Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 53 / Friday, March 18, 2022 / Proposed Rules 15355 

J. National Technology Transfer and 

Advancement Act (NTTAA) 

This rulemaking does not involve 

technical standards. 

K. Executive Order 12898: Federal 

Actions To Address Environmental 

Justice in Minority Populations and 

Low-Income Populations 

The EPA believes the human health or 

environmental risk addressed by this 

action will not have potential 

disproportionately high and adverse 

human health or environmental effects 

on minority, low-income or indigenous 

populations because it does not affect 

the level of protection provided to 

human health or the environment. As 

discussed in Section I.C. of the 

preamble to this action, the NPL is a list 

of national priorities. The NPL is 

intended primarily to guide the EPA in 

determining which sites warrant further 

investigation to assess the nature and 

extent of public health and 

environmental risks associated with a 

release of hazardous substances, 

pollutants or need contaminants. The 

NPL is of only limited significance as it 

does not assign liability to any party. 

Also, placing a site on the NPL does not 

mean that any remedial or removal 

action necessarily be taken. 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 300 

Environmental protection, Air 

pollution control, Chemicals, Hazardous 

substances, Hazardous waste, 

Intergovernmental relations, Natural 

resources, Oil pollution, Penalties, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Superfund, Water 

pollution control, Water supply. 

Barry N. Breen, 

Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of 

Land and Emergency Management. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, EPA proposes to amend 40 

CFR part 300 as follows: 

PART 300—NATIONAL OIL AND 

HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES 

POLLUTION CONTINGENCY PLAN 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 300 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.; 42 U.S.C. 

9601–9657; E.O. 13626, 77 FR 56749, 3 CFR, 

2013 Comp., p. 306; E.O. 12777, 56 FR 54757, 

3 CFR, 1991 Comp., p. 351; E.O. 12580, 52 

FR 2923, 3 CFR, 1987 Comp., p. 193. 

■ 2. Amend appendix B of part 300 in 

Table 1, by adding entries for ‘‘DE, 

Georgetown North Groundwater’’, ‘‘IA, 

Highway 3 PCE’’, ‘‘MS, Hercules Inc’’, 

‘‘NJ, Lower Hackensack River’’, and 

‘‘NY, Brillo Landfill’’ in alphabetical 

order by state to read as follows: 

Appendix B to Part 300—National 

Priorities List 

TABLE 1—GENERAL SUPERFUND SECTION

State Site name City/county Notes a

*******

DE .................... Georgetown North Groundwater ................................. Georgetown.

*******

IA ...................... Highway 3 PCE ........................................................... Le Mars.

*******

MS .................... Hercules Inc ................................................................ Hattiesburg.

*******

NJ ..................... Lower Hackensack River ............................................ Bergen and Hudson Counties.

*******

NY .................... Brillo Landfill ................................................................ Victory.

*******

aA = Based on issuance of health advisory by Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (if scored, HRS score need not be greater 

than or equal to 28.50). 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2022–05855 Filed 3–17–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND 

HUMAN SERVICES 

Administration for Community Living 

45 CFR Part 1330 

RIN 0985–AA16 

National Institute on Disability, 

Independent Living, and Rehabilitation 

Research 

AGENCY: Administration for Community 

Living, Department of Health and 

Human Services. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking. 

SUMMARY: The Administration for 

Community Living (ACL) within the 

Department of Health and Human 

Services (HHS or the Department) is 

proposing to amend its regulations for 

the National Institute on Disability, 

Independent Living and Rehabilitation 

Research (NIDILRR). These minor 

amendments to NIDILRR’s peer review 

criteria will allow NIDILRR to better 

evaluate the extent to which grant 

applicants conduct outreach to and hire 

people with disabilities and people from 

other groups that traditionally have 

been underserved and 

underrepresented, and emphasize the 

need for engineering research and 

development activities within 

NIDILRR’s Rehabilitation Engineering 

Research Centers (RERC) program. 

DATES: To be assured consideration, 

comments must be received at the 


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15356 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 53 / Friday, March 18, 2022 / Proposed Rules 

address provided below, no later than 

11:59 p.m. April 18, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

through the Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

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

‘‘Submit a comment’’ instructions. 

Warning: Do not include any 

personally identifiable information 

(such as name, address, or other contact 

information) or confidential business 

information that you do not want 

publicly disclosed. All comments may 

be posted on the internet and can be 

retrieved by most internet search 

engines. No deletions, modifications, or 

redactions will be made to comments 

received. 

Inspection of Public Comments: All 

comments received before the close of 

the comment period will be available for 

viewing by the public, including 

personally identifiable or confidential 

business information that is included in 

a comment. You may wish to consider 

limiting the amount of personal 

information that you provide in any 

voluntary public comment submission 

you make. HHS may withhold 

information provided in comments from 

public viewing that it determines may 

impact the privacy of an individual or 

is offensive. For additional information, 

please read the Privacy Act notice that 

is available via the link in the footer of 

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

search instructions on that Website to 

view the public comments. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Phillip Beatty, Director, NIDILRR Office 

of Research Sciences, Administration 

for Community Living, Department of 

Health and Human Services, 330 C 

Street SW, Washington, DC 20201. 

Email: phillip.beatty@acl.hhs.gov, 

Telephone: (202) 795–7305. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The HHS regulation for National 

Institute on Disability, Independent 

Living, and Rehabilitation Research 

(NIDILRR) programs was developed and 

finalized in 2016 following the transfer 

of NIDILRR to ACL and HHS from the 

Department of Education, as required by 

the Workforce Innovation and 

Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014. 

NIDILRR’s mission is to generate new 

knowledge and to promote its effective 

use to improve the abilities of 

individuals with disabilities to perform 

activities of their choice in the 

community and to expand society’s 

capacity to provide full opportunities 

and accommodations for individuals 

with disabilities. As the primary 

research enterprise within ACL, 

NIDILRR’s mission is highly 

complementary to the overarching 

mission of ACL to maximize the 

independence, well-being, and health of 

older adults, people with disabilities 

across the lifespan, and their families 

and caregivers. NIDILRR programs 

address a wide range of disabilities and 

impairments across all age groups and 

promote health and function, 

community living and participation, 

and employment. To accomplish these 

goals, NIDILRR invests in research, 

knowledge translation, and capacitybuilding activities through its 

discretionary grant-funding authorities. 

The proposed rule would provide 

minor but important updates to 

provisions within §§ 1330.23 and 

1330.24 of the NIDILRR rule (45 CFR 

part 1330). 

The first update to 45 CFR part 1330 

is directly responsive to Executive 

Order 13985 Advancing Racial Equity 

and Support for Underserved 

Communities Through the Federal 

Government. The purpose of the update 

is to better evaluate, through the peer 

review of grant applications, the extent 

to which grant applicants conduct 

outreach to and hire people who are 

members of specific groups that have 

traditionally been underserved and 

underrepresented in research. Applicant 

refers to organizations such as 

universities or other organizations that 

apply for NIDILRR grants. NIDILRR’s 

criterion that focuses on applicants’ 

proposed ‘‘Project Staff’’ (45 CFR 

1330.24(n)) currently combines a 

significant number of underrepresented 

groups into one list (‘‘. . . based on 

race, color, national origin, gender, age, 

or disability), and asks reviewers to 

broadly evaluate the extent to which the 

grant applicant encourages applications 

for employment from people who are 

members of those groups in the list. 

This format does not allow reviewers to 

distinctly evaluate applicants’ outreach 

and hiring practices for people with 

disabilities, or for other populations 

highlighted in the existing list. 

To better promote applicants’ hiring 

of people with disabilities, and people 

from other underserved communities, 

45 CFR 1330.24(n) will be revised to 

separate these populations into two 

distinct peer review subcriteria. This 

disaggregation of people with 

disabilities and people from 

underserved communities into separate 

subcriteria will allow peer reviewers to 

more directly evaluate and score the 

extent to which grant applicants 

encourage the hiring of people in each 

of these distinct groups. ACL will make 

a conforming amendment to 45 CFR 

1330.23(b) reflecting this revision to the 

selection criteria. While individuals live 

at the intersection of multiple 

populations or groups, ACL’s planned 

disaggregated review of hiring practices 

will compel applicants to describe their 

outreach and hiring practices for people 

with disabilities and other specific 

groups, separately and distinctly. ACL 

intends for grant applicants to respond 

to these disaggregated subcriteria with 

quantitative and/or qualitative 

information in the narrative of their 

proposal, and for peer reviewers to 

accordingly use this information to 

evaluate and score each individual 

application. 

The second update to 45 CFR part 

1330 is to better emphasize the need for 

engineering research and development 

(R&D) activities in NIDILRR’s 

Rehabilitation Engineering Research 

Centers (RERC) program funding 

opportunities. The update will add a 

subcriterion under both the ‘‘Design of 

Research Activities’’ (45 CFR 

1330.24(c)) and ‘‘Design of Development 

Activities’’ (45 CFR 1330.24(d)) that 

allow reviewers to evaluate the extent to 

which applicants are proposing 

engineering knowledge and methods as 

part of their RERC applications. The 

absence of such engineering-focused 

criteria have led to some RERC grants 

that are not optimally using the 

engineering R&D methods envisioned in 

the program’s title and statute. 

II. Required Regulatory Analyses 

A. Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 

E.O. 12866, ‘‘Regulatory Planning and 

Review,’’ and E.O. 13563, ‘‘Improving 

Regulation and Regulatory Review,’’ 

direct agencies to assess all costs and 

benefits of available regulatory 

alternatives and, if the regulation is 

necessary, to select regulatory 

approaches that maximize net benefits. 

OMB determined that this rulemaking 

is not an economically significant 

regulatory action under these E.O.s. The 

preamble to this proposed rule describes 

that it is primarily procedural changes 

that would require Department 

expenditures to implement. 

B. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Department has examined the 

economic implications of this proposed 

rule as required by the Regulatory 

Flexibility Act (RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601 et 

seq. The RFA requires an agency to 

describe the impact of a proposed 

rulemaking on small entities by 

providing an initial regulatory flexibility 

analysis, unless the agency determines 

that the proposed rule will not have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities, 

provides a factual basis for this 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 53 / Friday, March 18, 2022 / Proposed Rules 15357 

determination, and proposes to certify 

the statement. 5 U.S.C. 603(a) and 

605(b). The Department considers a 

proposed or final rule to have a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities if it 

has at least a three percent impact on 

revenue of at least five percent of small 

entities. The Department has 

determined, and the Secretary certifies, 

that this proposed rule would not have 

a significant economic impact on the 

operations of a substantial number of 

small entities. 

C. Executive Order 13132 (Federalism) 

E.O. 13132, ‘‘Federalism,’’ establishes 

certain requirements that an agency 

must meet when it promulgates a rule 

that imposes substantial direct 

requirement costs on State and local 

governments or has Federalism 

implications. The Department has 

determined that this proposed rule 

would not impose such costs or have 

any Federalism implications. 

D. Executive Order 13175 (Consultation 

and Coordination With Indian Tribal 

Governments) 

HHS has analyzed this proposed rule 

in accordance with the principles set 

forth in E.O. 13175. HHS has tentatively 

determined that the proposed rule does 

not contain policies that would have a 

substantial direct effect on one or more 

Indian Tribes, on the relationship 

between the Federal Government and 

Indian Tribes, or on the distribution of 

power and responsibilities between the 

Federal Government and Indian Tribes. 

In accordance with the Department’s 

Tribal consultation policy, the 

Department solicits comments from 

tribal officials on any potential impact 

on Indian Tribes from this proposed 

action. 

E. National Environmental Policy Act 

HHS had determined that this 

proposed rule would not have a 

significant impact on the environment. 

F. Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

In accordance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995 and its 

implementing regulations, 44 U.S.C. 

3501–3521; 5 CFR part 1320, appendix 

A.1, the Department has reviewed this 

proposed rule and has determined that 

it proposes no new collections of 

information. 

List of Subjects in 45 CFR Part 1330 

Disability, Grant programs, Research. 

Accordingly, ACL proposes to revise 

45 CFR 1330.23 and 1330.24, to read as 

follows: 

PART 1330—NATIONAL INSTITUTE 

FOR DISABILITY, INDEPENDENT 

LIVING, AND REHABILITATION 

RESEARCH 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 1330 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 29 U.S.C. 709, 3343. 

■ 2. Amend § 1330.23 by revising 

paragraph (b) to read as follows: 

§ 1330.23 Evaluation process. 

* * * * * 

(b) In considering selection criteria in 

§ 1330.24, the Director selects one or 

more of the factors listed in the criteria, 

but always considers the factors in 

§ 1330.24(n) regarding people with 

disabilities, and members of groups that 

have traditionally been 

underrepresented based on race, 

ethnicity, national origin, sex (including 

sexual orientation and gender identity), 

or age. 

* * * * * 

■ 2. Amend § 1330.24 by adding 

paragraphs (c)(5) and (d)(4) and revising 

paragraph (n) to read as follows: 

§ 1330.24 Selection criteria. 

* * * * * 

(c) * * * 

(5) The extent to which research 

activities use engineering knowledge 

and techniques to collect, analyze, or 

synthesize research data. 

* * * * * 

(d) * * * 

(4) The extent to which development 

activities apply engineering knowledge 

and techniques to achieve development 

objectives. 

* * * * * 

(n) Project staff. In determining the 

quality of the applicant’s project staff, 

the Director considers one or more of 

the following factors: 

(1) The extent to which the applicant 

encourages applications for employment 

from and hires people with disabilities. 

(2) The extent to which the applicant 

encourages applications from, and hires 

people who are members of groups that 

have traditionally been 

underrepresented in research 

professions based on race, ethnicity, 

national origin, sex (including sexual 

orientation and gender identity), or age. 

(3) The extent to which the key 

personnel and other key staff have 

appropriate training and experience in 

disciplines required to conduct all 

proposed activities. 

(4) The extent to which the 

commitment of staff time is adequate to 

accomplish all the proposed activities of 

the project. 

(5) The extent to which the key 

personnel are knowledgeable about the 

methodology and literature of pertinent 

subject areas. 

(6) The extent to which the project 

staff includes outstanding scientists in 

the field. 

(7) The extent to which key personnel 

have up-to-date knowledge from 

research or effective practice in the 

subject area covered in the priority. 

* * * * * 

Dated: March 2, 2022. 

Alison Barkoff, 

Principal Deputy Administrator, 

Administration for Community Living 

Approved: 

Xavier Becerra, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2022–05665 Filed 3–17–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4154–01–P 


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