25246 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 88 / Friday, May 7, 2010 / Notices 

individual grant recipients. Having 

established both a proper basis to 

specify the particular good required for 

this project, and that this manufactured 

good was not available from a producer 

in the United States, Warren County is 

hereby granted a waiver from the Buy 

American requirements of Section 

1605(a) of Public Law 111–5 for the 

purchase of a Trojan 4000 Plus mediumpressure, high-intensity ultraviolet 

disinfection system using ARRA funds 

as specified in the community’s request 

of October 29, 2009. This 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION constitutes 

the detailed written justification 

required by Section 1605(c) for waivers 

‘‘based on a finding under subsection 

(b).’’ 

Authority: Pub. L. 111–5, section 1605. 

Dated: January 26, 2010. 

Walter W. Kovalick, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5. 

[FR Doc. 2010–10911 Filed 5–6–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9146–9] 

Notice of a Project Waiver of Section 

1605 (Buy American Requirement) of 

the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to 

the Albuquerque Bernalillo County 

Water Utility Authority, New Mexico 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Regional Administrator 

of EPA Region 6 is hereby granting a 

project waiver of the Buy American 

requirements of ARRA Section 1605 

under the authority of Section 

1605(b)(2) [manufactured goods are not 

produced in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality] 

to the Albuquerque Bernalillo County 

Water Utility Authority (‘‘ABCWUA’’) 

for the purchase of three hundred 

acoustic leak detection sensors/loggers 

(‘‘loggers’’) and one fully programmable 

radio transceiver. The loggers and radio 

transceiver under consideration are 

manufactured by Gutermann, Inc., and 

no United States manufacturer produces 

an alternative that meets the ABCWUA’s 

technical specifications. This is a 

project specific waiver and only applies 

to the use of the specified product for 

the ARRA funded project being 

proposed. Any other ARRA project that 

may wish to use the same product must 

apply for a separate waiver based on the 

specific project circumstances. The 

Regional Administrator is making this 

determination based on the review and 

recommendations of the EPA Region 6, 

Water Quality Protection Division. The 

ABCWUA has provided sufficient 

documentation to support its request. 

The Assistant Administrator of the 

EPA’s Office of Administration and 

Resources Management has concurred 

on this decision to make an exception 

to Section 1605 of ARRA. This action 

permits the purchase of three hundred 

loggers and one radio transceiver 

containing goods not manufactured in 

America, for the proposed project being 

implemented by the ABCWUA. 

DATES: Effective Date: April 28, 2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Nasim Jahan, Buy American 

Coordinator, (214) 665–7522, SRF & 

Projects Section, Water Quality 

Protection Division, U.S. EPA Region 6, 

1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202– 

2733. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with ARRA Section 1605(c) 

and 1605(b)(2), EPA hereby provides 

notice that it is granting a project waiver 

of the requirements of Section 1605(a) of 

Public Law 111–5, Buy American 

requirements to the ABCWUA for the 

acquisition of three hundred loggers and 

one radio transceiver (Model: 

Gutermann Zonescan 820). The 

ABCWUA has been unable to find an 

American made logger manufacturer to 

meet its specific requirements of cross 

correlation functionality for pinpointing 

leaks throughout its water distribution 

system. 

Section 1605 of the ARRA requires 

that none of the appropriated funds may 

be used 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 unless a waiver is 

provided to the recipient by EPA. A 

waiver may be provided if EPA 

determines that (1) applying these 

requirements would be inconsistent 

with public interest; (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; 

or (3) inclusion of iron, steel, and the 

relevant manufactured goods produced 

in the United States will increase the 

cost of the overall project by more than 

25 percent. 

The ABCWUA is implementing a 

comprehensive asset management 

program, and leak detection is critical to 

better management of its water system 

assets. The ABCWUA desires to quickly 

and efficiently locate leaks in its 

wastewater distribution system and 

seeks ARRA funding to purchase loggers 

that can easily be deployed on the water 

distribution system, that are noninvasive, and are designed to detect 

noise generated from vibrations of water 

escaping from pipes. Efficient leak 

detection provides timely data on the 

types of leak and potential cause. It 

helps the utility authority in identifying 

high priority assets needing 

rehabilitation/replacement, which can 

effectively reduce the chances of 

catastrophic failure. 

