Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 88 / Friday, May 7, 2010 / Notices 25241 

Meeting Access: For information on 

access or services for individuals with 

disabilities, please contact Sonia Altieri 

at 202–564–0243 or 

altieri.sonia@epa.gov. To request 

accommodation of a disability, please 

contact Sonia Altieri, preferably at least 

10 days prior to the meeting, to give 

EPA as much time as possible to process 

your request. 

Dated: April 29, 2010. 

Sonia Altieri, 

Designated Federal Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2010–10538 Filed 5–6–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–M 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9145–7] 

Notice of a Project Waiver of Section 

1605 (Buy American Requirement) of 

the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to 

the City of Coldwater, MI (Coldwater) 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The EPA 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 of a satisfactory 

quality] to Coldwater, Michigan for the 

purchase of high-speed, high-efficiency 

magnetic bearing turbo-compressors that 

will be used in the city’s sludge 

treatment process. This is a projectspecific waiver and it 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 projectspecific circumstances. These turbocompressors, which are supplied by 

ABS USA of Meriden, Connecticut, are 

manufactured in Sweden, and meet 

Coldwater’s performance specifications 

and requirements. The Acting Regional 

Administrator is making this 

determination based on the review and 

recommendations of EPA Region 5’s 

Water Division. Coldwater has provided 

sufficient documentation to support its 

request. The Assistant Administrator of 

the 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 high-speed, 

high-efficiency magnetic bearing turbocompressors for Coldwater’s activated 

sludge project that may otherwise be 

prohibited under Section 1605(a) of the 

ARRA. 

DATES: Effective Date: March 26, 2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Andrew Lausted, SRF Program Manager 

(312) 886–0189, or Puja Lakhani, Office 

of Regional Counsel, (312) 353–3190, 

U.S. EPA Region 5, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., 

Chicago, IL 60604. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with ARRA Section 1605(c) 

and pursuant to Section 1605(b)(2) of 

Public Law 111–5, Buy American 

requirements, EPA hereby provides 

notice that it is granting a project waiver 

to Coldwater, Michigan for the 

acquisition of high-speed, highefficiency magnetic bearing turbocompressors that are manufactured in 

Sweden. 

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, or unless a waiver is 

provided to the recipient by the head of 

the appropriate agency, here EPA. A 

waiver may be provided if EPA 

determines that (1) Applying these 

requirements would be inconsistent 

with the 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 ARRA-funded project will 

provide improved aeration for 

Coldwater’s activated sludge treatment 

process, allowing the Wastewater 

Treatment Plant (WWTP) to meet the 

stringent ammonia-nitrogen effluent 

discharge limits required for this facility 

placed into effect in May 2007. 

Following a study of the cause for these 

ammonia-nitrogen effluent discharge 

excursions, it was determined the 

WWTP’s current organic treatment 

process was not capable of handling the 

maximum day and peak ammonianitrogen loading occurrences 

experienced by the facility. The existing 

multistage centrifugal aeration blowers 

cannot be turned down sufficiently to 

adequately meet the low and average 

aeration requirements on the WWTP. 

These blowers also have insufficient 

capacity to meet the peak aeration 

requirements alone, and need 

supplemental aeration blowers to meet 

these demands. Relative to conventional 

technologies and equipment, the highspeed, high-efficiency turbocompressors 

offer more turndown potential and the 

ability for the WWTP to meet the low, 

average, and peak aeration requirements 

in combination with the existing 

aeration blowers. The selected 

equipment can operate at 38% of its 

rated capacity, providing exceptional 

turndown. Coldwater selected the 

magnetic bearing technology because of 

its ability to avoid overheating and its 

track record of providing long-standing 

reliable service—key advantages over 

the competing airfoil bearing 

technology. Further, as Coldwater 

initiated its evaluation of the equipment 

for selection and design phases well 

before the enactment of ARRA, the 

decision to do was clearly not an 

attempt to avoid application of the Buy 

American provisions of ARRA. 

Coldwater’s submissions clearly 

articulated functional reasons that 

justified their technical specifications 

and requirements. 

The April 28, 2009 EPA HQ 

Memorandum, ‘‘Implementation of Buy 

American provisions of Public Law 

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 applicant met the requirements 

specified for the availability inquiry as 

appropriate to the circumstances by 

conducting an extensive investigation 

into all possible sources for high-speed, 

high-efficiency turbo-compressors. 

Based on the investigation, five 

companies manufacture these machines, 

but only two (ABS and one other 

company) used magnetic bearings. 

Moreover, both of the companies that 

use magnetic bearings manufacture their 

machines overseas. Therefore, 

Coldwater believed that there was no 

domestic product of satisfactory quality 

available. 

EPA’s national contractor prepared a 

technical assessment report dated 

December 24, 2009, based on the 

submitted waiver request. 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. Therefore, based on the 

information provided to EPA and to the 

best of our knowledge at this time, the 

high-speed, high-efficiency magnetic 

bearing turbo-compressors necessary for 

this project are not manufactured in the 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
25242 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 88 / Friday, May 7, 2010 / Notices 

United States, and no other U.S. 

manufactured product can meet 

Coldwater’s project performance 

specifications and requirements. 

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 

communities such as Coldwater to 

revise their standards and specifications 

and to start the bidding process again. 

The imposition of ARRA Buy American 

requirements on such projects otherwise 

eligible for ARRA State Revolving Fund 

assistance would result in unreasonable 

delay and thus displace the ‘‘shovel 

ready’’ status for this project. To further 

delay project implementation is in 

direct conflict with a fundamental 

economic purpose of the ARRA, which 

is to create or retain jobs. 

The State and Tribal Programs Branch 

has reviewed this waiver request and 

has determined that the supporting 

documentation provided by Coldwater 

is sufficient to meet the criteria listed 

under Section 1605(b) of the ARRA 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 section 1605(b)(2) of the 

ARRA. Due to the lack of production of 

this item in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality 

in order to meet Coldwater’s project 

performance specifications and 

requirements, a waiver from the Buy 

American requirement is justified. 

The March 31, 2009, Delegation of 

Authority Memorandum provided 

Regional Administrators with the 

authority to issue exceptions to Section 

1605 of the 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, Coldwater is 

hereby granted a waiver from the Buy 

American requirements of Section 

1605(a) of Public Law 111–5 for the 

purchase of high-speed, high efficiency 

magnetic bearing turbo-compressors 

using ARRA funds as specified in the 

community’s request of December 21, 

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: March 26, 2010. 

Walter W. Kovalick, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5. 

[FR Doc. 2010–10916 Filed 5–6–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9145–5] 

Notice of a Project Waiver of Section 

1605 (Buy American Requirement) of 

the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to 

the City of Faribault, MN (Faribault) 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The EPA 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 of a 

satisfactory quality] to Faribault for the 

purchase of high-speed, high-efficiency 

magnetic bearing turbo-compressors to 

be used in the city’s sludge treatment 

process. 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 project-specific 

circumstances. These turbocompressors, which are supplied by 

ABS USA of Meriden, Connecticut, are 

manufactured in Finland, and meet 

Faribault’s performance specifications 

and requirements. The Acting Regional 

Administrator is making this 

determination based on the review and 

recommendations of EPA Region 5’s 

Water Division. Faribault has provided 

sufficient documentation to support its 

request. The Assistant Administrator of 

the 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 high-speed, 

high-efficiency magnetic bearing turbocompressors for Faribault’s activated 

sludge project that may otherwise be 

prohibited under Section 1605(a) of the 

ARRA. 

DATES: Effective Date: January 13, 2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Andrew Lausted, SRF Program Manager 

(312) 886–0189, or Puja Lakhani, 

Regional Counsel, (312) 353–3190, U.S. 

EPA Region 5, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., 

Chicago, IL 60604. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with ARRA Section 1605(c) 

and pursuant to Section 1605(b)(2) of 

Public Law 111–5, Buy American 

requirements, EPA hereby provides 

notice that it is granting a project waiver 

to Faribault for the acquisition of highspeed, high-efficiency magnetic bearing 

turbo-compressors that are 

manufactured in Finland. 

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, or unless a waiver is 

provided to the recipient by the head of 

the appropriate agency, here EPA. A 

waiver may be provided if EPA 

determines that (1) applying these 

requirements would be inconsistent 

with the 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. 

These manufactured goods will 

provide aeration for Faribault’s 

activated sludge treatment process. The 

city selected the magnetic bearing 

technology because of its ability to 

avoid overheating and its track record of 

providing long-standing reliable 

service—key advantages over the 

competing airfoil bearing technology. 

Also, the project specifications required 

a 322 horsepower capacity turbocompressor. Faribault’s submissions 

clearly articulated functional reasons 

that justified their technical 

specifications and requirements. 

The April 28, 2009 EPA HQ 

Memorandum, ‘‘Implementation of Buy 

American Provisions of Public Law 

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 applicant met the procedures 

specified for the availability inquiry as 

appropriate to the circumstances by 

conducting an extensive investigation 

into all possible sources for high-speed, 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES