Department of Agriculture November 25, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Rural Business-Cooperative Service (the Agency) Notice of Solicitation of Applications (NOSA) is being issued prior to passage of a final appropriations act to allow potential applicants time to submit applications for financial assistance under Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) for Federal Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 and give the Agency time to process applications within the current FY. This NOSA is being issued prior to enactment of full year appropriation for FY 2021. The Agency anticipates publishing a final rule for REAP later this year which will conform in part to the OneRD Guaranteed loan provisions published in the Federal Register on July 14, 2020 and will outline provisions as prescribed by the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (Pub. L. 115-334), (2018 Farm Bill). It is the Agency's intention that the final REAP rule will codify REAP scoring criteria as outlined in this NOSA. All REAP applications competing for FY 2021 funding will be scored according to the scoring criteria listed in this NOSA. Applicants who have already filed REAP applications for FY 2021 will be allowed to provide additional information necessary for application scoring, and the modification will not be treated as a new application nor will it alter the submission date of record as noted in 4280.110(e). The Agency will publish the amount of funding received in any continuing resolution or the final appropriations act on its website at https://www.rd.usda.gov/newsroom/notices-solicitation- applications-nosas. Expenses incurred in developing applications will be at the applicant's risk. The REAP program has two types of funding assistance: (1) Renewable Energy Systems, Energy Efficiency Improvements and Energy Efficient Equipment and Systems Assistance and (2) Energy Audit and Renewable Energy Development Assistance Grants. The Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvement Assistance provides grants and guaranteed loans to agricultural producers and rural small businesses to purchase and install renewable energy systems and make energy efficiency improvements to their operations. The Energy Efficient Equipment and Systems Assistance provisions were prescribed by the 2018 Farm Bill and provide guaranteed loans only to agricultural producers to purchase and install energy efficient equipment and systems for agricultural production and processing. Eligible renewable energy systems for REAP provide energy from: Wind, solar, renewable biomass (including anaerobic digesters and biogas), small hydro-electric, ocean, geothermal, or hydrogen derived from these renewable resources. Components and ancillary infrastructure of such renewable energy systems, such as a storage system, are also eligible. The Energy Audit and Renewable Energy Development Assistance Grant is available to a unit of State, Tribal, or local government; instrumentality of a State, Tribal, or local government; institution of higher education; rural electric cooperative; a public power entity; or a council, as defined in 16 U.S.C. 3451. The recipient of grant funds (grantee) will establish a program to assist agricultural producers and rural small businesses with evaluating the energy efficiency and the potential to incorporate renewable energy technologies into their operations.

This rulemaking proposes to codify three menu planning flexibilities established by the interim final rule titled, Child Nutrition Programs: Flexibilities for Milk, Whole Grains, and Sodium Requirements published November 30, 2017, and made permanent with some modifications by a final rule of the same title published December 12, 2018, hereafter referred to as the 2018 Final Rule. An April 2020 court decision vacated and remanded the 2018 Final Rule. In response to the vacatur and remand of the 2018 Final Rule, this rule proposes targeted changes to: Allow National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program operators to permanently offer flavored, low-fat milk as part of a reimbursable meal and for sale as a competitive beverage and allow flavored, low-fat milk in the Special Milk Program for Children and in the Child and Adult Care Food Program for participants ages 6 and older; allow for half of the weekly grains in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program menus to be whole grain-rich; and provide schools participating in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Programs more time for gradual sodium reduction by retaining Sodium Target 1 through the end of school year (SY) 2023- 2024, continuing to Target 2 in SY 2024-2025, and eliminating the Final Target.