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or optometrist’s report to the medical 

examiner at the time of the annual 

medical examination; and (3) that each 

individual provide a copy of the annual 

medical certification to the employer for 

retention in the driver’s qualification 

file and retain a copy of the certification 

on his/her person while driving for 

presentation to a duly authorized 

Federal, State, or local enforcement 

official. Each exemption will be valid 

for two years unless rescinded earlier by 

FMCSA. The exemption will be 

rescinded if: (1) The person fails to 

comply with the terms and conditions 

of the exemption; (2) the exemption has 

resulted in a lower level of safety than 

was maintained before it was granted; or 

(3) continuation of the exemption would 

not be consistent with the goals and 

objectives of 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and 

31315. 

Basis for Renewing Exemptions 

Under 49 U.S.C. 31315(b)(1), an 

exemption may be granted for no longer 

than two years from its approval date 

and may be renewed upon application 

for additional two year periods. In 

accordance with 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and 

31315, each of the 15 applicants has 

satisfied the entry conditions for 

obtaining an exemption from the vision 

requirements (63 FR 30285; 63 FR 

54519; 63 FR 196; 64 FR 54948; 65 FR 

159; 67 FR 67234; 69 FR 62741; 71 FR 

62147; 65 FR 20245; 65 FR 57230; 67 FR 

57266; 65 FR 33406; 65 FR 57234; 65 FR 

66293; 67 FR 67234; 67 FR 46016; 67 FR 

57267; 69 FR 53493; 69 FR 62742; 71 FR 

62148; 71 FR 6826; 71 FR 19602; 71 FR 

32183; 71 FR 41310). Each of these 15 

applicants has requested renewal of the 

exemption and has submitted evidence 

showing that the vision in the better eye 

continues to meet the standard specified 

at 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10) and that the 

vision impairment is stable. In addition, 

a review of each record of safety while 

driving with the respective vision 

deficiencies over the past two years 

indicates each applicant continues to 

meet the vision exemption standards. 

These factors provide an adequate basis 

for predicting each driver’s ability to 

continue to drive safely in interstate 

commerce. Therefore, FMCSA 

concludes that extending the exemption 

for each renewal applicant for a period 

of two years is likely to achieve a level 

of safety equal to that existing without 

the exemption. 

Request for Comments 

FMCSA will review comments 

received at any time concerning a 

particular driver’s safety record and 

determine if the continuation of the 

exemption is consistent with the 

requirements at 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and 

31315. However, FMCSA requests that 

interested parties with specific data 

concerning the safety records of these 

drivers submit comments by November 

10, 2008. 

FMCSA believes that the 

requirements for a renewal of an 

exemption under 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and 

31315 can be satisfied by initially 

granting the renewal and then 

requesting and evaluating, if needed, 

subsequent comments submitted by 

interested parties. As indicated above, 

the Agency previously published 

notices of final disposition announcing 

its decision to exempt these 15 

individuals from the vision requirement 

in 49 CFR 391.41(b)(10). The final 

decision to grant an exemption to each 

of these individuals was based on the 

merits of each case and only after 

careful consideration of the comments 

received to its notices of applications. 

The notices of applications stated in 

detail the qualifications, experience, 

and medical condition of each applicant 

for an exemption from the vision 

requirements. That information is 

available by consulting the above cited 

Federal Register publications. 

Interested parties or organizations 

possessing information that would 

otherwise show that any, or all of these 

drivers, are not currently achieving the 

statutory level of safety should 

immediately notify FMCSA. 

The Agency will evaluate any adverse 

evidence submitted and, if safety is 

being compromised or if continuation of 

the exemption would not be consistent 

with the goals and objectives of 49 

U.S.C. 31136(e) and 31315, FMCSA will 

take immediate steps to revoke the 

exemption of a driver. 

Issued on: October 2, 2008. 

Larry W. Minor, 

Associate Administrator for Policy and 

Program Development. 

[FR Doc. E8–24104 Filed 10–9–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Transit Administration 

Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks 

Program, Formerly Alternative 

Transportation in Parks and Public 

Lands Program 

AGENCY: Federal Transit Administration 

(FTA), DOT. 

