Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 48 / Monday, March 12, 2012 / Notices 14509 

Crane Div, Code OOL, Bldg 2, 300 

Highway 361, Crane, IN 47522–5001. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Christopher Monsey, Naval Surface 

Warfare Center, Crane Div, Code OOL, 

Bldg 2, 300 Highway 361, Crane, IN 

47522–5001, telephone 812–854–4100. 

Authority: 35 U.S.C. 207, 37 CFR part 404. 

Dated: March 2, 2012. 

L.M. Senay, 

Lieutenant, Office of the Judge Advocate, U.S. 

Navy, Alternate Federal Register Liaison 

Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2012–5869 Filed 3–9–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3810–FF–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

[Docket No. EESEP0216] 

State Energy Program and Energy 

Efficiency and Conservation Block 

Grant (EECBG) Program; Request for 

Information 

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and 

Renewable Energy and Office of the 

General Counsel, Department of Energy. 

ACTION: Request for Information (RFI); 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Energy (DOE or the Department) is 

interested in continuing to promote the 

use of financing mechanisms by 

grantees of the State Energy Program 

(SEP) and Energy Efficiency and 

Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) 

program, in support of energy efficiency 

and renewable energy activities. To 

facilitate this process and to allow 

interested parties to provide 

suggestions, comments, and 

information, DOE is publishing this 

request for information. This request 

identifies several areas on which DOE is 

particularly interested in receiving 

information; however, any input and 

suggestions considered relevant to the 

topic are welcome. 

DATES: Written comments and 

information are requested by April 11, 

2012. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

encouraged to submit comments using 

the Federal eRulemaking Portal at 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Alternatively, interested persons may 

submit comments, identified by docket 

number EESEP0216, by any of the 

following methods: 

• Email: to 

christine.platt@ee.doe.gov. Include 

EESEP0216 in the subject line of the 

message. 

• Mail: Christine Platt Patrick, U.S. 

Department of Energy, Mailstop EE–2K, 

1000 Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0121, Phone: 

(202) 287–1546. Please submit one 

signed paper original. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: Christine 

Platt Patrick, U.S. Department of Energy, 

1000 Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0121, Phone: 

(202) 287–1546. Please submit one 

signed paper original. 

Instructions: All submissions received 

must include the agency name and 

docket number for this request. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents, or 

comments received, go to the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at http://

www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christine Platt Patrick, Policy Advisor, 

U.S Department of Energy, 

Weatherization and Intergovernmental 

Program, Mailstop EE–2K, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585–0121, 

Telephone: (202) 287–1546, Email: 

christine.platt@ee.doe.gov. For legal 

issues contact Chris Calamita, U.S. 

Department of Energy, Office of the 

General Counsel, Forrestal Building, 

Mailstop GC–71, 1000 Independence 

Ave. SW., Washington, DC 20585, 

Telephone: (202) 586–1777, Email: 

christopher.calamita@hq.doe.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Authority and Background 

The Office of Weatherization and 

Intergovernmental Programs (OWIP) is 

seeking to promote the use of 

‘‘evergreen funds’’ among its grantees. 

‘‘Evergreen funds’’ describes generally a 

use of funds that would allow a grantee 

to rely on an initial amount of funding 

to periodically provide support to 

eligible projects in an on-going basis, for 

example through a revolving loan fund 

(RLF) program or a loan loss reserve 

(LLR) program. 

SEP is authorized under the Energy 

Policy and Conservation Act, as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 6321 et seq.) 

Evergreen funds such as RLFs and LLRs 

are eligible uses of funds under SEP to 

the extent that the activities supported 

by the loans are eligible activities under 

the program. The implementing 

regulations for SEP expressly identify 

RLFs as an eligible use of SEP funds (10 

CFR 420.18(d)). 

