver is
provided to the recipient by the head of
the appropriate agency; here the EPA. A
waiver may be provided if EPA
determines (1) applying these
requirements would be inconsistent
with public the 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) inclusion of 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 IEUA has requested a waiver
from the Buy American Provision for
the purchase of the foreign made
transducers as part of its project to meet
the permit and other regulatory
requirements of the Santa Ana Regional
Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB)
and the State Department of Health.
According to the IEUA, to recharge
recycled water into the Chino
Groundwater Basin through the Victoria
Basin and San Sevaine Basin No. 5 in
Rancho Cucamonga, California, IEUA
must comply with discharge
requirements issued by the Santa Ana
Regional Water Quality Control Board
(RWQCB) for recharge. As part of the
regulatory requirements set by the
RWQCB and the State Department of
Public Health, monitoring devices are to
be installed to ensure recharged water
meets the water quality requirements
specified in the permit. In compliance
with the permit, the Agency is installing
three local monitoring wells and two
lysimeter clusters.
Once the monitoring wells are
constructed, a device—which is called a
transducer—is installed to measure the
water level. The IEUA now uses
approximately twenty transducers
manufactured by Solinst, a Canadian
company, to support the data collection
for the monitoring wells at eight of the
current recharge basins, to meet
regulatory requirements and discharge
permit conditions.
Beginning in April 2005, the IEUA
purchased Solinst transducers a few at
a time as ground water recharge
monitoring wells were contracted to be
built, and were individually installed in
the monitoring wells over the past
several years as the wells were
E:\FR\FM\26FEN1.SGM
26FEN1
sroberts on DSKD5P82C1PROD with NOTICES
8944
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 38 / Friday, February 26, 2010 / Notices
constructed. Thus, over this time period
prior to the enactment of ARRA, the
IEUA standardized its use of the Solinst
transducers. At the time of the initial
transducer procurements, the IEUA
concluded the Solinst transducers had
superior durability and more efficient
data output compared to the
domestically-manufactured transducers.
Solinst transducers have metal
connections that the IEUA determined
at that time to be more robust and
durable than the plastic connections of
the U.S.-made product, because the
plastic connections tend to strip if sand
or grit gets inside the threading. The
IEUA also determined the Solinst
product provides a consistent data file
so that data reduction will not have
different formats, and require different
steps and different software. Thus, data
manipulation can be streamlined and
semi-automated. Fewer components are
required for installation of the Solinst
transducers, which reduces the costs for
labor and equipment. Also, since this
transducer has become the IEUA’s
standard, staff has been trained on how
to use and maintain this particular
equipment and software. If another type
of transducer was utilized for the three
monitoring wells being installed for this
project, there would be approximately
$10,000 a year in additional costs for
labor and training, as well as additional
capital costs for equipment due to the
much higher cost of the domestic-made
product.
EPA finds these considerations as
stated by IEUA provide ample
functional justification for
standardization, particularly because
the use of a functionally effective and
reliable set of transducers is integral to
compliance with State-imposed
regulatory requirements. Furthermore,
as the IEUA’s decision to standardize on
the Solinst transducers took place years
before ARRA was enacted, that decision
was clearly not an attempt to avoid
application of the Buy American
provisions of ARRA. If the mandate of
section 1605(a) was applied here to
require the IEUA to use the
domestically-manufactured good under
these circumstances, it would either
force the IEUA to use two different and
incompatible types of equipment for the
same purpose, or alternatively to resolve
the incompatibility by in effect
requiring them to buy only the
American-made product for their entire
system. It is not in the public interest to
require the IEUA either to bear the
duplicative (or more) life-cycle costs for
two incompatible types of goods, or to
replace their twenty pre-ARRA Solinst
transducers with the domestic product,
VerDate Nov<24>2008
16:39 Feb 25, 2010
Jkt 220001
and thereby to extend the scope of the
ARRA Buy American provision far
beyond the procurement of three
transducers for an ARRA-funded
project.