ACTION: Announcement of project 

selections. 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of 

Transportation (DOT) Federal Transit 

Administration (FTA) announces the 

selection of projects to be funded under 

Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 appropriations for 

the Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks 

program (formally the Alternative 

Transportation in Parks and Public 

Lands (ATPPL)) program, authorized by 

Section 3021 of the Safe, Accountable, 

Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity 

Act—A Legacy for Users of 2005 

(SAFETEA–LU) and codified in 49 

U.S.C. 5320. The Paul S. Sarbanes 

Transit in Parks program funds capital 

and planning expenses for alternative 

transportation systems in parks and 

public lands. Federal land management 

agencies and State, tribal and local 

governments acting with the consent of 

a Federal land management agency are 

eligible recipients. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Award recipients who are State, local, 

or tribal entities may contact the 

appropriate FTA Regional 

Administrator (See Appendix A) for 

grant-specific issues. Award Recipients 

who are a specific unit of the following 

Federal land management agencies 

should work with the contact listed 

below at their headquarters office to 

coordinate the availability of funds to 

that unit. 

• Bureau of Land Management: Linda 

Force, Linda_Force@blm.gov, 202–557– 

3567. 

• Fish and Wildlife Service: Nathan 

Caldwell, nathan_caldwell@fws.gov, 

703–358–2376. 

• Forest Service: Ellen LaFayette, 

elafayette@fs.fed.us, 703–605–4509. 

• National Park Service: Kevin 

Percival, Kevin_Percival@nps.gov, 303– 

969–2429. 

Any other Federal land management 

agency, as specified by 49 U.S.C. 

5320(b)(2), should contact Henrika 

Buchanan-Smith at (202) 366–2053 for 

instructions regarding receiving funds. 

For general information about the Paul 

S. Sarbanes Transit in Parks program, 

please contact Scott Faulk, Office of 

Program Management, Federal Transit 

Administration, at (202) 366–2053. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

A total of $25,000,000 was 

appropriated for FTA’s Paul S. Sarbanes 

Transit in Parks program in Fiscal Year 

(FY) 2008, and $807,660 in FY 2007 

funds remain available for allocation. Of 

this amount, $1,250,000 has been 

reserved for oversight, planning, 

research, and technical assistance 

leaving $24,557,660 available for project 

awards. A total of 84 applicants 

requested $55.2 million in funding 

under the program, which was more 

than twice the amount available for 

projects. FTA, Department of the 

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Interior (DOI), and land management 

agencies’ representatives evaluated the 

project proposals based on the criteria 

defined in 49 U.S.C. 5320(g)(2) and 

detailed in the Notice of Funding 

Availability published on December 13, 

2007. 

The 52 projects selected for funding 

in FY 2008 are shown on Table 1 and 

represent a diverse set of capital and 

planning projects across the country, 

ranging from bus purchases to 

installation of Intelligent Transportation 

Systems (ITS). 

Applying for Funds 

Recipients who are State or local 

government entities will be required to 

apply for Paul S. Sarbanes Transit in 

Parks program funds electronically 

through FTA’s electronic grant award 

and management system, TEAM. The 

content of these grant applications must 

reflect the approved proposal. (Note: 

Applications for the Paul S. Sarbanes 

Transit in Parks program do not require 

Department of Labor Certification.) 

Upon grant award, payments to grantees 

will be made by electronic transfer to 

the grantee’s financial institution 

through the Electronic Clearing House 

Operation (ECHO) system. Staff in 

FTA’s Regional offices is available to 

assist applicants. 

Recipients who are Federal land 

management agencies will be required 

to enter into an interagency agreement 

with FTA. FTA will administer one 

interagency agreement with each 

Federal land management agency 

receiving funding through the program 

for all of that agency’s projects. 

Individual units of Federal land 

management agencies should work with 

the contact at their headquarters office 

listed above to coordinate the 

availability of funds to that unit. 

Program Requirements 

Section 5320 requires funding 

recipients to meet certain requirements. 

Requirements that reflect existing 

statutory and regulatory provisions can 

be found in the document ‘‘Alternative 

Transportation in Parks and Public 

Lands Program: Requirements for 

Recipients’’ available at http:// 

www.fta.dot.gov/atppl. These 

requirements are incorporated into the 

grant agreements and inter-agency 

agreements used to fund the selected 

projects. 