Accordingly, the ABCWUA on 

January 22, 2010 concluded an ARRA 

assistance agreement with the State of 

New Mexico to a fund a project to 

procure and deploy leak detection 

equipment for its distribution system. 

The bid documents for the project 

include the specifications for loggers 

and one radio transceiver having cross 

correlation functionality for exactly 

pinpointing leaks throughout the water 

distribution system. The ABCWUA had 

received four bids for this project on 

January 20, 2010, and upon identifying 

Gutermann as the only bidder to 

provide a data logger that included this 

cross-correlation functionality, 

submitted a timely waiver request to 

EPA on February 5, 2010. 

The ABCWUA is requesting a waiver 

for the use of three hundred loggers and 

one programmable radio transceiver 

(Model: Gutermann Zonescan 820) on 

the basis that there are no domestic 

manufacturers of the loggers that will 

meet the ABCWUA product 

specifications. 

The ABCWUA authority received four 

bids for the acoustic leak detection 

equipment project. Among the four 

bidders, the bid submitted by 

Gutermann was the only leak detection 

logger that met ABCWUA’s 

specifications. Specifically, the logger 

was required to have the feature of cross 

correlation functionality for pinpointing 

leaks. Gutermann’s Zonescan 820 

loggers automatically perform leak noise 

correlation for pinpointing the leak 

location. In addition, automatic multicorrelation provides precise positions 

between all loggers in the same project 

area. As this feature maximizes the 

efficiency and effectiveness of the 

crucial functions of enabling the 

ABCWUA to conserve and prevent 

contamination of scarce water supplies 

that have already been treated to comply 

with National Primary Drinking Water 

Regulations, EPA finds that the 

ABCWUA’s specification of this feature 

is justified. 

Although there are loggers that are 

manufactured in the United States, the 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 88 / Friday, May 7, 2010 / Notices 25247 

research conducted by Cadmus, the EPA 

Office of Water’s national contractor, 

was unable to identify any domestically 

available loggers which meet the 

specifications and quality described in 

the project plans and designs. The 

contractor contacted four companies 

that manufacture loggers in the U.S. but 

none of these companies could provide 

loggers that offer integrated cross 

correlation functionality between 

loggers. 

Additional research conducted by 

EPA Region 6 appeared to confirm that 

there are no domestic logger 

manufacturers that would meet the 

ABCWUA’s technical specifications. 

EPA’s national contractor prepared a 

technical assessment report dated 

February 10, 2010 based on the waiver 

request submittal. The report 

determined that the waiver request 

submittal was complete, that adequate 

technical information was provided, 

and that there were no significant 

weaknesses in the justification 

provided. The report confirmed the 

waiver applicant’s claim that there are 

no American-made loggers available for 

use in the water distribution system. 

Therefore, EPA Region 6 concludes that 

the loggers meet the ‘‘specifications in 

project plans and design.’’ 

The April 28, 2009 EPA HQ 

Memorandum, Implementation of Buy 

American provisions of P.L. 111–5, the 

‘‘American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009’’, defines reasonably 

available quantity as ‘‘the quantity of 

iron, steel, or relevant manufactured 

good is available or will be available at 

the time needed and place needed, and 

in the proper form or specification as 

specified in the project plans and 

design.’’ The ABCWUA has incorporated 

specific technical design requirements 

for installation of loggers in its water 

distribution system. Therefore, it meets 

the requirements of the ‘‘satisfactory 

quality’’ criterion for requesting a waiver 

from the Buy American provisions of 

Public Law 111–5. 

The purpose of the ARRA is to 

stimulate economic recovery in part by 

funding current infrastructure 

construction, not to delay projects that 

are ‘‘shovel ready’’ by requiring utilities, 

such as the ABCWUA, to revise their 

standards and specifications, institute a 

new bidding process, and potentially 

choose a more costly, less efficient 

project. The imposition of ARRA Buy 

American requirements on such projects 

otherwise eligible for State Revolving 

Fund assistance would result in 

unreasonable delay and thus displace 

the ‘‘shovel ready’’ status for this project. 