The purpose of the ARRA is to
stimulate economic recovery by funding
current infrastructure construction, not
to delay projects that are already ‘‘shovel
ready’’ by requiring SRF eligible
recipients such as the IEUA to revise
their design standards and
specifications, or to impair the efficient
operation of project facilities thereafter.
The imposition of ARRA Buy American
requirements in this case would result
in unreasonable delay for this project,
and an unjustifiable burden to the IEUA,
in the form of wasteful and duplicative
life-cycle costs in the future, as well as
problematic performance of its recharge
well monitoring system due to
incompatible transducers. Both results
would directly conflict with
fundamental economic purposes of
ARRA, to create or retain jobs, and to
build recovery by investments in
effective infrastructure.
The information provided is sufficient
to meet the following criteria listed
under Section 1605(b)(1) of the ARRA,
OMB’s regulations at 2 CFR 176.60–
176.170, and in the April 28, 2009 EPA
memorandum for implementation of
ARRA Buy American provisions of
Public Law 111–5. Applying the Buy
American requirements of ARRA would
be inconsistent with the public interest.
The March 31, 2009 Delegation of
Authority Memorandum provided
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
application of the Buy American
requirements would be inconsistent
with the public interest, the IEUA is
hereby granted a waiver from the Buy
American requirements of Section
1605(a) of Public Law 111–5. This
waiver permits use of ARRA funds for
the purchase of the specified Solinst
transducers as documented in the
IEUA’s waiver request submittal dated
January 21, 2010. This supplementary
information constitutes the detailed
written justification required by Section
1605(c) for waivers based on a finding
under subsection (b)(1).
Authority: Public Law 111–5, section 1605.
PO 00000
Frm 00050
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Dated: February 10, 2010.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, EPA Pacific
Southwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2010–4073 Filed 2–25–10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM
Formations of, Acquisitions by, and
Mergers of Bank Holding Companies
The companies listed in this notice
have applied to the Board for approval,
pursuant to the Bank Holding Company
Act of 1956 (12 U.S.C. 1841 et seq.)
(BHC Act), Regulation Y (12 CFR Part
225), and all other applicable statutes
and regulations to become a bank
holding company and/or to acquire the
assets or the ownership of, control of, or
the power to vote shares of a bank or
bank holding company and all of the
banks and nonbanking companies
owned by the bank holding company,
including the companies listed below.
The applications listed below, as well
as other related filings required by the
Board, are available for immediate
inspection at the Federal Reserve Bank
indicated. The applications also will be
available for inspection at the offices of
the Board of Governors. Interested
persons may express their views in
writing on the standards enumerated in
the BHC Act (12 U.S.C. 1842(c)). If the
proposal also involves the acquisition of
a nonbanking company, the review also
includes whether the acquisition of the
nonbanking company complies with the
standards in section 4 of the BHC Act
(12 U.S.C. 1843). Unless otherwise
noted, nonbanking activities will be
conducted throughout the United States.
Additional information on all bank
holding companies may be obtained
from the National Information Center
website at www.ffiec.gov/nic/.
Unless otherwise noted, comments
regarding each of these applications
must be received at the Reserve Bank
indicated or the offices of the Board of
Governors not later than March 25,
2010.
A. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
(Colette A. Fried, Assistant Vice
President) 230 South LaSalle Street,
Chicago, Illinois 60690–1414:
1. Premier Commerce Bancorp, Inc.,
Palos Hills, Illinois; to become a bank
holding company by acquiring 100
percent of the voting shares of G.R.
Bancorp, Ltd., Grand Ridge, Illinois, and
thereby indirectly acquire voting shares
of The First National Bank of Grand
Ridge, Grand Ridge, Illinois.
E:\FR\FM\26FEN1.SGM
26FEN1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 38 (Friday, February 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8943-8944]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-4073]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9119-1]
Notice of a Regional Project Waiver of Section 1605 (Buy
American) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)
to the Inland Empire Utilities Agency, California. Project C-
06-5332-110 Funded by the California CWSRF ARRA Loan 08-823-
550
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is hereby granting a
waiver of the Buy American requirements of ARRA Section 1605 under the
authority of Section 1605(b)(1) [applying the Buy American provision
would be inconsistent with the public interest] to the Inland Empire
Utilities Agency (``IEUA'') for the purchase of foreign data collection
transducers. This is a project-specific waiver and only applies to the
use of the specified product for the ARRA project being proposed. Any
other ARRA recipient that wishes to use the same product must apply for
a separate waiver based on project specific circumstances. The IEUA's
Rancho Cucamonga groundwater recharge project will include the purchase
of three transducers with associated hardware manufactured by Solinst
in Canada, for monitoring in two recharge basins. Beginning in about
2005 (prior to the enactment of ARRA), the IEUA started procuring
Solinst transducers, and they developed standard training and
maintenance procedures for using the Solinst transducers. They
currently use approximately 20 Solinst transducers at eight recharge
basins. The IEUA submitted a memorandum dated January 21, 2010,
explaining the basis in performance characteristics for the pre-ARRA
selection of Solinst transducers, and explaining the IEUA's prior
decision to make Solinst transducers their standard transducer for this
type of application. This pre-ARRA selection of a product on which to
standardize was undertaken to best enable the IEUA to comply with water
quality permit requirements for recharged water imposed by State
regulatory agencies. The procurement of transducers for the IEUA's ARRA
project is subject to ARRA section 1605 requirements, but IEUA has
requested a waiver of these requirements as they pertain to the
transducers, because the use of non-standard transducers would
detrimentally affect performance, operation and maintenance of the
recharge project. Based on review of the information provided, EPA has
concluded a waiver of the Buy American provision is justified pursuant
to Section 1605(b)(1) [applying the Buy American provision would be
inconsistent with the public interest]. The Assistant Administrator of
the Office of Administration and Resources Management has concurred
with this decision to make an exception to Section 1605 of ARRA. This
action permits the IEUA to purchase three transducers manufactured by
Solinst, a Canadian company, as specified in its November 3, 2009
request, as amended by its January 21, 2010 memorandum.
DATES: Effective Date: February 10, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Abimbola Odusoga, Environmental
Engineer, Water Division (WTR-4), USEPA Region 9, (415) 972-3437, 75
Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with ARRA Sections 1605(c) and
1605(b)(1), the EPA is hereby granting a project waiver of the
requirements of Sections 1605(a) of Public Law 111-5, Buy American
requirements, to the IEUA, Chino, California, for the purchase of
transducers manufactured by Solinst, a Canadian company. EPA has
evaluated the IEUA's basis for standardizing to the Solinst
transducers. Based on the information provided by the applicant, EPA
has determined it is inconsistent with the public interest for the IEUA
to pursue the purchase of incompatible domestically manufactured
transducers.
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 goods used in the project are produced in the
United States, or unless a waiver is provided to the recipient by the
head of the appropriate agency; here the EPA. A waiver may be provided
if EPA determines (1) applying these requirements would be inconsistent
with public the 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) inclusion of 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 IEUA has requested a waiver from the Buy American Provision for
the purchase of the foreign made transducers as part of its project to
meet the permit and other regulatory requirements of the Santa Ana
Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) and the State Department
of Health. According to the IEUA, to recharge recycled water into the
Chino Groundwater Basin through the Victoria Basin and San Sevaine
Basin No. 5 in Rancho Cucamonga, California, IEUA must comply with
discharge requirements issued by the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality
Control Board (RWQCB) for recharge. As part of the regulatory
requirements set by the RWQCB and the State Department of Public
Health, monitoring devices are to be installed to ensure recharged
water meets the water quality requirements specified in the permit. In
compliance with the permit, the Agency is installing three local
monitoring wells and two lysimeter clusters.
Once the monitoring wells are constructed, a device--which is
called a transducer--is installed to measure the water level. The IEUA
now uses approximately twenty transducers manufactured by Solinst, a
Canadian company, to support the data collection for the monitoring
wells at eight of the current recharge basins, to meet regulatory
requirements and discharge permit conditions.
Beginning in April 2005, the IEUA purchased Solinst transducers a
few at a time as ground water recharge monitoring wells were contracted
to be built, and were individually installed in the monitoring wells
over the past several years as the wells were
[[Page 8944]]
constructed. Thus, over this time period prior to the enactment of
ARRA, the IEUA standardized its use of the Solinst transducers. At the
time of the initial transducer procurements, the IEUA concluded the
Solinst transducers had superior durability and more efficient data
output compared to the domestically-manufactured transducers. Solinst
transducers have metal connections that the IEUA determined at that
time to be more robust and durable than the plastic connections of the
U.S.-made product, because the plastic connections tend to strip if
sand or grit gets inside the threading. The IEUA also determined the
Solinst product provides a consistent data file so that data reduction
will not have different formats, and require different steps and
different software. Thus, data manipulation can be streamlined and
semi-automated. Fewer components are required for installation of the
Solinst transducers, which reduces the costs for labor and equipment.
Also, since this transducer has become the IEUA's standard, staff has
been trained on how to use and maintain this particular equipment and
software. If another type of transducer was utilized for the three
monitoring wells being installed for this project, there would be
approximately $10,000 a year in additional costs for labor and
training, as well as additional capital costs for equipment due to the
much higher cost of the domestic-made product.
EPA finds these considerations as stated by IEUA provide ample
functional justification for standardization, particularly because the
use of a functionally effective and reliable set of transducers is
integral to compliance with State-imposed regulatory requirements.
Furthermore, as the IEUA's decision to standardize on the Solinst
transducers took place years before ARRA was enacted, that decision was
clearly not an attempt to avoid application of the Buy American
provisions of ARRA. If the mandate of section 1605(a) was applied here
to require the IEUA to use the domestically-manufactured good under
these circumstances, it would either force the IEUA to use two
different and incompatible types of equipment for the same purpose, or
alternatively to resolve the incompatibility by in effect requiring
them to buy only the American-made product for their entire system. It
is not in the public interest to require the IEUA either to bear the
duplicative (or more) life-cycle costs for two incompatible types of
goods, or to replace their twenty pre-ARRA Solinst transducers with the
domestic product, and thereby to extend the scope of the ARRA Buy
American provision far beyond the procurement of three transducers for
an ARRA-funded project.
The purpose of the ARRA is to stimulate economic recovery by
funding current infrastructure construction, not to delay projects that
are already ``shovel ready'' by requiring SRF eligible recipients such
as the IEUA to revise their design standards and specifications, or to
impair the efficient operation of project facilities thereafter. The
imposition of ARRA Buy American requirements in this case would result
in unreasonable delay for this project, and an unjustifiable burden to
the IEUA, in the form of wasteful and duplicative life-cycle costs in
the future, as well as problematic performance of its recharge well
monitoring system due to incompatible transducers. Both results would
directly conflict with fundamental economic purposes of ARRA, to create
or retain jobs, and to build recovery by investments in effective
infrastructure.
The information provided is sufficient to meet the following
criteria listed under Section 1605(b)(1) of the ARRA, OMB's regulations
at 2 CFR 176.60-176.170, and in the April 28, 2009 EPA memorandum for
implementation of ARRA Buy American provisions of Public Law 111-5.
Applying the Buy American requirements of ARRA would be inconsistent
with the public interest.
The March 31, 2009 Delegation of Authority Memorandum provided
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 application of the Buy American
requirements would be inconsistent with the public interest, the IEUA
is hereby granted a waiver from the Buy American requirements of
Section 1605(a) of Public Law 111-5. This waiver permits use of ARRA
funds for the purchase of the specified Solinst transducers as
documented in the IEUA's waiver request submittal dated January 21,
2010. This supplementary information constitutes the detailed written
justification required by Section 1605(c) for waivers based on a
finding under subsection (b)(1).
Authority: Public Law 111-5, section 1605.
Dated: February 10, 2010.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, EPA Pacific Southwest Region.
[FR Doc. 2010-4073 Filed 2-25-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
