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[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 206 (Monday, October 26, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65224-65225]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-27162]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9936-19-OA]

Performance Partnership Grants

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This action adds the Beaches Environmental Assessment and 
Coastal Health (BEACH) Act grant program to the list of the 
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) environmental grant programs 
eligible for inclusion in Performance Partnership Grants (PPGs).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Reynold Meni, Office of Congressional 
and Intergovernmental Relations, Office of the Administrator (Mail Code 
1301), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 564-3669; fax number: 
(202) 501-1540; email address: meni.reynold@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and 
Appropriations Act of 1996 (Pub. L.

[[Page 65225]]

104-134) and the Department of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban 
Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act of 1998 (Pub. 
L. 105-65) authorize EPA to combine categorical grant funds 
appropriated in EPA's State and Tribal Assistance Grant (STAG) account 
and award the funds as PPGs. Public Law 104-134 states, in relevant 
part, that: ``the Administrator is authorized to make grants annually 
from funds appropriated under this heading, subject to such terms and 
conditions as the Administrator shall establish, to any State or 
federally recognized Indian tribe for multimedia or single media 
pollution prevention, control and abatement and related environmental 
activities at the request of the Governor or other appropriate State 
official or the tribe.''
    Public Law 105-65 amended the PPG authority by authorizing 
``interstate agencies, tribal consortia, and air pollution control 
agencies'' to receive PPGs. Pursuant to the authority granted in Public 
Law 104-134 and Public Law 105-65, EPA promulgated PPG regulations in 
January of 2001 as part of the Agency's revision of 40 CFR part 35, the 
rules governing categorical environmental program grants. The 
regulation at 40 CFR 35.133(b) states that: ``The Administrator may, in 
guidance or regulation, describe subsequent additions, deletions, or 
changes to the list of environmental programs eligible for inclusion in 
Performance Partnership Grants.''
    EPA is authorized under Section 406 of the Clean Water Act (CWA), 
as amended by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health 
(BEACH) Act (Pub. L. 106-284), to award program development and 
implementation grants to eligible states, territories, tribes, and 
local governments to support microbiological monitoring and public 
notification of the potential for exposure to disease-causing 
microorganisms in coastal recreation waters, including the Great Lakes. 
The BEACH Act grant program is funded in the same line item that funds 
categorical grants for ``multimedia or single media pollution 
prevention, control and abatement and related environmental 
activities'' and, therefore, this grant program is eligible for 
inclusion in PPGs. This notice is made pursuant to 40 CFR 35.133(b), to 
inform entities eligible to receive PPGs that the program listed above 
may be included in a PPG subject to any limitations herein defined. 
Hereafter, BEACH Act grants are eligible for inclusion in PPGs and may 
be included in a PPG at the request of the appropriate official of an 
eligible entity, subject to EPA's regulations at 2 CFR part 200 and 2 
CFR part 1500 and 40 CFR 35.001-35.138 and 35.500-35.538. The authority 
to issue this Federal Register notice has been delegated to the Deputy 
Associate Administrator for Intergovernmental Relations.

    Dated: October 19, 2015.
Mark W. Rupp,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Intergovernmental Relations.
[FR Doc. 2015-27162 Filed 10-23-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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