### 9906 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 34 / Tuesday, February 21, 2012 / Notices

Comments on the proposed
information collection should be submitted electronically to HAVAinfo@eac.gov with Urban/Rural study as the subject line. Written comments on the proposed information
collection can also be sent to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 1201 New York Avenue NW., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, ATTN: Urban/ Rural Study.

Obtaining a Copy of the Survey: To obtain a free copy of the survey: (1)
Access the EAC Web site at

www.eac.gov; (2) write to the EAC (including your address and phone number) at U.S. Election Assistance Commission, 1201 New York Avenue NW., Suite 300, Washington, DC 20005, ATTN: Urban/Rural Study.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT :**  Ms. Karen Lynn-Dyson or Ms. Shelly Anderson at (202) 566–3100.

**SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION :** 

Title and OMB Number: Election
Administration in Urban and Rural Areas; OMB Number Pending.

Summary of the Collection of Information: The survey requests information at the local level concerning the following categories:

Background: (1) Number of years served as an election official; (2) number of registered voters; (3) jurisdiction described as urban or rural; (4) jurisdiction required to provide language assistance; (5) office have full responsibility for elections in the jurisdiction; (6) alternative forms of voting allowed in the jurisdiction (absentee-excuse required, no-excuse absentee, early voting, all vote-by-mail).

Voter Outreach: (7) Type of voter outreach provided to the public; (8)
outreach efforts coordinated with thirdparty/civic organizations; type of voter outreach coordinated; type of organizations with which the jurisdiction works; (9) voter outreach activities that focus on specific groups; (10) cost of voter outreach efforts in 2010; (11) estimated cost of voter outreach efforts in 2012; (12) how voter outreach efforts were paid for; (13) ease or difficulty of engaging in voter outreach; (14) reasons outreach may
have been difficult.

Personnel: (15) Number of paid fulltime, part-time, and temporary staff in 2010; 16) number of poll workers used in 2010; (17) number of paid full-time, part-time, and temporary staff in 2012; (18) number of poll workers used in 2012; (19) poll worker pay; (20) sources for recruiting poll workers; (21) ease or difficulty of obtaining poll workers; (22) reasons obtaining poll workers may have been difficult; (23) jurisdiction offer split shifts for poll workers; (24)
additional comments.

Affected Public (Respondents): Local governments that administer Federal
elections.

Affected Public: Local government. Number of Respondents: 5,000. Responses per Respondent: 1. Estimated Burden Per Response: 45
minutes.

Estimated Total Annual Burden

Hours: 2,250 hours.

Frequency: One-time data collection.

Mark A. Robbins,
Acting Executive Director, U.S. Election

Assistance Commission.

[FR Doc. 2012–3737 Filed 2–17–12; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE 6820–KF–P**

**DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY**

**Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy** 

**Nationwide Categorical Waivers Under Section 1605 (Buy American) of the**  **American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act)** 

**AGENCY :**  Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

**ACTION :**  Notice of limited waivers.

**SUMMARY :**  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is hereby granting a nationwide limited waiver of the Buy American requirements of section 1605 of the Recovery Act under the authority of Section 1605(b)(2), (iron, steel, and the relevant manufactured goods are not produced in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality), with respect to Recovery Act projects funded by EERE for ((1) 400 amp Dual Element Time-Delay Fuses for electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) charging station; (2) Video imaging card
rack mounted boards for vehicle presence and data detection; (3) 20-ton split system heat pump that meets a minimum static pressure requirement of 3.0 inches of water column (only where the 3.0 water column is a requirement of the system); and (4) network manager for conversion of proprietary protocol—Staefa brand system—to a nonproprietary open source protocol.

**DATES :**  Effective Date: 01/24/2012.

**FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT :**  Christine Platt-Patrick, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), (202) 287–1553, Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Mailstop EE–2K, Washington, DC

20585. **SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION :**  Under the authority of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), Public Law 111–5, section 1605(b)(2), the head of a Federal department or agency may issue a ‘‘determination of inapplicability’’ (a waiver of the Buy American provision) if the iron, steel, or relevant manufactured good is not produced or
manufactured in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality (‘‘nonavailability’’). The authority of the Secretary of Energy to make allinapplicability determinations was redelegated to the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), for EERE projects under the Recovery Act, in Redelegation Order No. 00–002.01E, dated April 25, 2011. Pursuant to this delegation the Acting Assistant Secretary, EERE, has concluded that: (1) 400amp Dual Element Time-Delay Fuses for electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) charging station; (2) Video imaging card
rack mounted boards for vehicle presence and data detection; (3) 20-ton split system heat pump that meets a minimum static pressure requirement of 3.0 inches of water column (only where the 3.0 water column is a requirement of the system); and (4) network manager for conversion of proprietary protocol—Staefa brand system—to a nonproprietary open source protocol, are not produced or manufactured in the
United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality. The above items, when used on eligible EERE Recovery Act-funded projects, qualify for the ‘‘nonavailability’’ waiver determination.

EERE has developed a robust process to ascertain in a systematic and expedient manner whether or not there is domestic manufacturing capacity for
the items submitted for a waiver of the Recovery Act Buy American provision. This process involves a close
collaboration with the United States Department of Commerce National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), in order to scour the domestic manufacturing landscape in search of producers before making any nonavailability determinations.

The MEP has 59 regional centers with substantial knowledge of, and connections to, the domestic manufacturing sector. MEP uses their regional centers to ‘scout’ for current or potential manufacturers of the product(s) submitted in a waiver request. In the course of this interagency collaboration, MEP has been able to find exact or partial matches for


### 9907 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 34 / Tuesday, February 21, 2012 / Notices

manufactured goods that EERE grantees had been unable to locate. As a result, in those cases, EERE was able to workwith the grantees to procure Americanmade products rather than granting a

waiver.

Upon receipt of completed waiver requests for the four products in the current waiver, EERE reviewed the information provided and submitted the
relevant technical information to the
MEP. The MEP then used their network
of nationwide centers to scout for
domestic manufacturers. The MEP reported that their scouting process did not locate any domestic manufacturers for these exact or equivalent items.

In addition to the MEP collaboration outlined above, the EERE Buy American
Coordinator worked with other manufacturing stakeholders to scout for domestic manufacturing capacity or an equivalent product for each item
contained in this waiver.

EERE also conducted significant amounts of independent research to supplement MEP’s scouting efforts, including utilizing the solar experts employed by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
EERE’s research efforts confirmed the MEP findings that the goods included in this waiver are not produced in the
United States in sufficient and reasonably available quantities and of a satisfactory quality.

The nonavailability determination is also informed by the inquiries and petitions to EERE from recipients of EERE Recovery Act funds, and from suppliers, distributors, retailers and trade associations—all stating that their
individual efforts to locate domestic
manufacturers for these items have been
unsuccessful.

Specific technical information for the manufactured goods included in this non-availability determination is
detailed below:

(1) 400amp Dual Element Time-Delay Fuses for electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) charging station

These are used in the installation of EV charging stations. Two national trade organizations representing American manufacturers of this equipment
verified that these are not manufactured in the US. Further, MEP did not identify a potential manufacturer.

(2) Video imaging card rack mounted boards for vehicle presence and data
detection

These card racks are installed into existing traffic systems and are not manufactured domestically. Neither transportation manufacturing trade associations nor MEP identified any US manufacturer of this product. (3) 20-ton split system heat pump that meets a minimum static pressure requirement of 3.0 inches of water column (only where the 3.0 water column is a requirement of the system)

This waiver is limited to systems that require compatibility with this extremely high water column. No US manufacturers (four manufacturers of this type of equipment were identified by EERE and MEP and contacted) were
able to meet this need.

(4) Network manager for conversion of proprietary protocol- Staefa brand system to a non-proprietary open source protocol

For use where a Staefa system was installed previously, and where utilizing a domestic control module would mean that the existing energy management controls would have to be removed and a new energy management controls system would have to replace the existing Staefa system. This product allows the grantee to convert from the proprietary protocol to an open-source protocol- providing a wider variety of
controls in the future.

In these cases, the grantee is unable to
use a domestic control module because the existing system runs off of a proprietary communication protocol (rather than LON or BACnet), and the entire system would have to be replaced
to install additional controllers. Trade organizations, DOE and MEP all agreed that this was the only controller capable of properly interfacing with this protocol.

In light of the foregoing, and under the authority of section 1605(b)(2) of Public Law 111–5 and Redelegation Order 00–002–01E, with respect to Recovery Act projects funded by EERE, I hereby issue a ‘‘determination of inapplicability’’ (a waiver under the Recovery Act Buy American provision)for: ((1) 400amp Dual Element TimeDelay Fuses for electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) charging station; (2) Video imaging card rack mounted boards for vehicle presence and data detection; (3) 20-ton split system heat pump that meets a minimum static pressure requirement of 3.0 inches of water column (only where the 3.0 water column is a requirement of the system); and (4) network manager for conversion of proprietary protocol- Staefa brand system- to a non-proprietary open source protocol.

Having established a proper justification based on domestic nonavailability, EERE hereby provides notice that on January 24, 2012, four (4) nationwide categorical waivers of section 1605 of the Recovery Act were
issued as detailed supra. This notice
constitutes the detailed written justification required by Section 1605(c) for waivers based on a finding under subsection (b).

This waiver determination is pursuant to the delegation of authority by the Secretary of Energy to the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy with respect to expenditures within the purview of his responsibility. Consequently, this waiver applies to all EERE projects carried out under the Recovery Act.

Authority: Pub. L. 111–5, section 1605.

Dated: Issued in Washington, DC, on January 24, 2012. Henry Kelly,
Acting Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy.

[FR Doc. 2012–3939 Filed 2–17–12; 8:45 am]

**BILLING CODE 6450–01–P**

**DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY**

**Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy** 

**[Case No. CW–023]**

**Notice of Petition for Waiver of LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc. From the**  **Department of Energy Clothes Washer Test Procedure, and Grant of Interim** 

**Waiver**

**AGENCY :**  Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of Energy.

**ACTION :**  Notice of petition for waiver, notice of grant of interim waiver, and request for comments.

**SUMMARY :**  This notice announces receipt of and publishes the LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc. (LG) petition for waiver and application for interim waiver (hereafter, ‘‘petition’’) from specified portions of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) test procedure for determining the energy consumption of clothes washers. Today’s notice also grants an interim waiver of the clothes washer test procedure. Through this notice, DOE also solicits comments with respect to the LG petition.

**DATES :**  DOE will accept comments, data, and information with respect to the LG petition March 22, 2012.

**ADDRESSES :**  You may submit comments, identified by case number CW–023, by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

• Email:

AS

_ Waiver

_Requests@ee.doe.gov.
Include ‘‘Case No. CW–023’’ in the subject line of the message.