Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 27 / Tuesday, February 10, 2004 / Notices 6251

Service, 333 West 8th Street, Medford, 

OR, 97501.

Dated: February 4, 2004. 

M.J. Harvie, 

Fire and Aviation Staff Officer, Rogue RiverSiskiyou National Forest.

[FR Doc. 04–2776 Filed 2–9–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–M

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Rural Utilities Service 

Financing for Household Water Well 

Systems

AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of inquiry.

SUMMARY: The Water and Environmental 

Program within the Rural Utilities 

Service (RUS) is developing regulations 

to implement section 306E of the 

Consolidated Farm and Rural 

Development Act (CONACT). The 

Agency seeks written comments about 

the prospective grant program to an 

entity that will establish a lending 

program for the construction, 

refurbishing, and servicing of 

individually-owned household water 

well systems in rural areas that are or 

will be owned by the eligible 

individuals. RUS believes it is beneficial 

to have the public’s input before 

drafting regulations and this notice of 

inquiry will allow the public’s opinion 

to be considered in the drafting of those 

regulations.

DATES: Interested parties must submit 

written comments on or before March 

11, 2004.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

by any of the following methods: 

• E-mail: RUSComments@usda.gov.

Include in the subject line of the 

message ‘‘Water Well Systems.’’ The email must identify, in the text of the 

message, the name of the individual 

(and name of the entity if applicable) 

who is submitting the comment. 

• Mail: Addressed to Richard Annan, 

Acting Director, Program Development 

and Regulatory Analysis, Rural Utilities 

Service, United States Department of 

Agriculture, 1400 Independence 

Avenue, SW., STOP 1522, Washington, 

DC 20250–1522. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: Addressed 

to Richard Annan, Acting Director, 

Program Development and Regulatory 

Analysis, Rural Utilities Service, United 

States Department of Agriculture, 1400 

Independence Avenue, SW., Room 

5168–S, Washington, DC 20250–1522 

RUS requires, in hard copy, a signed 

original and 3 copies of all written 

comments (7 CFR 1700.4). Comments 

will be available for public inspection 

during normal business hours (7 CFR 

part 1).

FOR FURTHER INFROMATION CONTACT: Gary 

Morgan, Assistant Administrator, Water 

and Environmental Programs, Rural 

Utilities Service, United States 

Department of Agriculture, 1400 

Independence Avenue, SW., stop 1548 

room 5145–S, Washington, DC 20250–

1548. Phone: 202–690–2670. Fax: 202–

720–0718. E-mail: 

gary.morgan@usda.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

On May 13, 2002, the Farm Security 

and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Farm 

Bill) was signed into law as Public Law 

107–171. The CONACT was amended 

by section 6012 of the Farm Bill, by 

adding a grant program to establish a 

lending program. For this program, the 

Secretary may make grants to private 

nonprofit organizations for the purpose 

of providing loans to eligible 

individuals for the construction, 

refurbishing, and servicing of individual 

household water well systems in rural 

areas that are or will be owned by the 

eligible individuals. 

An ‘‘eligible individual’’ means an 

individual who is a member of a 

household the members of which have 

a combined income (for the most recent 

12-month period for which the 

information is available) that is not 

more than 100 percent of the median 

nonmetropolitan household income for 

the State or territory in which the 

individual resides, according to the 

most recent decennial census of the 

United States. 

The terms of a loan made with grant 

funds are as follows: (a) Shall have an 

interest rate of 1 percent; (b) shall have 

a term not to exceed 20 years; and (c) 

shall not exceed $8,000 for each water 

well system. 

A recipient of a grant made under this 

section may use grant funds to pay 

administrative expenses associated with 

providing the assistance described in 

the above paragraph. 

The Secretary may give priority points 

to an applicant that has substantial 

expertise and experience in promoting 

the safe and productive use of 

individually-owned household water 

well systems and ground water. 

This program is authorized to be 

appropriated $10,000,000 for each of 

fiscal years (FY) 2003 through 2007. 

There was no funding appropriated in 

FY 2003. However, the appropriations 

bill for FY 2004 includes $500,000 for 

the grant program; therefore RUS is 

proceeding with the development of a 

regulation in order to implement the 

program. 

RUS encourages interested parties to 

review the Act in its entirety on the 

USDA Web site at http://www.usda.gov/

farmbill/.

Request for Comment 

RUS is requesting comment and 

discussion on the following topics: 

1. RUS is interested in comments 

regarding grantees’ experience with 

individual household water systems and 

the importance of having a staff with 

both technical and lending experience. 

2. In similar RD programs, there is 

either a requirement that the grantee 

provide matching funds or that the 

applicant receives additional priority for 

providing larger matching funds. 

Should there be a requirement to 

leverage funds? Also, should RUS give 

priority points to those who do leverage 

funds? 

3. What percentage of financing 

should be allowed and what percentage 

of the project costs should the borrower 

cover? 

4. Should administrative and 

servicing fees be an eligible grant 

purpose? If so, what should be the limit 

on those fees? 

5. RUS is considering the use of the 

Central Servicing Center for servicing 

the loans, including processing loan 

payments, reviewing financial 

statements, and other responsibilities 

involved in loan servicing. 

6. Several RD lending programs are 

limited to applicants who cannot obtain 

financing from commercial sources at 

reasonable rates and terms. How should 

the homeowner show an inability to 

obtain financing from other sources? 

7. What should be eligible and 

ineligible loan purposes? 

RUS invites interested parties 

including, but not limited to, financial 

and lending institutions, well drillers, 

trade associations, consumer groups and 

individuals to provide RUS, any 

information or analyses they believe to 

be relevant to the issues discussed in 

this Notice and to the implementation of 

the grant program.

Dated: January 16, 2004. 

Hilda Gay Legg, 

Administrator, Rural Utilities Service.

[FR Doc. 04–2764 Filed 2–9–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–15–P