Title V, Subtitle E of the Energy 

Independence and Security Act, as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 17151–17158) 

authorizes the Department to administer 

the EECBG program. Evergreen funds 

such as revolving loan funds (RLF) and 

loan loss reserves (LLR) are eligible uses 

of funds under the EECBG Program to 

the extent that the activities supported 

by the loans are eligible activities under 

the program. EECBG grantees must 

comply with statutory law regarding 

RLFs. 42 U.S.C. 17155(b)(3)(B) mandates 

a limitation on the use of funds for the 

establishment (i.e., the capitalization) of 

RLFs by formula-eligible units of local 

governments and formula-eligible tribes 

equal to the greater of 20 percent of the 

grantee’s allocation or $250,000. Funds 

used for administrative costs to set up 

a RLF are not subject to this restriction, 

but are subject to the general limitations 

established by statute on administrative 

costs. 

For both SEP and the EECBG Program, 

grantee arrangements for leveraging 

additional public and private sector 

funds, including rebates, grants, and 

other incentives, must be arranged to 

ensure that Federal funds go to support 

eligible activities listed in 42 U.S.C. 

6322(d)(5)(A) for SEP and 42 U.S.C. 

17154(3)–(13) for EECBG. The 

leveraging of funds may be 

accomplished through mechanisms 

such as partnerships with third party 

lenders, co-lending, third party 

administration of loans, and loan loss 

reserves. 

The Department would like to 

continue to promote the use of 

evergreen funds by grantees of the SEP 

and EECBG programs. The Department 

is issuing this initial request for 

information to allow interested parties 

an opportunity to provide information 

that will assist DOE in continuing to 

promote these mechanisms. 

Public Participation 

A. Submission of Information 

DOE will accept comments in 

response to this RFI under the timeline 

provided in the DATES section above. 

Comments submitted to the Department 

through the eRulemaking Portal or by 

email should be provided in 

WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, PDF, or 

text file format. Those responding 

should avoid the use of special 

characters or any form of encryption, 

and wherever possible, comments 

should include the electronic signature 

of the author. Comments submitted to 

the Department by mail or hand 

delivery/courier should include one 

signed original paper copy. No 

telefacsimiles will be accepted. 

Comments submitted in response to 

this notice will become a matter of 

public record and will be made publicly 

available. 

The Department encourages interested 

parties to contact DOE if they would 

like to meet in person to discuss their 

comments. The Department’s policy 


pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
14510 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 48 / Monday, March 12, 2012 / Notices 

governing ex parte communications is 

posted on the Office of the General 

Counsel’s Web site at: http:// 

www.gc.energy.gov/1309.htm. 

B. Issues on Which DOE Seeks 

Information 

For this RFI, DOE requests comments, 

information, and recommendations on 

the following concepts for the purpose 

of the continued use of evergreen funds 

by SEP and EECBG grantees. As set forth 

below, we seek comment on DOE’s 

requirements for (1) Types of Evergreen 

Funds; (2) Ending an Evergreen Fund 

After The End of the Grant Period; (3) 

Monitoring; and (4) Reporting. The 

sequence of these questions does not 

reflect any specific DOE preference. 

(1) Types of Evergreen Funds 

a. Under existing Department rules, 

evergreen funds such as RLFs and LLRs 

are eligible uses of funds under the SEP 

and EECBG Programs to the extent that 

the activities supported by the loans are 

eligible activities under the program. 

DOE would like to continue to promote 

the use of these types of evergreen 

funds. Which types of evergreen funds 

are being used by grantees and 

subgrantees in both programs? What are 

the costs and benefits of using these 

types of evergreen funds? 

b. Currently, the SEP and EECBG 

regulations allow a grantee to elect to 

use a third party to administer evergreen 

funds. What recourse should be 

available for a grantee if a third party 

fails to follow through on properly 

administering the financing 

mechanism? Should that recourse be 

available if the third party fails just once 

to properly administer a financing 

mechanism? Should DOE disallow a 

third party with a history of poor 

performance from acting as a third party 

representative? 

(2) Ending an Evergreen Fund After the 

End of the Grant Period 

Currently, the SEP and EECBG 

programs allow grantees to end or 

reduce funding for a RLF program, LLR, 

or other eligible financing program at 

any time as long as any remaining funds 

are used by the grantee for an eligible 

purpose after submitting and finalizing 

an amendment through the DOE Project 

Officer. Alternatively, the funds may be 

returned to DOE. 

(3) Periodic Reporting 

a. DOE is considering periodic 

reporting by grantees that operate 

evergreen funds that continue beyond 

the grant period specified in the 

Recovery Act grant awards. This 

reporting would be separate from 

reporting requirements for annual 

appropriated funds in both programs. 

DOE seeks comment on whether DOE 

periodic reporting according to 

specified conditions and criteria. 

b. With regard to such periodic 

reporting, the Department seeks 

comment on the following conditions 

and criteria: 

Information Flow 

(i) Should reporting occur more 

frequently than on an annual basis? 

(ii) DOE requests comment on the 

types of information that grantees can 

provide on evergreen funds, for example 

how many loans were issued in the 

period, what types of loans, the dollar 

amount of loans, what projects were 

completed, what loans were paid back. 

(iii) DOE requests comment on when 

information on a loan that is defaulted 

upon can be provided to DOE and what 

other information grantees can provide 

in this situation. 

Cost 

(i) DOE requests comments regarding 

the cost burden placed on grantees for 

the above described reporting. Please 

provide a detailed description of the 

anticipated costs and supporting 

information. 

(4) Monitoring 

a. DOE is considering periodic 

monitoring that would be applicable to 

all evergreen funds that continue 

beyond the grant period specified in the 

Recovery Act grant awards. This 

requirement would be separate from 

monitoring requirements for annual 

appropriated funds in both programs. 

DOE seeks comment on whether 

grantees should conduct periodic 

monitoring according to specified 

conditions and criteria. 

b. With regard to such periodic 

monitoring, the Department seeks 

comment on the following conditions 

and criteria: 

Information Flow 

(i) Should monitoring occur on more 

than an annual basis? 

(ii) DOE requests comment on the 

types of information that grantees can 

provide on evergreen funds, for example 

how many loans were issued in the 

period, what types of loans, the dollar 

amount of loans, what projects were 

completed, what loans were paid back. 

(iii) DOE requests comment on when 

information on a loan that is defaulted 

upon can be provided to DOE and what 

other information grantees can provide 

in this situation. 

(iv) Should monitoring be performed 

by an independent third party, in 

addition to DOE monitoring? 

Cost 

(i) DOE requests comments regarding 

the anticipated cost burden placed on 

grantees for the above described 

monitoring. Please provide a detailed 

description of the costs and supporting 

information. 

Docket: For direct access to the docket 

to read background documents, or 

comments received, visit the Federal 

eRulemaking Portal at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

Procedural Requirements: Today’s 

regulatory action has been determined 

not to be a significant regulatory action 

under section 3(f)(1) of Executive Order 

12866, ‘‘Regulatory Planning and 

Review’’, 58 FR 51735 (Oct. 4, 1993). 

Statutory Authority: 42 U.S.C. 6321 et seq. 

and 42 U.S.C. 17154(14). 

Issued in Washington, DC, on March 6, 

2012. 

AnnaMaria Garcia, 

Acting Program Manager, Weatherization and 

Intergovernmental Program Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2012–5877 Filed 3–9–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

Combined Notice of Filings #2 

Take notice that the Commission 

received the following exempt 

wholesale generator filings: 

Docket Numbers: EG12–37–000. 

Applicants: Atlantic Power (Coastal 

Rivers) Corporation. 

Description: Notice of Self 

Certification of Exempt Wholesale 

Generator Status of Atlantic Power 

(Coastal Rivers) Corporation. 

Filed Date: 3/6/12. 

Accession Number: 20120306–5146. 

Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 3/27/12. 

Docket Numbers: EG12–38–000. 

Applicants: Atlantic Power (Williams 

Lake) Ltd. 

Description: Notice of Self 

Certification of Exempt Wholesale 

Generator Status of Atlantic Power 

(Williams Lake) Ltd. 

Filed Date: 3/6/12. 

Accession Number: 20120306–5147. 

Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 3/27/12. 

Docket Numbers: EG12–39–000. 

Applicants: Atlantic Power Preferred 

Equity, Ltd. 

Description: Notice of Self 

Certification of Exempt Wholesale 

Generator Status of Atlantic Power 

Preferred Equity, Ltd. 

Filed Date: 3/6/12. 


pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES