Nationwide Categorical Waivers Under Section 1605 (Buy American) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), 9906-9907 [2012-3939]
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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 34 / Tuesday, February 21, 2012 / Notices
Comments on the proposed
information collection should be
submitted electronically to
HAVAinfo@eac.gov with Urban/Rural
study as the subject line. Written
comments on the proposed information
collection can also be sent to the U.S.
Election Assistance Commission, 1201
New York Avenue NW., Suite 300,
Washington, DC 20005, ATTN: Urban/
Rural Study.
Obtaining a Copy of the Survey: To
obtain a free copy of the survey: (1)
Access the EAC Web site at
www.eac.gov; (2) write to the EAC
(including your address and phone
number) at U.S. Election Assistance
Commission, 1201 New York Avenue
NW., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005,
ATTN: Urban/Rural Study.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.
Karen Lynn-Dyson or Ms. Shelly
Anderson at (202) 566–3100.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title and OMB Number: Election
Administration in Urban and Rural
Areas; OMB Number Pending.
Summary of the Collection of
Information: The survey requests
information at the local level concerning
the following categories:
Background: (1) Number of years
served as an election official; (2) number
of registered voters; (3) jurisdiction
described as urban or rural; (4)
jurisdiction required to provide
language assistance; (5) office have full
responsibility for elections in the
jurisdiction; (6) alternative forms of
voting allowed in the jurisdiction
(absentee-excuse required, no-excuse
absentee, early voting, all vote-by-mail).
Voter Outreach: (7) Type of voter
outreach provided to the public; (8)
outreach efforts coordinated with thirdparty/civic organizations; type of voter
outreach coordinated; type of
organizations with which the
jurisdiction works; (9) voter outreach
activities that focus on specific groups;
(10) cost of voter outreach efforts in
2010; (11) estimated cost of voter
outreach efforts in 2012; (12) how voter
outreach efforts were paid for; (13) ease
or difficulty of engaging in voter
outreach; (14) reasons outreach may
have been difficult.
Personnel: (15) Number of paid fulltime, part-time, and temporary staff in
2010; 16) number of poll workers used
in 2010; (17) number of paid full-time,
part-time, and temporary staff in 2012;
(18) number of poll workers used in
2012; (19) poll worker pay; (20) sources
for recruiting poll workers; (21) ease or
difficulty of obtaining poll workers; (22)
reasons obtaining poll workers may
have been difficult; (23) jurisdiction
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:29 Feb 17, 2012
Jkt 226001
offer split shifts for poll workers; (24)
additional comments.
Affected Public (Respondents): Local
governments that administer Federal
elections.
Affected Public: Local government.
Number of Respondents: 5,000.
Responses per Respondent: 1.
Estimated Burden Per Response: 45
minutes.
Estimated Total Annual Burden
Hours: 2,250 hours.
Frequency: One-time data collection.
Mark A. Robbins,
Acting Executive Director, U.S. Election
Assistance Commission.
[FR Doc. 2012–3737 Filed 2–17–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6820–KF–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy
Nationwide Categorical Waivers Under
Section 1605 (Buy American) of the
American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)
Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Notice of limited waivers.
AGENCY:
The U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) is hereby granting a
nationwide limited waiver of the Buy
American requirements of section 1605
of the Recovery Act under the authority
of Section 1605(b)(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),
with respect to Recovery Act projects
funded by EERE for ((1) 400 amp Dual
Element Time-Delay Fuses for electric
vehicle supply equipment (EVSE)
charging station; (2) Video imaging card
rack mounted boards for vehicle
presence and data detection; (3) 20-ton
split system heat pump that meets a
minimum static pressure requirement of
3.0 inches of water column (only where
the 3.0 water column is a requirement
of the system); and (4) network manager
for conversion of proprietary protocol—
Staefa brand system—to a nonproprietary open source protocol.
