81922 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 250 / Thursday, December 29, 2011 / Notices 

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) Absorption 

chillers rated at 205 and 250 tons; (2) 

Thermostatic Regulator Valves that 

regulate the flow of hot water or low 

pressure steam through free-standing 

radiators, baseboards, or convectors in 

hot water and two-pipe steam systems; 

(3) 28 and 30 W 180 degree LED 

replacement bulbs for HID street lights; 

(4) 100% Oil free rotary screw variable 

speed drive water cooled air compressor 

with a factory installed dryer capable of 

supplying air at <¥20 degree dew point 

temperature; (5) high speed electronic 

governors with actuators to replace 

existing mechanical UG8 and UG40 

engine governors; upgraded fuel 

injectors and regulators; and 

replacement engine pistons and 

cylinder liners; for energy efficiency 

upgrades in an existing Mitsubishi 52/ 

55B or 40/54A diesel generator engine; 

and (6) Universal control modules for 

use with Novar proprietary 

communication protocols. 

DATES: Effective Date: 10/24/2011. 

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 all inapplicability determinations 

was re-delegated 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) 

Absorption chillers rated at 205 and 250 

tons; (2) Thermostatic Regulator Valves 

that regulate the flow of hot water or 

low pressure steam through freestanding radiators, baseboards, or 

convectors in hot water and two-pipe 

steam systems; (3) 28 and 30 W 180 

degree LED replacement bulbs for HID 

street lights; (4) 100% Oil free rotary 

screw variable speed drive water cooled 

air compressor with a factory installed 

dryer capable of supplying air at <¥20 

degree dew point temperature; (5) high 

speed electronic governors with 

actuators to replace existing mechanical 

UG8 and UG40 engine governors; 

upgraded fuel injectors and regulators; 

and replacement engine pistons and 

cylinder liners; for energy efficiency 

upgrades in an existing Mitsubishi 52/ 

55B or 40/54A diesel generator engine; 

and (6) Universal control modules for 

use with Novar proprietary 

communication protocols, 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 

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 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) Absorption chillers rated at 205 

and 250 tons. 

This is the third waiver request for 

absorption chillers, but we had not 

examined the market for US 

manufacturers of this size in the past, 

there were no US responses to either rfp 

nor to the MEP request, EERE could 

identify no US manufacturers that could 

produce chillers meeting the 

specifications. 

(2) Thermostatic Regulator Valves 

regulate the flow of hot water or low 

pressure steam through free-standing 

radiators, baseboards, or convectors in 

hot water and two-pipe steam systems. 

These valves provide fast acting 

modulating control of the space 

temperature through a vapor charge, 

ensuring the highest level of comfort 


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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 250 / Thursday, December 29, 2011 / Notices 81923 

control. They are an inexpensive item, 

a search through the library at a local 

plumbing supply company revealed 12 

potential suppliers, none of whom 

manufacture these valves in the US. 

MEP did not reveal any potential or 

current manufacturers. 

(3) 28 and 30 W 180 degree LED 

replacement bulbs for HID street lights. 

Only for these unique wattages where 

no other bulbs will fit. No US 

manufacturer was identified that 

produced a product with this wattage by 

MEP or EERE. 

(4) 100% Oil free rotary screw 

variable speed drive water cooled air 

compressor with a factory installed 

dryer capable of supplying air at <¥20 

degree dew point temperature. 

The compressed air needs to be oil 

free and supplied with no humidity 

because it will damage the process 

equipment connected to the system, and 

in addition, as the product 

manufactured is hygroscopic in nature, 

it will tend to absorb humidity of the air 

thus damaging the product. MEP and 

DOE originally identified 2 possible 

matches, however, neither could 

provide air with the required humidity 

levels. 

(5) High speed electronic governors 

with actuators to replace existing 

mechanical UG8 and UG40 engine 

governors; upgraded fuel injectors and 

regulators; and replacement engine 

pistons and cylinder liners; for energy 

efficiency upgrades in an existing 

Mitsubishi 52/55B or 40/54A diesel 

generator engine. 

These upgrades will improve fuel 

efficiency and to allow the plant to 

begin using ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel 

(<15 ppm)—to comply with US EPA 

2010 Emissions Regulation—because 

the engines were originally made in 

Japan, the only suppliers of these parts 

identified were Japanese or German. 

(6) Universal control modules for use 

with Novar proprietary communication 

protocols, where a Novar 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 Novar system. 

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) Absorption chillers rated at 205 

and 250 tons; (2) Thermostatic Regulator 

Valves that regulate the flow of hot 

water or low pressure steam through 

free-standing radiators, baseboards, or 

convectors in hot water and two-pipe 

steam systems; (3) 28 and 30 W 180 

degree replacement bulbs for HID street 

lights for use in Northern Mariana 

Islands; (4) 100% Oil free rotary screw 

variable speed drive water cooled air 

compressor with a factory installed 

dryer capable of supplying air at <¥20 

degree dew point temperature; (5) high 

speed electronic governors with 

actuators to replace existing mechanical 

UG8 and UG40 engine governors; 

upgraded fuel injectors and regulators; 

and replacement engine pistons and 

cylinder liners; for energy efficiency 

upgrades in an existing Mitsubishi 52/ 

55B or 40/54A diesel generator engine; 

and (6) Universal control modules for 

use with Novar proprietary 

communication protocols. 

Having established a proper 

justification based on domestic 

nonavailability, EERE hereby provides 

notice that on October 24, 2011, six (6) 

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. 

Issued in Washington, DC on October 24, 

2011. 

Henry Kelly, 

Acting Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency 

and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of 

Energy. 

[FR Doc. 2011–33415 Filed 12–28–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. EL12–14–000] 

Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line 

Company; Notice of Amendment To 

Petition for Declaratory Order 

Take notice that on December 20, 

2011, Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line 

Company (TrAILCo) filed an 

amendment to its December 14, 2011 

filing of Petition for Declaratory Order, 

in response to the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission Staff’s informal 

request. 

Any person desiring to intervene or to 

protest this filing must file in 

accordance with Rules 211 and 214 of 

the Commission’s Rules of Practice and 

Procedure (18 CFR 385.211, 385.214). 

Protests will be considered by the 

Commission in determining the 

appropriate action to be taken, but will 

not serve to make protestants parties to 

the proceeding. Any person wishing to 

become a party must file a notice of 

intervention or motion to intervene, as 

appropriate. Such notices, motions, or 

protests must be filed on or before the 

comment date. On or before the 

comment date, it is not necessary to 

serve motions to intervene or protests 

on persons other than the Applicant. 

The Commission encourages 

electronic submission of protests and 

interventions in lieu of paper using the 

‘‘eFiling’’ link at http://www.ferc.gov. 

Persons unable to file electronically 

should submit an original and 14 copies 

of the protest or intervention to the 

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 

888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 

20426. 

This filing is accessible on-line at 

http://www.ferc.gov, using the 

‘‘eLibrary’’ link and is available for 

review in the Commission’s Public 

Reference Room in Washington, DC. 

There is an ‘‘eSubscription’’ link on the 

Web site that enables subscribers to 

receive email notification when a 

document is added to a subscribed 

docket(s). For assistance with any FERC 

Online service, please email 

FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov, or call 

(866) 208–3676 (toll free). For TTY, call 

(202) 502–8659. 

Comment Date: 5 p.m. Eastern Time 

on December 27, 2011. 

Dated: December 21, 2011. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2011–33317 Filed 12–28–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 


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