Brownfields Utilization, Investment and Local Development (BUILD) Act, 29782-29783 [2018-13719]

Download as PDF 29782 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 123 / Tuesday, June 26, 2018 / Notices Description: § 4(d) Rate Filing: Negotiated Rate Service Agreement— EQT Energy, LLC 6–19–2018 to be effective 6/19/2018. Filed Date: 6/18/18. Accession Number: 20180618–5038. Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 7/2/18. The filings are accessible in the Commission’s eLibrary system by clicking on the links or querying the docket number. Any person desiring to intervene or protest in any of the above proceedings must file in accordance with Rules 211 and 214 of the Commission’s Regulations (18 CFR 385.211 and 385.214) on or before 5:00 p.m. Eastern time on the specified comment date. Protests may be considered, but intervention is necessary to become a party to the proceeding. eFiling is encouraged. More detailed information relating to filing requirements, interventions, protests, service, and qualifying facilities filings can be found at: https://www.ferc.gov/ docs-filing/efiling/filing-req.pdf. For other information, call (866) 208–3676 (toll free). For TTY, call (202) 502–8659. Dated: June 20, 2018. Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr., Deputy Secretary. [FR Doc. 2018–13663 Filed 6–25–18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6717–01–P ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL–9979–09–Region 6] Clean Air Act Operating Permit Program; Petitions for Objection to State Operating Permit for South Louisiana Methanol L.P., St. James Methanol Plant in St. James Parish, Louisiana Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice of final Order on Petitions for objection to Clean Air Act title V operating permit. AGENCY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator signed an Order dated May 29, 2018 denying a Petition dated December 29, 2016 and a Petition dated August 10, 2017 from the Louisiana Environmental Action Network and the Sierra Club (collectively, the Petitions and Petitioners, respectively). The Petitions requested that the EPA object to the Clean Air Act (CAA) title V operating permit 1560–00292–V1 issued on June 30, 2017 by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) to South Louisiana Methanol, L.P. (SLM) for its sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES SUMMARY: VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:24 Jun 25, 2018 Jkt 244001 Methanol Plant located in St. James, St. James Parish, Louisiana. ADDRESSES: The EPA requests that you contact the individual listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to view copies of the final Order, the Petition, and other supporting information. You may review copies of the final Order, the Petition, and other supporting information at the EPA Region 6 Office, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 700, Dallas, TX 75202. You may view the hard copies Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., excluding federal holidays. If you wish to examine these documents, you should make an appointment at least 24 hours before the visiting day. Additionally, the final Order and Petition are available electronically at: https://www.epa.gov/ title-v-operating-permits/title-v-petitiondatabase. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brad Toups, EPA Region 6, by phone (214) 665–7258, or email at toups.brad@ epa.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The CAA affords the EPA a 45-day period to review and object to, as appropriate, operating permits proposed by state permitting authorities under title V of the CAA. Section 505(b)(2) of the CAA authorizes any person to petition the EPA Administrator to object to a title V operating permit within 60 days after the expiration of the EPA’s 45-day review period if the EPA has not objected on its own initiative. Petitions must be based only on objections to the permit that were raised with reasonable specificity during the public comment period provided by the state, unless the petitioner demonstrates that it was impracticable to raise these issues during the comment period or unless the grounds for the issues arose after this period. EPA received a first petition from the Petitioners on December 29, 2016 and a second petition from the same Petitioners on August 10, 2017 for the operating permit issued on June 30, 2017 to SLM for its Methanol Facility located in St. James Parish, Louisiana. The Petitioners requested that the Administrator object to the proposed operating permit issued by the LDEQ to SLM based on eight primary claims in the Petition. The claims are described in detail in Section IV of the Order. In summary, the issues raised include: Matters properly addressable through preconstruction permit requirements, such as the establishment of proper preconstruction emission limits and standards (various claims, introduction to Order Section IV); claims concerning the failure to require Best Available PO 00000 Frm 00042 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 4703 Control Technology (Claim IV); claims of permit condition unenforceability (Claim V); claims of unenforceability of emissions limits that apply to the boiler (Claim V.A), the Reformer Vent (Claim V.B), the flare (Claim V.D), the crude methanol tank (Claim V.E), the cooling towers (Claim V. G), from miscellaneous fired sources (Claim V.F), including CO2e emissions from such fired sources (Claim V.C). On May 29, 2018, the EPA Administrator issued an Order denying the Petitions. The Order explains the basis for EPA’s decision. Sections 307(b) and 505(b)(2) of the CAA provide that a petitioner may request judicial review of those portions of an order that deny issues in a petition. Any petition for review shall be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit no later than August 27, 2018. Dated: June 15, 2018. Anne Idsal, Regional Administrator, Region 6. [FR Doc. 2018–13652 Filed 6–25–18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560–50–P ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY [FRL–9979–38–OLEM] Brownfields Utilization, Investment and Local Development (BUILD) Act Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Notice. AGENCY: The Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local Development (BUILD) Act was enacted on March 23, 2018 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. The BUILD Act reauthorized the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Brownfields Program, and made amendments to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), as amended by the 2002 Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. These amendments affect brownfields grants, ownership and liability provisions, and State & Tribal Response Programs. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing policy and guidance to implement the BUILD Act amendments. As part of this process, the EPA is soliciting comment on three provisions in the BUILD Act: The authority to increase the per-site cleanup grant amounts to $500,000, the new multipurpose grant authority, and the new small community assistance grant authority. SUMMARY: E:\FR\FM\26JNN1.SGM 26JNN1 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 123 / Tuesday, June 26, 2018 / Notices Comments will be accepted through July 10, 2018. DATES: Please send any comments to BUILDAct@epa.gov no later than July 10, 2018. ADDRESSES: FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel Lentz, U.S. EPA, (202) 566–2745, lentz.rachel@epa.gov or Megan Quinn, U.S. EPA, (202) 566–2773, quinn.megan@epa.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Publication of this notice will start a two-week comment period for stakeholders to respond to the questions included in this notice. Comments will be accepted through July 10, 2018. EPA expects to develop policy on these three grant programs and incorporate them into the Agency’s guidelines for the FY 2019 brownfields grant cycle. Background The Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local Development (BUILD) Act was enacted on March 23, 2018 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. The BUILD Act reauthorized the EPA’s Brownfields Program, and made amendments to CERCLA, as amended by the 2002 Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act. These amendments affect brownfields grants, ownership and liability provisions, and State & Tribal Response Programs. The EPA is developing policy and guidance to implement the BUILD Act. As part of that process, the EPA is soliciting comment on three provisions in the BUILD Act: The authority to increase the per site cleanup grant amounts to $500,000, the new multi-purpose grant authority, and the new small community assistance grant authority. sradovich on DSK3GMQ082PROD with NOTICES Cleanup Grant Policy The BUILD Act amended CERCLA Section 104(k)(3)(A)(ii) to increase the ceiling for brownfields cleanup grant funding from $200,000 to $500,000 per site; eligible entities can request a waiver up to $650,000 per site, based on the anticipated level of contamination, size, or ownership status of the site. The applicant must own the site to expend any resources on cleanup at the site. The Agency’s primary concern is one of community access to brownfields cleanup funds. Increasing the amount of single cleanup grants will most likely decrease the total number of grants that may be awarded in any given fiscal year, therefore decreasing the number of brownfield sites cleaned-up and communities served, particularly when annual appropriations remain level or decrease. VerDate Sep<11>2014 17:24 Jun 25, 2018 Jkt 244001 Given these parameters, the Agency is interested in receiving comments from communities and other stakeholders on the following considerations: 1. If a community receives a $500,000 cleanup grant, how likely is it that the community could meet the 20 percent cost share statutory requirement (CERCLA 104(k)(10)(B)(iii))? How would communities meet the 20 percent cost share requirement? Do stakeholders support a higher per grant funding amount, with cost share requirement of less than 20 percent, even if the result is fewer communities will receive brownfields cleanup grants? 2. In your community’s experience, how long does the average brownfield cleanup take to complete? Please provide information on the average length of time, including from the time of state review and approval of a cleanup plan to the time when the brownfield site is ready for reuse. What are the barriers your community experiences in getting a brownfield site cleaned up and ready for reuse? Multipurpose Grant Policy The BUILD Act established a new Multipurpose Brownfield Grant program. Under this new authority, EPA may provide a maximum of $1 million in funding per grant to an eligible entity to inventory, characterize, assess, plan for or remediate one or more brownfield sites within a target area. The statute requires that a Multipurpose Grant recipient own the brownfields property prior to expending grant resources to remediate the property. The grant funding may be made available to a grant recipient for a maximum of five years. While the EPA has authority to award multipurpose grants up to $1,000,000, the EPA is considering piloting the grants at no more than $700,000. Given these parameters, the Agency is interested in receiving comments from communities and other stakeholders on the following considerations: 1. Do communities most need funding for brownfields inventory, planning, site assessment or site remediation activities? 2. Do communities typically have in place an ‘‘overall plan for revitalization of the one or more brownfields within the proposed area in which the multipurpose grant will be used’’ or would they most likely need to create this plan using multipurpose grant funds? 3. What is a reasonable number of accomplishments (e.g., brownfields site assessments and site cleanups) to expect from a grant recipient that receives a PO 00000 Frm 00043 Fmt 4703 Sfmt 9990 29783 $700,000 multipurpose grant over a fiveyear grant period? 4. What complications and barriers will affect a grant recipient’s ability to achieve these accomplishments? 128(a) Small Grant Policy The BUILD Act added a new authority for the EPA to make grants to states and tribes to provide training, technical assistance or research assistance to support a small or disadvantaged community up to $20,000 per community. Site specific assessment and cleanup activities are not allowable expenditures under this grant authority. The EPA is developing further guidance on (1) the types of activities that are eligible expenses (including examples of such activities) and (2) the evaluation criteria that the EPA will use for evaluating and selecting proposals. Accordingly, the EPA is soliciting comment on the following issues: 1. The EPA anticipates that state and tribes may provide the following activities to small and disadvantaged communities under this grant: Brownfields outreach and education, technical support, economic or market analyses to support the identification of reuse options for a brownfield site, the implementation or use of the EPA’s Land Revitalization tools, and preparation of a needs assessment for developing a Tribal Response Program. What other types of activities should be considered as eligible expenditures under this grant program? 2. The EPA plans to include the following evaluation criteria for proposals submitted under this grant program: Description of the target community, description/purpose of the proposed project, expected outcomes, description of key activities, what entity will be conducting the activities (e.g., state, tribe, contractor), leveraged resources being provided (as necessary), approximate timeline for completing the eligible activities, the amount of funding requested, an explanation of why existing state and tribal funding is inadequate to conduct or complete the eligible activities, and a demonstration of support from the community that will benefit from the funded activity. What other types of evaluation criteria may be useful for the EPA to use when evaluating proposals and selecting grant recipients? Dated: June 6, 2018. David R. Lloyd, Director, Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, Office of Land and Emergency Management. [FR Doc. 2018–13719 Filed 6–25–18; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560–50–P E:\FR\FM\26JNN1.SGM 26JNN1

