Energy Policy and New Uses Office, Agriculture Department March 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is amending 7 CFR part 2902, Guidelines for Designating Biobased Products for Federal Procurement, to add six sections to designate the following six items within which biobased products will be afforded Federal procurement preference, as provided for under section 9002 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002: Mobile equipment hydraulic fluids; roof coatings; water tank coatings; diesel fuel additives; penetrating lubricants; and bedding, bed linens, and towels. USDA also is establishing minimum biobased content for each of these items. Once USDA designates an item, procuring agencies are required generally to purchase biobased products within these designated items where the purchase price of the procurement item exceeds $10,000 or where the quantity of such items or of functionally equivalent items purchased over the preceding fiscal year equaled $10,000 or more. However, USDA is deferring the effective date for two items (water tank coatings and bedding, bed linens, and towels) until such time that more than one manufacturer of products in these two items is identified. USDA additionally is revising section 2902.2 to add definitions for ``biodegradability,'' ``EPA-designated recovered content product,'' and ``functional unit'' and section 2902.8 to adopt applicable ASTM International performance tests to verify biodegradability.