4030 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 17 / Thursday, January 26, 2012 / Notices 

distance, UL certified, 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. 

In order to utilize this waiver, 

grantees must have taken substantial 

steps towards procurement of these 

items by May 1, 2012. 

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 

manufactured goods that EERE grantees 

had been unable to locate. As a result, 

in those cases, EERE was able to work 

with the grantees to procure Americanmade products rather than granting a 

waiver. 

Upon receipt of completed waiver 

requests for the three 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) 5–25 Watt LED Candelabra Bulbs 

(includes Flame tip, bent tip, A19, S11, 

G16.5 or G25 clear bulb enclosure. 

LED Candelabra or medium base, 

outdoor use, dimmable, mercury free, 

2700 and/or 3000 Kelvin Correlated 

Color Temperature (CCT), 80+ Color 

Rendering Index (CRI), 5–25 watt Flame 

tip, bent tip, A19, S11, G16.5 or G25 

clear bulb enclosure. Domestic 

manufacturers are working to enter the 

market in the near future, however, 

production cannot yet meet the needs of 

current projects. EERE is committed to 

assisting grantees to complete projects 

while supporting domestic 

manufacturing—thus this waiver will 

expire May 1, 2012. 

(2&3) 140 Watt LED fixtures with 10 

degree beams capable of illuminating 

from 100 feet, UL certified; and 27 Watt 

round LED fixtures, producing 1 footcandle at 242 feet distance, UL certified. 

The new LED fixtures represent a 

relatively new, emerging technology 

that can provide comparable light 

output at substantially lower energy 

levels. As a new technology, the number 

of manufacturers, though growing, is 

somewhat limited. Domestic 

manufacturers are working to enter the 

market in the near future, however, 

production cannot yet meet the needs of 

current projects. EERE is committed to 

assisting grantees to complete projects 

while supporting domestic 

manufacturing—thus this waiver will 

expire May 1, 2012. 

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) 5–25 Watt LED Candelabra Bulbs 

(includes Flame tip, bent tip, A19, S11, 

G16.5 or G25 clear bulb enclosure); (2) 

140 Watt LED fixtures with 10 degree 

beams capable of illuminating from 100 

feet, UL certified; and (3) 27 Watt round 

LED fixtures, producing 1 foot-candle at 

242 feet distance, UL certified. This 

waiver expires May 1, 2012. 

Having established a proper 

justification based on domestic 

nonavailability, EERE hereby provides 

notice that on January 10, 2012, three (3) 

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: Public Law 111–5, section 1605. 

Issued in Washington, DC on January 10, 

2012. 

Henry C. Kelly, 

Acting Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2012–1625 Filed 1–25–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy 

Nationwide Limited Public Interest 

Waiver Under 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 public interest 

waiver. 

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)(1) (amended public 

interest waiver), with respect to donated 

manufactured goods. 

DATES: Effective Date: December 6, 2011. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christine Platt Patrick, Weatherization 

and Intergovernmental Program, Office 

of Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy (EERE), (202) 287–1553, 

buyamerican@ee.doe.gov, Department of 

Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue 

SW., Mailstop EE–2K, Washington, DC 

20585. 

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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 17 / Thursday, January 26, 2012 / Notices 4031 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the 

authority of the Recovery Act, section 

1605(b)(1), the head of a Federal 

department or agency may issue a 

‘‘determination of inapplicability’’ (a 

waiver of the Buy American provisions) 

if the application of section 1605 would 

be inconsistent with the public interest. 

On April 25, 2011, the Secretary of 

Energy delegated the authority to make 

all inapplicability determinations to the 

Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy, for EERE 

Recovery Act projects. 

Pursuant to this delegation, the Acting 

Assistant Secretary has determined that 

application of section 1605 restrictions 

would be inconsistent with the public 

interest for items donated (provided at 

zero cost) to EERE-funded Recovery Act 

projects. 

This determination waives the Buy 

American requirements in EERE-funded 

Recovery Act projects for donated 

manufactured goods. This waiver 

Expires May 1, 2012. 

Definitions—Donated means 

manufactured goods provided to the 

project at zero cost. These goods must 

not hold a caveat, expectation, or quidpro-quo of any sort, nor may their 

donation bind the grant recipient in any 

way. The recipient, for example, may 

not agree to pay more for one item, so 

as to have another item donated, nor 

may they promise more business in the 

future in exchange for a donated item. 

The Contracting Officer and the Project 

Officer will be consulted to determine 

whether the goods qualify as donated; 

this will serve to prevent abuse of this 

waiver. This waiver applies only to the 

donated manufactured goods 

themselves. All funds used in the 

project are still subject to the Buy 

American requirements and other 

contract requirements. 

