Rural Utilities Service August 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) administers rural utilities programs, including the Telecommunications Program. RUS announces the depreciation rates for telecommunications plant for the period ending December 31, 2017.

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Rural Utilities Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), invites comments on this information collection for which approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) will be requested.

The Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development (Agency) is seeking applications to support regional economic development planning efforts in rural communities under the Rural Economic Development Innovation (REDI) initiative. This funding opportunity will be administered by the Rural Development Innovation Center, in partnership with the Rural Business-Cooperative Service. The Agency is announcing up to $750,000 in competitive cooperative agreement funds in fiscal year (FY) 2018. Rural Development Agency may select one, multiple, or no award recipients. The Agency reserves the right to withhold the awarding of any funds if no application receives a score of at least 60 points. This Notice lists the information needed to submit an application for these funds. This Notice announces that the Agency is accepting FY 2018 applications to support REDI.

The Rural Utilities Service (RUS), an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is announcing funding availability and is soliciting letters of intent for loan applications under the Rural Energy Savings Program (RESP), announcing the application process for those loans and deadlines for applications from eligible entities. These loans are made available under the authority of Section 6407 of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002, as amended, (Section 6407) and Title VII, Section 741 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018. This notice describes the eligibility requirements, the application process and deadlines, the criteria that will be used by RUS to assess Applicants' creditworthiness, and how to obtain application materials. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 appropriated a budget authority of $8,000,000 and authorized that the Secretary may use this funding to allow eligible entities to offer energy efficiency loans to customers in any part of their service territory and may also use this funding for projects replacing manufactured housing units with another manufactured housing unit if the replacement would be more cost effective in saving energy. The Administrator may approve loans proposing to include these new eligible activities for entities currently in the queue provided they still meet the all application requirements, pursuant to this NOFA. The Agency encourages applications that will support recommendations made in the Rural Prosperity Task Force report to help improve life in rural America, See, www.usda.gov/ruralprosperity. Applicants are encouraged to consider projects that provide measurable results in helping rural communities build robust and sustainable economies through strategic investments in infrastructure, partnerships and innovation. Key strategies include: Achieving e-Connectivity for rural America, developing the rural economy, harnessing technological innovation, supporting a rural workforce, and improving quality of life.