Pre-Award Authority 

Pre-award authority allows an agency 

that will receive a grant or interagency 

agreement to incur certain project costs 

prior to receipt of the grant or 

interagency agreement and retain 

eligibility of the costs for subsequent 

reimbursement after the grant or 

agreement is approved. The recipient 

assumes all risk and is responsible for 

ensuring that all conditions are met to 

retain eligibility, including compliance 

with federal requirements such as the 

National Environmental Policy Act 

(NEPA), SAFETEA–LU planning 

requirements, and provisions 

established in the grant contract or 

Interagency Agreement. This automatic 

pre-award spending authority, when 

triggered, permits a grantee to incur 

costs on an eligible transit capital or 

planning project without prejudice to 

possible future Federal participation in 

the cost of the project or projects. Under 

the authority provided in 49 U.S.C. 

5320(h), FTA is extending pre-award 

authority for FY 2008 ATTPL projects 

effective as of October 10, 2008 when 

the projects were publicly announced. 

The conditions under which preaward authority may be utilized are 

specified below: 

a. Pre-award authority is not a legal or 

implied commitment that the project(s) 

will be approved for FTA assistance or 

that FTA will obligate Federal funds. 

Furthermore, it is not a legal or implied 

commitment that all items undertaken 

by the applicant will be eligible for 

inclusion in the project(s). 

b. All FTA statutory, procedural, and 

contractual requirements must be met. 

c. No action will be taken by the 

grantee that prejudices the legal and 

administrative findings that the Federal 

Transit Administrator must make in 

order to approve a project. 

d. Local funds expended pursuant to 

this pre-award authority will be eligible 

for reimbursement if FTA later makes a 

grant or interagency agreement for the 

project(s). Local funds expended by the 

grantee prior to October 10, 2008 will 

not be eligible for credit toward local 

match or reimbursement. Furthermore, 

the expenditure of local funds on 

activities such as land acquisition, 

demolition, or construction, prior to the 

completion of the NEPA process, would 

compromise FTA’s ability to comply 

with Federal environmental laws and 

may render the project ineligible for 

FTA funding. 

e. When a grant for the project is 

subsequently awarded, the Financial 

Status Report, in TEAM-Web, must 

indicate the use of pre-award authority, 

and the pre-award item in the project 

information section of TEAM should be 

marked ‘‘yes.’’ 

Reporting Requirements 

All recipients must submit quarterly 

reports to FTA containing the following 

information: 

(1) Narrative description of project(s); 

and, 

(2) discussion of all budget and 

schedule changes. 

The headquarters office for each federal 

land management agency should collect 

a quarterly report for each of the 

projects delineated in the interagency 

agreement and then send these reports 

(preferably by e-mail) to Scott Faulk, 

FTA, scott.faulk@dot.gov; 1200 New 

Jersey Avenue, Washington, DC 20590. 

Examples can be found on the program 

Web site at http://www.fta.dot.gov/ 

atppl. State and local governments will 

send this information to FTA for 

projects that are funded through grants 

to State and local governments rather 

than through the interagency agreement. 

The quarterly reports are due to FTA on 

the dates noted below: 

Quarter Covering Due date 

1st Quarter Report ...................................................................... October 1–December 31 ............................................................. January 31 

2nd Quarter Report ..................................................................... January 1–March 31 ................................................................... April 30. 

3rd Quarter Report ...................................................................... April 1–June 30 ........................................................................... July 31. 

4th Quarter Report ...................................................................... July 1–September 31 .................................................................. October 31. 

In order to allow FTA to compute 

aggregate program performance 

measures as required by the President’s 

Management Agenda, FTA requests that 

all recipients of funding for capital 

projects under the Paul S. Sarbanes 

Transit in Parks program submit the 

following information annually: 

• Annual visitation to the land unit; 

• Annual number of persons who use 

the alternative transportation system 

(ridership/usage); 

• An estimate of the number of 

vehicle trips mitigated based on 

alternative transportation system usage 

and the typical number of passengers 

per vehicle; 

• Cost per passenger; and, 

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• A note of any special services 

offered for those systems with higher 

costs per passenger but more amenities. 