To further delay construction is in 

direct conflict with a fundamental 

economic purpose of the ARRA, which 

is to create or retain jobs. 

The Region 6 Water Quality 

Protection Division has reviewed this 

waiver request, and to the best of my 

knowledge at the time of review, has 

determined that the supporting 

documentation provided by the 

ABCWUA is sufficient to meet the 

criteria listed under ARRA, Section 

1605(b), Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) regulations at 2 CFR 

176.60–176.170, and in the April 28, 

2009, ‘‘Implementation of Buy American 

provisions of Public Law 111–5, the 

‘‘American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009’’ Memorandum:’’ Iron, steel, 

and the manufactured goods are not 

produced in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality. 

The basis for this project waiver is the 

authorization provided in ARRA, 

Section 1605(b)(2). Due to the lack of 

production of this product in the United 

States in sufficient and reasonably 

available quantities and of a satisfactory 

quality in order to meet the ABCWUA’s 

technical specifications, a waiver from 

the Buy American requirement is 

justified. 

EPA headquarters’ March 31, 2009 

Delegation of Authority Memorandum 

provided Regional Administrators with 

the authority to issue exceptions to 

Section 1605 of ARRA within the 

geographic boundaries of their 

respective regions and with respect to 

requests by individual grant recipients. 

Having established both a proper basis 

to specify the particular good required 

for this project, and that this 

manufactured good was not available 

from a producer in the United States, 

the ABCWUA is hereby granted a 

waiver from the Buy American 

requirements of ARRA, Section 1605(a) 

of Public Law 111–5 for the purchase of 

three hundred loggers and one radio 

transceiver, using ARRA funds, as 

specified in the ABCWUA’s request of 

February 5, 2010. This supplementary 

information constitutes the detailed 

written justification required by ARRA, 

Section 1605(c), for waivers ‘‘based on a 

finding under subsection (b).’’ 

Authority: Public Law 111–5, section 

1605. 

Dated: April 28, 2010. 

Al Armendariz, 

Regional Administrator, Region 6. 

[FR Doc. 2010–10839 Filed 5–6–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[EPA-New England Region I—EPA–R01– 

OW–2010–0316; FRL–9147–1] 

Massachusetts Marine Sanitation 

Device Standard—Receipt of Petition 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice—Receipt of Petition. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that a 

petition has been received from the 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

requesting a determination by the 

Regional Administrator, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, that 

adequate facilities for the safe and 

sanitary removal and treatment of 

sewage from all vessels are reasonably 

available for the waters of Pleasant Bay/ 

Chatham Harbor, MA. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted by 

June 7, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R01– 

OW–2010–0316, by one of the following 

methods: http://www.regulations.gov, 

Follow the on-line instructions for 

submitting comments. 

• E-mail: rodney.ann@epa.gov. 

• Fax: (617) 918–0538. 

Mail and hand delivery: U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency—New 

England Region, Five Post Office 

Square, Suite 100, OEP06–1, Boston, 

MA 02109–3912. Deliveries are only 

accepted during the Regional Office’s 

normal hours of operation (8 a.m.–5 

p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding 

legal holidays), and special 

arrangements should be made for 

deliveries of boxed information. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

Docket ID No. EPA–R01–OW–2010– 

0316. EPA’s policy is that all comments 

received will be included in the public 

docket without change and may be 

made available online at http:// 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided, unless 

the comment includes information 

claimed to be Confidential Business 

Information (CBI) or other information 

whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Do not submit information that you 

consider to be CBI or otherwise 

protected through http:// 

www.regulations.gov, or e-mail. The 

http://www.regulations.gov Web site is 

an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system, which 

means EPA will not know your identity 

or contact information unless you 

provide it in the body of your comment. 

If you send an e-mail comment directly 

to EPA without going through http:// 

www.regulations.gov your e-mail 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES