Request for Information and Notice of Stakeholder Listening Session on a Rural Energy Pilot Program, 16575-16576 [2021-06489]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
• Rural Business-Cooperative Service

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 59 (Tuesday, March 30, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16575-16576]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-06489]


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 59 / Tuesday, March 30, 2021 / 
Notices

[[Page 16575]]



DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Business-Cooperative Service

[Docket No. RBS-21-Business-0010]


Request for Information and Notice of Stakeholder Listening 
Session on a Rural Energy Pilot Program

AGENCY: Rural Business-Cooperative Service, USDA.

ACTION: Request for information (RFI) and Notice of Stakeholder 
listening session for a Rural Energy Pilot Program.

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SUMMARY: The Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBCS) is requesting 
public input from interested parties and hosting a listening session on 
a new Rural Energy Pilot Program. The RBCS is exploring options to 
provide financial assistance for rural communities to further develop 
renewable energy; as authorized in The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 
2021. Additionally, RBCS requests input regarding the purposes, goals, 
participants, technologies, and community impacts of the Rural Energy 
Pilot Program.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, April 29, 2021. Comments received after the 
posted deadline will not be considered, regardless of postmark.
    Listening session will be held on:

Thursday, April 22, 2021, 2 p.m.-4:30 p.m. EDT virtually at, https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5335247546266883854

ADDRESSES: Comments submitted in response to this notice may be 
submitted online via the Federal eRulmaking Portal. Go to https://www.regulations.gov and search for the Docket ID RBS-21-Business-0010. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. All comments 
received will be posted without change and will be publicly available 
on regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anthony Crooks, USDA, Rural 
Development, telephone (202) 205-9322, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Overview

    The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Pub. L. 116-260) 
authorized and appropriated $10 million to remain available until 
expended for the Secretary of Agriculture to carry out a pilot program 
to provide financial assistance for rural communities to further 
develop renewable energy. This RFI and Stakeholder Listening Session 
seek information from the public to help develop options for the Rural 
Energy Pilot Program to support the Nation's critical energy needs for 
climate change while advancing environmental justice, racial equity, 
and economic opportunity through the development and deployment of 
distributed energy technologies, innovations, and/or solutions.
    Public comment is requested on the following topics in particular:
     Program purposes, goals, metrics, and standards;
     Eligible applicants, participants, partners including but 
not limited to communities, residencies, industry, and commercial 
entities;
     Eligible technologies including but not limited to 
generation, storage, controller, and grid;
     Potential impact of the pilot program and renewable energy 
systems more broadly on each of the following: Environmental justice, 
racial equity, and economic opportunity;
     Options to measure and maximize the benefits of renewable 
energy systems for environmental justice, racial equity, and economic 
opportunity in rural areas.
    This effort will build on prior investments and experience gained 
through past small-scale energy solutions, social justice reforms, and 
climate change mitigation programs.
    Through the RFI and listening session process, the agency is 
seeking input from the public, including but not limited interested 
individuals, prospective participants, prospective partners/
stakeholders, communities, commercial enterprises, industries, and/or 
technology providers.
    The RFI and the listening session are intended to identify gaps and 
vulnerabilities that may benefit from the attention of the Federal 
government as well as areas to promote or protect through the Rural 
Energy Pilot Program. The information can include suggestions on those 
areas of greatest priority as well as past or future Federal government 
efforts to develop and implement programs to build, promote, and 
sustain distributed energy solutions and otherwise advance 
environmental justice, racial equity, and economic opportunity. The 
public input provided in response to the RFI and listening session will 
inform USDA as well as private sector, public bodies, and other 
stakeholders with interest in and expertise relating to the development 
and deployment of renewable energy systems.
    Addressing the climate crisis, ensuring racial equity, and 
rebuilding the rural economy are among the agency's top priorities, 
which respondents are encouraged to consider in their reply. USDA is 
dedicated to meeting the challenges facing rural America and building 
back better, stronger, and more resilient and equitably than ever 
before.

Instructions

    Response to this notice is voluntary. Each individual or 
institution is requested to submit only one response as directed in the 
ADDRESSES section of this notice. Submission must not exceed 10 pages 
in 12 point or larger font, with a page number provided on each page. 
Responses should include the name of the person(s) or organization(s) 
filing the comment.
    Comments containing references, studies, research, and other 
empirical data that are not widely published should include copies or 
electronic links of the referenced materials.
    Comments containing profanity, vulgarity, threats, or other 
inappropriate language or content will not be considered. Comments 
submitted in response to this notice are subject to Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA). Responses to this notice may also be posted, 
without change, on a Federal website. Therefore, we request that no 
business proprietary information, copyrighted information, or 
personally identifiable information be submitted in response to this 
notice. In accordance with FAR 52-215-3(b), responses to this

[[Page 16576]]

notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by the Government to form 
a binding contract. Additionally, the U.S. Government will not pay for 
response preparation or for the use of any information contained in the 
response.
    To inform the Federal government's decision-making and establish 
the Nation's guiding principles in the promotion of the Rural Energy 
Pilot Program, USDA now seeks public input on how U.S. Government 
action might appropriately support the expansion of a nationwide 
effort. To that end, responders are specifically requested to answer 
one or more of the following questions in their submissions.
    Consortia responses are also encouraged.
    1. How might distributed energy technologies, innovations, and/or 
solutions be deployed to advance environmental justice, racial equity, 
and economic opportunity?
    2. What specific distributed energy technologies, innovations, and/
or solutions are available or have the potential to advance 
environmental justice, racial equity, and economic opportunity through 
their deployment and/or development?
    3. What type of assistance or incentive (made available through a 
Rural Energy Pilot Program) would encourage the development and 
deployment of such distributed energy technologies, innovations, and/or 
solutions?
    4. How should USDA measure, assess, and analyze the impacts of 
distributed energy solutions on environmental justice, racial equity, 
and economic opportunity?
    5. Who should be eligible to receive such assistance?
    6. What types of technology and/or infrastructure should be 
eligible under such a Rural Energy Pilot Program?
    a. Generation;
    b. Storage;
    c. Controller/smart grid.
    7. Should a Rural Energy Pilot Program incentivize efficiency, 
resilience, or some other value?
    8. Should the Rural Energy Pilot Program include minimum standards 
for equipment? Or a recognized standard of development such as 
commercially available?
    9. What types of efforts have proven to be effective to promote the 
deployment of distributed energy solutions or innovations that advance 
or have the potential to advance environmental justice, racial equity, 
and economic opportunity?
    a. What are the technologies associated with these efforts?
    b. Why and how do these technologies advance of environmental 
justice, racial equity, and economic opportunity?
    c. Should there be a minimum investment requirement?
    10. If cost-sharing is required, what minimum level of cost-share 
(owner contribution) should be required of recipients of funding? What 
would you consider to be the most cost-effective level of cost-share 
while also supporting the objective of advancing environmental justice, 
racial equity, and economic opportunity?
    11. What programmatic or administrative structures, policies, 
incentives, or requirements will support the advancement of 
environmental justice, racial equity, and economic opportunity through 
the Rural Energy Pilot Program? What structures, policies, incentives, 
or requirements might obstruct or otherwise undermine its advancement?
    12. What programmatic or administrative and other barriers exist 
that may limit participation in the Rural Energy Pilot Program or the 
availability of program benefits? What should be done to ensure 
equitable program participation by those who would otherwise be 
unlikely to apply? What specific actions could USDA take to guide a 
transformation and/or expansion of a Rural Energy Pilot Program, in 
both the short- and long-term?
    13. Given the objective, how should USDA measure the outcomes of 
the Rural Energy Pilot Program?
    14. To what extent should current investments be required to 
accommodate future, anticipated technologies?
    15. Please provide feedback on the effectiveness of any known 
distributed energy or rural energy pilot program of which you are 
aware.
    16. From your perspective, how much post-award reporting is 
reasonable for recipients of funding?

Non-Discrimination Statement

    In accordance with Federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of 
Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its 
agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or 
administering USDA Programs are prohibited from discriminating based on 
race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including 
gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital 
status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance 
program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil 
rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA 
(not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing 
deadlines vary by program or incident.
    Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of 
communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, 
audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible 
Agency or USDA's TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or 
contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339. 
Additionally, program information may be made available in languages 
other than English.
    To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA 
Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at https://www.usda.gov/oascr/how-to-file-a-program-discrimination-complaint and 
at any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in 
the letter all of the information requested in the form. To request a 
copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed 
form or letter to USDA by:

(1) Mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Assistant 
Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 
20250-9410; or
(2) Email: [email protected]

    USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

Mark Brodziski,
Acting Administrator, Rural Business-Cooperative Service.
[FR Doc. 2021-06489 Filed 3-29-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-XY-P