State and local government entities 

should submit this information as part 

of their fourth quarter report through 

FTA’s TEAM grants management 

system. Federal land management 

agencies should also send this 

information as part of their fourth 

quarter report. Examples can be found 

on the program Web site at http:// 

www.fta.dot.gov/atppl. 

Oversight 

Recipients of FY 2008 Paul S. 

Sarbanes Transit in Parks program funds 

will be required to certify that they will 

comply with all applicable Federal and 

FTA programmatic requirements. FTA 

direct grantees will complete this 

certification as part of the annual 

Certification and Assurances package, 

and Federal Land Management Agency 

recipients will complete the 

certification by signing the interagency 

agreement. This certification is the basis 

for oversight reviews conducted by 

FTA. 

The Secretary of Transportation and 

FTA have elected not to apply the 

triennial review requirements of 49 

U.S.C. 5307(h)(2) to Paul S. Sarbanes 

Transit in Parks program recipients that 

are other Federal agencies. Instead, 

working with the existing oversight 

systems at the Federal Land 

Management Agencies, FTA will 

perform periodic reviews of specific 

projects funded by the Paul S. Sarbanes 

Transit in Parks program. These reviews 

will ensure that projects meet the basic 

statutory, administrative, and regulatory 

requirements as stipulated by this notice 

and the certification. To the extent 

possible, these reviews will be 

coordinated with other reviews of the 

project. FTA direct grantees of Paul S. 

Sarbanes Transit in Parks program funds 

(State, local and tribal government 

entities) will be subject to all applicable 

triennial, State management, civil rights, 

and other reviews. 

Issued in Washington, DC, this 6th day of 

October, 2008. 

James S. Simpson, 

Administrator. 

Appendix A—FTA Regional Offices 

Region I 

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, 

New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and 

Vermont. Richard Doyle, FTA Regional 

Administrator, Kendall Square, 55 

Broadway, Suite 920, Cambridge, MA 

02142–1093, (617) 494–2055. 

Region II 

New Jersey, and New York. Brigid 

Hynes-Cherin, FTA Regional 

Administrator, One Bowling Green, 

Room 429, New York, NY 10004–1415, 

(212) 668–2170. 

Region III 

Delaware, District of Columbia, 

Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and 

West Virginia. Letitia Thompson, FTA 

Regional Administrator, 1760 Market 

Street, Suite 500, Philadelphia, PA 

19103–4124, (215) 656–7100. 

Region IV 

Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, 

Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto 

Rico, South Carolina, Tennessee, and 

Virgin Islands. Yvette Taylor, FTA 

Regional Administrator, 230 Peachtree 

St., NW., Suite 800, Atlanta, GA 30303, 

(404) 865–5600. 

Region V 

Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, 

Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. 

Marisol Simon, FTA Regional 

Administrator, 200 West Adams Street, 

Suite 320, Chicago, IL 60606–5232, 

(312) 353–2789. 

Region VI 

Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, 

Oklahoma, and Texas. Robert Patrick, 

FTA Regional Administrator, 819 Taylor 

Street, Room 8A36, Ft. Worth, TX 

76102, (817) 978–0550. 

Region VII 

Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. 

Mokhtee Ahmad, FTA Regional 

Administrator, 901 Locust Street, Suite 

404, Kansas City, MO 64106, (816) 329– 

3920. 

Region VIII 

Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, 

South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming. 

Terry Rosapep, FTA Regional 

Administrator, 12300 West Dakota, 

Suite 310, Lakewood, CO 80228–2583, 

(720) 963–3300. 

Region IX 

American Samoa, Arizona, California, 

Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, and the 

Northern Mariana Islands. Leslie Rogers, 

FTA Regional Administrator, 201 

Mission Street, Room 1650, San 

Francisco, CA 94105–1839, (415) 744– 

3133. 

Region X 

Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and 

Washington. Richard F. Krochalis, FTA 

Regional Administrator, Jackson Federal 

Building, 915 Second Avenue, Suite 

3142, Seattle, WA 98174–1002, (206) 

220–7954. 

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[FR Doc. E8–24113 Filed 10–9–08; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–57–C 


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