Agencies

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 123 (Tuesday, June 26, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29782-29783]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-13719]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9979-38-OLEM]


Brownfields Utilization, Investment and Local Development (BUILD) 
Act

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local Development 
(BUILD) Act was enacted on March 23, 2018 as part of the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2018. The BUILD Act reauthorized the Environmental 
Protection Agency's (EPA's) Brownfields Program, and made amendments to 
the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability 
Act (CERCLA), as amended by the 2002 Small Business Liability Relief 
and Brownfields Revitalization Act. These amendments affect brownfields 
grants, ownership and liability provisions, and State & Tribal Response 
Programs. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is developing 
policy and guidance to implement the BUILD Act amendments. As part of 
this process, the EPA is soliciting comment on three provisions in the 
BUILD Act: The authority to increase the per-site cleanup grant amounts 
to $500,000, the new multi-purpose grant authority, and the new small 
community assistance grant authority.

[[Page 29783]]


DATES: Comments will be accepted through July 10, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Please send any comments to [email protected] no later than 
July 10, 2018.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel Lentz, U.S. EPA, (202) 566-
2745, [email protected] or Megan Quinn, U.S. EPA, (202) 566-2773, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Publication of this notice will start a two-
week comment period for stakeholders to respond to the questions 
included in this notice. Comments will be accepted through July 10, 
2018. EPA expects to develop policy on these three grant programs and 
incorporate them into the Agency's guidelines for the FY 2019 
brownfields grant cycle.

Background

    The Brownfields Utilization, Investment, and Local Development 
(BUILD) Act was enacted on March 23, 2018 as part of the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2018. The BUILD Act reauthorized the EPA's 
Brownfields Program, and made amendments to CERCLA, as amended by the 
2002 Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization 
Act. These amendments affect brownfields grants, ownership and 
liability provisions, and State & Tribal Response Programs. The EPA is 
developing policy and guidance to implement the BUILD Act. As part of 
that process, the EPA is soliciting comment on three provisions in the 
BUILD Act: The authority to increase the per site cleanup grant amounts 
to $500,000, the new multi-purpose grant authority, and the new small 
community assistance grant authority.

Cleanup Grant Policy

    The BUILD Act amended CERCLA Section 104(k)(3)(A)(ii) to increase 
the ceiling for brownfields cleanup grant funding from $200,000 to 
$500,000 per site; eligible entities can request a waiver up to 
$650,000 per site, based on the anticipated level of contamination, 
size, or ownership status of the site. The applicant must own the site 
to expend any resources on cleanup at the site. The Agency's primary 
concern is one of community access to brownfields cleanup funds. 
Increasing the amount of single cleanup grants will most likely 
decrease the total number of grants that may be awarded in any given 
fiscal year, therefore decreasing the number of brownfield sites 
cleaned-up and communities served, particularly when annual 
appropriations remain level or decrease.
    Given these parameters, the Agency is interested in receiving 
comments from communities and other stakeholders on the following 
considerations:
    1. If a community receives a $500,000 cleanup grant, how likely is 
it that the community could meet the 20 percent cost share statutory 
requirement (CERCLA 104(k)(10)(B)(iii))? How would communities meet the 
20 percent cost share requirement? Do stakeholders support a higher per 
grant funding amount, with cost share requirement of less than 20 
percent, even if the result is fewer communities will receive 
brownfields cleanup grants?
    2. In your community's experience, how long does the average 
brownfield cleanup take to complete? Please provide information on the 
average length of time, including from the time of state review and 
approval of a clean-up plan to the time when the brownfield site is 
ready for reuse. What are the barriers your community experiences in 
getting a brownfield site cleaned up and ready for reuse?

Multipurpose Grant Policy

    The BUILD Act established a new Multipurpose Brownfield Grant 
program. Under this new authority, EPA may provide a maximum of $1 
million in funding per grant to an eligible entity to inventory, 
characterize, assess, plan for or remediate one or more brownfield 
sites within a target area. The statute requires that a Multipurpose 
Grant recipient own the brownfields property prior to expending grant 
resources to remediate the property. The grant funding may be made 
available to a grant recipient for a maximum of five years. While the 
EPA has authority to award multipurpose grants up to $1,000,000, the 
EPA is considering piloting the grants at no more than $700,000.
    Given these parameters, the Agency is interested in receiving 
comments from communities and other stakeholders on the following 
considerations:
    1. Do communities most need funding for brownfields inventory, 
planning, site assessment or site remediation activities?
    2. Do communities typically have in place an ``overall plan for 
revitalization of the one or more brownfields within the proposed area 
in which the multipurpose grant will be used'' or would they most 
likely need to create this plan using multipurpose grant funds?
    3. What is a reasonable number of accomplishments (e.g., 
brownfields site assessments and site cleanups) to expect from a grant 
recipient that receives a $700,000 multipurpose grant over a five-year 
grant period?
    4. What complications and barriers will affect a grant recipient's 
ability to achieve these accomplishments?

128(a) Small Grant Policy

    The BUILD Act added a new authority for the EPA to make grants to 
states and tribes to provide training, technical assistance or research 
assistance to support a small or disadvantaged community up to $20,000 
per community. Site specific assessment and cleanup activities are not 
allowable expenditures under this grant authority. The EPA is 
developing further guidance on (1) the types of activities that are 
eligible expenses (including examples of such activities) and (2) the 
evaluation criteria that the EPA will use for evaluating and selecting 
proposals.
    Accordingly, the EPA is soliciting comment on the following issues:
    1. The EPA anticipates that state and tribes may provide the 
following activities to small and disadvantaged communities under this 
grant: Brownfields outreach and education, technical support, economic 
or market analyses to support the identification of reuse options for a 
brownfield site, the implementation or use of the EPA's Land 
Revitalization tools, and preparation of a needs assessment for 
developing a Tribal Response Program. What other types of activities 
should be considered as eligible expenditures under this grant program?
    2. The EPA plans to include the following evaluation criteria for 
proposals submitted under this grant program: Description of the target 
community, description/purpose of the proposed project, expected 
outcomes, description of key activities, what entity will be conducting 
the activities (e.g., state, tribe, contractor), leveraged resources 
being provided (as necessary), approximate timeline for completing the 
eligible activities, the amount of funding requested, an explanation of 
why existing state and tribal funding is inadequate to conduct or 
complete the eligible activities, and a demonstration of support from 
the community that will benefit from the funded activity. What other 
types of evaluation criteria may be useful for the EPA to use when 
evaluating proposals and selecting grant recipients?

    Dated: June 6, 2018.
David R. Lloyd,
Director, Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, Office of Land 
and Emergency Management.
[FR Doc. 2018-13719 Filed 6-25-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P


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