DATES: Effective Date: 01/24/2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Christine Platt-Patrick, Office of Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy
(EERE), (202) 287–1553, Department of
Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue
SW., Mailstop EE–2K, Washington, DC
20585.
SUMMARY:
PO 00000
Frm 00019
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
Under the
authority of American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery
Act), Public Law 111–5, section
1605(b)(2), the head of a Federal
department or agency may issue a
‘‘determination of inapplicability’’ (a
waiver of the Buy American provision)
if the iron, steel, or relevant
manufactured good is not produced or
manufactured in the United States in
sufficient and reasonably available
quantities and of a satisfactory quality
(‘‘nonavailability’’). The authority of the
Secretary of Energy to make all
inapplicability determinations was redelegated to the Assistant Secretary for
Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy (EERE), for EERE projects under
the Recovery Act, in Redelegation Order
No. 00–002.01E, dated April 25, 2011.
Pursuant to this delegation the Acting
Assistant Secretary, EERE, has
concluded that: (1) 400amp Dual
Element Time-Delay Fuses for electric
vehicle supply equipment (EVSE)
charging station; (2) Video imaging card
rack mounted boards for vehicle
presence and data detection; (3) 20-ton
split system heat pump that meets a
minimum static pressure requirement of
3.0 inches of water column (only where
the 3.0 water column is a requirement
of the system); and (4) network manager
for conversion of proprietary protocol—
Staefa brand system—to a nonproprietary open source protocol, are
not produced or manufactured in the
United States in sufficient and
reasonably available quantities and of a
satisfactory quality. The above items,
when used on eligible EERE Recovery
Act-funded projects, qualify for the
‘‘nonavailability’’ waiver determination.
EERE has developed a robust process
to ascertain in a systematic and
expedient manner whether or not there
is domestic manufacturing capacity for
the items submitted for a waiver of the
Recovery Act Buy American provision.
This process involves a close
collaboration with the United States
Department of Commerce National
Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) Manufacturing Extension
Partnership (MEP), in order to scour the
domestic manufacturing landscape in
search of producers before making any
nonavailability determinations.
The MEP has 59 regional centers with
substantial knowledge of, and
connections to, the domestic
manufacturing sector. MEP uses their
regional centers to ‘scout’ for current or
potential manufacturers of the
product(s) submitted in a waiver
request. In the course of this interagency
collaboration, MEP has been able to find
exact or partial matches for
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
E:\FR\FM\21FEN1.SGM
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mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 34 / Tuesday, February 21, 2012 / Notices
manufactured goods that EERE grantees
had been unable to locate. As a result,
in those cases, EERE was able to work
with the grantees to procure Americanmade products rather than granting a
waiver.
Upon receipt of completed waiver
requests for the four products in the
current waiver, EERE reviewed the
information provided and submitted the
relevant technical information to the
MEP. The MEP then used their network
of nationwide centers to scout for
domestic manufacturers. The MEP
reported that their scouting process did
not locate any domestic manufacturers
for these exact or equivalent items.
In addition to the MEP collaboration
outlined above, the EERE Buy American
Coordinator worked with other
manufacturing stakeholders to scout for
domestic manufacturing capacity or an
equivalent product for each item
contained in this waiver.
EERE also conducted significant
amounts of independent research to
supplement MEP’s scouting efforts,
including utilizing the solar experts
employed by the Department of Energy’s
National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
EERE’s research efforts confirmed the
MEP findings that the goods included in
this waiver are not produced in the
United States in sufficient and
reasonably available quantities and of a
satisfactory quality.
The nonavailability determination is
also informed by the inquiries and
petitions to EERE from recipients of
EERE Recovery Act funds, and from
suppliers, distributors, retailers and
trade associations—all stating that their
individual efforts to locate domestic
manufacturers for these items have been
unsuccessful.
Specific technical information for the
manufactured goods included in this
non-availability determination is
detailed below:
(1) 400amp Dual Element Time-Delay
Fuses for electric vehicle supply
equipment (EVSE) charging station
These are used in the installation of
EV charging stations. Two national trade
organizations representing American
manufacturers of this equipment
verified that these are not manufactured
in the US. Further, MEP did not identify
a potential manufacturer.
(2) Video imaging card rack mounted
boards for vehicle presence and data
detection
These card racks are installed into
existing traffic systems and are not
manufactured domestically. Neither
transportation manufacturing trade
associations nor MEP identified any US
manufacturer of this product.
VerDate Mar<15>2010
17:29 Feb 17, 2012
Jkt 226001
(3) 20-ton split system heat pump that
meets a minimum static pressure
requirement of 3.0 inches of water
column (only where the 3.0 water
column is a requirement of the system)
This waiver is limited to systems that
require compatibility with this
extremely high water column. No US
manufacturers (four manufacturers of
this type of equipment were identified
by EERE and MEP and contacted) were
able to meet this need.
(4) Network manager for conversion of
proprietary protocol- Staefa brand
system to a non-proprietary open source
protocol
For use where a Staefa system was
installed previously, and where
utilizing a domestic control module
would mean that the existing energy
management controls would have to be
removed and a new energy management
controls system would have to replace
the existing Staefa system. This product
allows the grantee to convert from the
proprietary protocol to an open-source
protocol- providing a wider variety of
controls in the future.
In these cases, the grantee is unable to
use a domestic control module because
the existing system runs off of a
proprietary communication protocol
(rather than LON or BACnet), and the
entire system would have to be replaced
to install additional controllers. Trade
organizations, DOE and MEP all agreed
that this was the only controller capable
of properly interfacing with this
protocol.
In light of the foregoing, and under
the authority of section 1605(b)(2) of
Public Law 111–5 and Redelegation
Order 00–002–01E, with respect to
Recovery Act projects funded by EERE,
I hereby issue a ‘‘determination of
inapplicability’’ (a waiver under the
Recovery Act Buy American provision)
for: ((1) 400amp Dual Element TimeDelay Fuses for electric vehicle supply
equipment (EVSE) charging station; (2)
Video imaging card rack mounted
boards for vehicle presence and data
detection; (3) 20-ton split system heat
pump that meets a minimum static
pressure requirement of 3.0 inches of
water column (only where the 3.0 water
column is a requirement of the system);
and (4) network manager for conversion
of proprietary protocol- Staefa brand
system- to a non-proprietary open
source protocol.
Having established a proper
justification based on domestic
nonavailability, EERE hereby provides
notice that on January 24, 2012, four (4)
nationwide categorical waivers of
section 1605 of the Recovery Act were
issued as detailed supra. This notice
constitutes the detailed written
PO 00000
Frm 00020
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
9907
justification required by Section 1605(c)
for waivers based on a finding under
subsection (b).
This waiver determination is pursuant
to the delegation of authority by the
Secretary of Energy to the Assistant
Secretary for Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy with respect to
expenditures within the purview of his
responsibility. Consequently, this
waiver applies to all EERE projects
carried out under the Recovery Act.
Authority: Pub. L. 111–5, section 1605.
Dated: Issued in Washington, DC, on
January 24, 2012.
Henry Kelly,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency
and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of
Energy.
[FR Doc. 2012–3939 Filed 2–17–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy
[Case No. CW–023]
Notice of Petition for Waiver of LG
Electronics U.S.A., Inc. From the
Department of Energy Clothes Washer
Test Procedure, and Grant of Interim
Waiver
Office of Energy Efficiency and
Renewable Energy, Department of
Energy.
ACTION: Notice of petition for waiver,
notice of grant of interim waiver, and
request for comments.
AGENCY:
This notice announces receipt
of and publishes the LG Electronics
U.S.A., Inc. (LG) petition for waiver and
application for interim waiver
(hereafter, ‘‘petition’’) from specified
portions of the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) test procedure for
determining the energy consumption of
clothes washers. Today’s notice also
grants an interim waiver of the clothes
washer test procedure. Through this
notice, DOE also solicits comments with
respect to the LG petition.
DATES: DOE will accept comments, data,
and information with respect to the LG
petition March 22, 2012.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments,
identified by case number CW–023, by
any of the following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
• Email:
AS_Waiver_Requests@ee.doe.gov.
Include ‘‘Case No. CW–023’’ in the
subject line of the message.
SUMMARY:
E:\FR\FM\21FEN1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 34 (Tuesday, February 21, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9906-9907]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-3939]
=======================================================================
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
Nationwide Categorical Waivers Under Section 1605 (Buy American)
of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)
AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Notice of limited waivers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is hereby granting a
nationwide limited waiver of the Buy American requirements of section
1605 of the Recovery Act under the authority of Section 1605(b)(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), with respect to Recovery Act projects
funded by EERE for ((1) 400 amp Dual Element Time-Delay Fuses for
electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) charging station; (2) Video
imaging card rack mounted boards for vehicle presence and data
detection; (3) 20-ton split system heat pump that meets a minimum
static pressure requirement of 3.0 inches of water column (only where
the 3.0 water column is a requirement of the system); and (4) network
manager for conversion of proprietary protocol--Staefa brand system--to
a non-proprietary open source protocol.
DATES: Effective Date: 01/24/2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christine Platt-Patrick, Office of
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), (202) 287-1553,
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Mailstop EE-2K,
Washington, DC 20585.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the authority of American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), Public Law 111-5, section
1605(b)(2), the head of a Federal department or agency may issue a
``determination of inapplicability'' (a waiver of the Buy American
provision) if the iron, steel, or relevant manufactured good is not
produced or manufactured in the United States in sufficient and
reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality
(``nonavailability''). The authority of the Secretary of Energy to make
all inapplicability determinations was re-delegated to the Assistant
Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), for EERE
projects under the Recovery Act, in Redelegation Order No. 00-002.01E,
dated April 25, 2011. Pursuant to this delegation the Acting Assistant
Secretary, EERE, has concluded that: (1) 400amp Dual Element Time-Delay
Fuses for electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) charging station;
(2) Video imaging card rack mounted boards for vehicle presence and
data detection; (3) 20-ton split system heat pump that meets a minimum
static pressure requirement of 3.0 inches of water column (only where
the 3.0 water column is a requirement of the system); and (4) network
manager for conversion of proprietary protocol--Staefa brand system--to
a non-proprietary open source protocol, are not produced or
manufactured in the United States in sufficient and reasonably
available quantities and of a satisfactory quality. The above items,
when used on eligible EERE Recovery Act-funded projects, qualify for
the ``nonavailability'' waiver determination.
EERE has developed a robust process to ascertain in a systematic
and expedient manner whether or not there is domestic manufacturing
capacity for the items submitted for a waiver of the Recovery Act Buy
American provision. This process involves a close collaboration with
the United States Department of Commerce National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership
(MEP), in order to scour the domestic manufacturing landscape in search
of producers before making any nonavailability determinations.
The MEP has 59 regional centers with substantial knowledge of, and
connections to, the domestic manufacturing sector. MEP uses their
regional centers to `scout' for current or potential manufacturers of
the product(s) submitted in a waiver request. In the course of this
interagency collaboration, MEP has been able to find exact or partial
matches for
[[Page 9907]]
manufactured goods that EERE grantees had been unable to locate. As a
result, in those cases, EERE was able to work with the grantees to
procure American-made products rather than granting a waiver.
Upon receipt of completed waiver requests for the four products in
the current waiver, EERE reviewed the information provided and
submitted the relevant technical information to the MEP. The MEP then
used their network of nationwide centers to scout for domestic
manufacturers. The MEP reported that their scouting process did not
locate any domestic manufacturers for these exact or equivalent items.
In addition to the MEP collaboration outlined above, the EERE Buy
American Coordinator worked with other manufacturing stakeholders to
scout for domestic manufacturing capacity or an equivalent product for
each item contained in this waiver.
EERE also conducted significant amounts of independent research to
supplement MEP's scouting efforts, including utilizing the solar
experts employed by the Department of Energy's National Renewable
Energy Laboratory. EERE's research efforts confirmed the MEP findings
that the goods included in this waiver are not produced in the United
States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a
satisfactory quality.
The nonavailability determination is also informed by the inquiries
and petitions to EERE from recipients of EERE Recovery Act funds, and
from suppliers, distributors, retailers and trade associations--all
stating that their individual efforts to locate domestic manufacturers
for these items have been unsuccessful.
Specific technical information for the manufactured goods included
in this non-availability determination is detailed below:
(1) 400amp Dual Element Time-Delay Fuses for electric vehicle
supply equipment (EVSE) charging station
These are used in the installation of EV charging stations. Two
national trade organizations representing American manufacturers of
this equipment verified that these are not manufactured in the US.
Further, MEP did not identify a potential manufacturer.
(2) Video imaging card rack mounted boards for vehicle presence and
data detection
These card racks are installed into existing traffic systems and
are not manufactured domestically. Neither transportation manufacturing
trade associations nor MEP identified any US manufacturer of this
product.
(3) 20-ton split system heat pump that meets a minimum static
pressure requirement of 3.0 inches of water column (only where the 3.0
water column is a requirement of the system)
This waiver is limited to systems that require compatibility with
this extremely high water column. No US manufacturers (four
manufacturers of this type of equipment were identified by EERE and MEP
and contacted) were able to meet this need.
(4) Network manager for conversion of proprietary protocol- Staefa
brand system to a non-proprietary open source protocol
For use where a Staefa system was installed previously, and where
utilizing a domestic control module would mean that the existing energy
management controls would have to be removed and a new energy
management controls system would have to replace the existing Staefa
system. This product allows the grantee to convert from the proprietary
protocol to an open-source protocol- providing a wider variety of
controls in the future.
In these cases, the grantee is unable to use a domestic control
module because the existing system runs off of a proprietary
communication protocol (rather than LON or BACnet), and the entire
system would have to be replaced to install additional controllers.
Trade organizations, DOE and MEP all agreed that this was the only
controller capable of properly interfacing with this protocol.
In light of the foregoing, and under the authority of section
1605(b)(2) of Public Law 111-5 and Redelegation Order 00-002-01E, with
respect to Recovery Act projects funded by EERE, I hereby issue a
``determination of inapplicability'' (a waiver under the Recovery Act
Buy American provision) for: ((1) 400amp Dual Element Time-Delay Fuses
for electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) charging station; (2)
Video imaging card rack mounted boards for vehicle presence and data
detection; (3) 20-ton split system heat pump that meets a minimum
static pressure requirement of 3.0 inches of water column (only where
the 3.0 water column is a requirement of the system); and (4) network
manager for conversion of proprietary protocol- Staefa brand system- to
a non-proprietary open source protocol.
Having established a proper justification based on domestic
nonavailability, EERE hereby provides notice that on January 24, 2012,
four (4) nationwide categorical waivers of section 1605 of the Recovery
Act were issued as detailed supra. This notice constitutes the detailed
written justification required by Section 1605(c) for waivers based on
a finding under subsection (b).
This waiver determination is pursuant to the delegation of
authority by the Secretary of Energy to the Assistant Secretary for
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy with respect to expenditures
within the purview of his responsibility. Consequently, this waiver
applies to all EERE projects carried out under the Recovery Act.
Authority: Pub. L. 111-5, section 1605.
Dated: Issued in Washington, DC, on January 24, 2012.
Henry Kelly,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,
U.S. Department of Energy.
[FR Doc. 2012-3939 Filed 2-17-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