The Buy American provision 

‘‘prohibits use of recovery funds for a 

project for the construction, alteration, 

maintenance, or repair of a public 

building or public work unless all of the 

iron, steel, and manufactured goods 

used in the project are produced in the 

United States.’’ 2 CFR 176. However, in 

a number of cases, grant recipients and 

sub recipients have been able to secure 

offers of donation, for items already 

installed that are non-compliant with 

the Buy American provision of the 

Recovery Act. Offers of donation may 

free up the need to spend federal dollars 

that otherwise would have been spent 

on those donated items and that may 

also count towards the recipient’s cost 

share (10 CFR § 600.224) for grants that 

require cost sharing. When donated 

items are used in a project, freeing up 

allocated Recovery Act funds, grantees 

will work with their Project Officers to 

allocate funds to other projects, or to 

broaden the existing project. The ‘‘freedup’’ Recovery Act funds may not be 

used on the purchase of non-compliant 

manufactured goods in accordance with 

applicable laws. 

For the reasons outlined above, I find 

that it is in the public interest to issue 

a waiver of the Recovery Act Buy 

American provisions that allows 

grantees to use donated manufactured 

goods in EERE funded projects. This 

waiver should not be used as a means 

to circumvent the Recovery Act Buy 

American provisions through 

encouraging recipients to knowingly 

accept non-compliant goods that would 

be used on a Recovery Act project to 

further leverage Recovery Act funds. 

Issuance of this nationwide public 

interest waiver recognizes EERE’s 

commitment to expeditious costing of 

Recovery Act dollars by enabling 

grantees and vendors to easily ascertain 

whether a project complies with the Buy 

American provision. Issuance of this 

waiver removes any need for EERE to 

issue a Recovery Act Buy American 

non-compliance finding and negates 

economic waste that would result by 

having a recipient uninstall or remove a 

donated good that is otherwise 

compliant with the Recovery Act Buy 

American provisions. 

In light of the foregoing, and under 

the authority of section 1605(b)(1) of 

Public Law 111–5 and the Redelegation 

Order of April 25, 2011, with respect to 

Recovery Act projects funded by EERE, 

on December 6, 2011, the Assistant 

Secretary issued a new ‘‘determination 

of inapplicability’’ (a waiver under the 

Recovery Act Buy American provisions) 

for donated manufactured goods. 

The Assistant Secretary reserves the 

right to revisit and amend this 

determination based on new 

information or new developments. 

Authority: Public Law 111–5, section 1605. 

Issued Washington, DC on December 6, 

2011. 

Henry Kelly, 

Acting Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2012–1623 Filed 1–25–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

Combined Notice of Filings #1 

Take notice that the Commission 

received the following electric corporate 

filings: 

Docket Numbers: EC12–59–000. 

Applicants: Old Trail Wind Farm, 

LLC, Telocaset Wind Power Partners, 

LLC, High Prairie Wind Farm II, LLC, 

Cloud County Wind Farm, LLC, Pioneer 

Prairie Wind Farm I, LLC, Sagebrush 

Power Partners, LLC, Arlington Wind 

Power Project LLC, Marble River, LLC, 

Flat Rock Windpower LLC, Blue Canyon 

Windpower LLC, Wheat Field Wind 

Power Project LLC, Lost Lakes Wind 

Farm LLC, Blue Canyon Windpower V 

LLC, Blackstone Wind Farm LLC, 

Meadow Lake Wind Farm IV LLC, 

Blackstone Wind Farm II LLC, Blue 

Canyon Windpower II LLC, High Trail 

Wind Farm, LLC, Meadow Lake Wind 

Farm LLC, Meadow Lake Wind Farm II 

LLC, Meadow Lake Wind Farm III LLC, 

Rail Splitter Wind Farm, LLC, Flat Rock 

Windpower II LLC, Paulding Wind 

Farm II LLC, Blue Canyon Windpower 

VI LLC, China Three Gorges 

Corporation, China Three Gorges 

International (Europe) S.A. 

Description: Application for 

Authorization for Disposition of 

Jurisdictional Facilities and Request for 

Expedited Action of Arlington Wind 

Power Project LLC, et al. 

Filed Date: 1/17/12. 

Accession Number: 20120117–5259. 

Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 2/7/12. 

Take notice that the Commission 

received the following electric rate 

filings: 

Docket Numbers: ER11–3876–001; 

ER11–2044–002; ER10–2611–001. 

Applicants: Cordova Energy 

Company, LLC, MidAmerican Energy 

Company, Saranac Power Partners, L.P. 

Description: Revised Attachment B to 

replace Attachment B in Applicant’s 

June 30 market analysis f Cordova 

Energy Company LLC, et al. 

Filed Date: 7/6/11. 

Accession Number: 20110706–5086. 

Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 1/25/12. 

Docket Numbers: ER12–817–000. 

Applicants: Midwest Independent 

Transmission System Operator, Inc. 

Description: Midwest Independent 

Transmission System Operator, Inc. 

submits tariff filing per 35: 01–17–12 

RAR Compliance Filing to be effective 

7/28/2010. 

Filed Date: 1/17/12. 

Accession Number: 20120117–5229. 

Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 2/7/12. 

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