Rural Utilities Service May 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended), the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) comments on this information collection for which the Agency intends to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The Rural Utilities Service published a final rule in the Federal Register on June 24, 2011, which amended its regulations on Electric and Telecommunications Standards and Specifications for Materials, Equipment and Construction, by codifying specifications for wood poles, stubs and anchor logs, wood crossarms (solid and laminated), transmission timbers and pole keys, and for quality control and inspection of timber products. The Agency also updated these specifications to conform with revisions to the American Wood Preservers' Association (AWPA) standards and follow agency policy on insurance requirements. The document inadvertently published incorrect percentages that would require rejection or re-inspection of the entire lot of poles. This document corrects these errors.

The Rural Housing Service (Agency) is amending regulations on Community Facility Loans, to maintain consistency with standard industry contracts and to make minor revisions to streamline processing applications. These revisions are needed to conform to market and industry changes by updating, clarifying, and modifying the regulatory requirements for community facility construction and development. The amendments to the regulation will streamline current processes and provide for faster reviews of alternate construction contract methods (such as Design/Build and Construction Management) by the Agency's National Office.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) is providing notice of Fiscal Year 2012 awards for its Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) Grant Program. For Fiscal Year 2012, $15 million in grants will be awarded to the top scoring applications in rank order for the national competition announced in the Federal Register on February 24, 2011 (Vol. 76, No. 37). Therefore, applications for DLT grant funds will not be solicited in FY 2012. Many of the applications submitted under the aforementioned Notice, which have been evaluated and scored, represent exemplary projects in their use of telecommunications, computer networks, and related advanced technologies to encourage and improve telemedicine services and distance learning services in rural areas. Only a limited number of these projects, however, could be funded with appropriated FY 2011 funds. The $15 million appropriated in Fiscal Year 2012 will be awarded to fund the highest scoring of these remaining projects according to their ranking position in the 2011 competition. RUS will notify the public when it will be taking new applications

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as amended), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development administers rural utilities programs through the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). The USDA Rural Development invites comments on the following information collections for which the Agency intends to request approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS) announces the availability of $993,000 in grant funds to be competitively awarded for the Household Water Well System (HWWS) Grant Program for fiscal year 2012 (FY 2012). RUS will make grants to qualified private non-profit organizations to establish lending programs for homeowners to borrow up to $11,000 to construct or repair household water wells for an existing home. The HWWS Grant Program is authorized under 7 U.S.C. 1926e. Regulations are contained in 7 CFR 1776.