Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 22 / Wednesday, February 3, 2010 / Notices 5589 

b The strip configuration of the 

Aerostrip® diffusers (available in 

several dimensional configurations) is 

compatible with physical retrofit 

requirements of the project (i.e., some 

diffusers require installation on sloped 

walls of the existing aeration basins). 

Information provided by the applicant 

also indicates that the Aerostrip® 

diffuser is preferable for the project 

because: 

b It is compatible with the aeration 

diffuser upgrade previously 

implemented in AB1 (which will allow 

for symmetrical flow/Biochemical 

Oxygen Demand (BOD) loading to the 

two aeration basins, simplifying the 

operation of the treatment plant). 

b It will provide the requisite 

aeration capacity for the upgrade project 

within the facility’s existing two 

aeration basins (i.e., use of an alternate 

fine bubble diffuser would require the 

design and construction of a third 

aeration basin to provide the required 

aeration capacity for the design BOD 

loading). 

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 City has 

incorporated specific technical design 

features for the proposed project based 

on the performance characteristics of 

the Aerostrip® diffusers to meet the 

highest flow and loading demands of 

the Richland Waste Water Treatment 

Facility and the appropriate constraints 

of a retrofit project in an existing facility 

while minimizing energy consumption, 

operating costs and future capital 

improvements. 

The City has provided information to 

the EPA representing that there are 

currently no fine pore diffusers of 

comparable quality available from a 

domestic manufacturer to meet its 

specifications. 

Based on additional research by EPA’s 

consulting contractor (Cadmus), and to 

the best of the Region’s knowledge at 

this time, there does not appear to be 

other fine pore diffusers available to 

meet the City’s specifications. 

Furthermore, the purpose of the 

ARRA provisions was to stimulate 

economic recovery by funding current 

infrastructure construction, not to delay 

projects that are already shovel ready by 

requiring entities, like the City, to revise 

their design and potentially choose a 

more costly and less efficient project. 

The imposition of ARRA Buy American 

requirements on such projects eligible 

for CWSRF 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 the most 

fundamental economic purposes of 

ARRA; to create or retain jobs. 

The Grants & Strategic Planning Unit 

has reviewed this waiver request and 

has determined that the supporting 

documentation provided by the City is 

sufficient to meet the following criteria 

listed under Section 1605(b), 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 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 City’s design 

specifications. The 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 City is hereby granted a waiver from 

the Buy American requirements of 

Section 1605(a) of Public Law 111–5 for 

the purchase of Aerostrip® Fine Pore 

Diffusers supplied by Treatment 

Equipment Company in Bellevue, 

Washington and manufactured in 

Austria as specified in the City’s request 

of November 6, 2009. This 

supplementary information constitutes 

the detailed written justification 

required by Section 1605(c) for waivers 

based on a finding under subsection (b). 

Authority: Public Law 111–5, section 1605. 

Dated: December 21, 2009. 

Michelle L. Pirzadeh, 

Acting Regional Administrator, EPA, Region 

10. 

[FR Doc. 2010–2255 Filed 2–2–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9109–1] 

Science Advisory Board Staff Office; 

Request for Public Nominations of 

Experts To Conduct a Peer Review of 

EPA’s Draft Document ‘‘An Advisory 

Value for Conductivity Using Field 

Data: An Adaptation of the U.S. EPA’s 

Standard Methodology for Deriving 

Water Quality Criteria’’ 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Request for additional public 

nominations. 

SUMMARY: The EPA Science Advisory 

Board (SAB) Staff Office is seeking 

public nomination of experts to conduct 

a peer review of EPA’s draft document 

‘‘An Advisory Value for Conductivity 

using Field Data: An Adaptation of the 

U.S. EPA’s Standard Methodology for 

Deriving Water Quality Criteria’’ 

DATES: Nominations should be 

submitted by February 17, 2010 per the 

instructions below. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Any 

member of the public wishing further 

information regarding this request for 

nominations may contact Mr. Edward 

Hanlon, Designated Federal Officer 

(DFO), SAB Staff Office, by telephone/ 

voice mail at (202) 343–9946; by fax at 

(202) 233–0643 or via email at 

hanlon.edward@epa.gov. General 

information concerning the EPA Science 

Advisory Board can be found at the EPA 

SAB Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/ 

sab. Any inquiry regarding EPA’s Office 

of Research and Development (ORD) 

draft document entitled ‘‘An Advisory 

Value for Conductivity using Field Data: 

An Adaptation of the U.S. EPA’s 

Standard Methodology for Deriving 

Water Quality Criteria’’ should be 

directed to Dr. Michael Slimak, ORD’s 

Associate Director of Ecology, National 

Center for Environmental Assessment 

(NCEA), who may be contacted via 

telephone at (703) 347–8524 or by email at slimak.michael@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background: Recent published 

scientific information indicates that 

discharges from mountaintop mining 

and valley-fill operations in Southern 

Appalachia may be linked to degraded 

water quality and adverse impacts on 

in-stream biota. Discharges from surface 

coal mining, valley-fills and associated 

operations are regulated under the Clean 

Water Act (CWA) and under the Surface 

Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 

1977 (SMCRA). Under the CWA, 

discharges from mountaintop mining 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES
5590 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 22 / Wednesday, February 3, 2010 / Notices 

and valley-fill operations require an 

NPDES permit that either meets 

technology-based effluent limits or 

water quality-based limits that are 

developed from ambient water quality 

criteria. Ambient Water Quality Criteria 

are developed for specific pollutants, 

and their application takes into account 

the conditions of a waterbody that are 

designed to protect the designated uses 

of the waterbody. 

EPA’s ORD has developed a report 

that uses field data to derive an aquatic 

life advisory value for conductivity (a 

measure of salinity) that may be applied 

to waters in the Appalachian Region 

that are dominated by salts of SO4

2¥

and HCO3¥. This advisory value is 

intended to protect the biological 

integrity of waters in the region. It is 

derived by a method modeled on EPA’s 

standard methodology for deriving 

water quality criteria. In particular, the 

methodology was adapted for use of 

field data. 

ORD is requesting the SAB to peer 

review this draft conductivity 

document. In a Federal Register Notice 

(Volume 74, Number 185, Pages 

48952—48953) published on September 

25, 2009, the SAB Staff Office solicited 

public nominations for a proposed SAB 

expert Panel to provide advice on ORD’s 

draft assessment of ecological impacts 

related to mountaintop mining and 

valley-fill operations. Since the 

mountaintop mining assessment report 

and the conductivity advisory document 

are related, the SAB Staff Office is 

forming one expert panel under the 

auspices of the SAB to cover the 

necessary expertise for the review of 

both reports. 

Request for Nominations: In addition 

to the expertise previously sought in the 

above noted Federal Register Notice, 

the SAB Staff office is seeking public 

nominations of experts with nationally 

recognized expertise, knowledge, and 

experience in statistics with emphasis 

in management of empirical data sets 

associated with aquatic ecology or water 

quality criteria. 

Process and Deadline for Submitting 

Nominations: Any interested person or 

organization may nominate qualified 

individuals in the areas of expertise 

described above for possible service on 

this expert ad hoc Panel. Nominations 

should be submitted in electronic 

format (which is preferred over hard 

copy) following the instructions for 

‘‘Nominating Experts to Advisory Panels 

and Ad Hoc Committees Being Formed’’ 

provided on the SAB Web site. The 

instructions can be accessed through the 

‘‘Nomination of Experts’’ link on the 

blue navigational bar on the SAB Web 

site at http://www.epa.gov/sab. To 

receive full consideration, nominations 

should include all of the information 

requested. 

EPA’s SAB Staff Office requests: 

contact information about the person 

making the nomination; contact 

information about the nominee; the 

disciplinary and specific areas of 

expertise of the nominee; the nominee’s 

curriculum vita; sources of recent grant 

and/or contract support; and a 

biographical sketch of the nominee 

indicating current position, educational 

background, research activities, and 

recent service on other national 

advisory committees or national 

professional organizations. 

Persons having questions about the 

nomination procedures, or who are 

unable to submit nominations through 

the SAB Web site, should contact Mr. 

Edward Hanlon, DFO, as indicated 

above in this notice. Nominations 

should be submitted in time to arrive no 

later than February 17, 2010. 

The EPA SAB Staff Office will 

acknowledge receipt of nominations. 

The names and biosketches of qualified 

nominees identified by respondents to 

this Federal Register notice and to the 

September 25, 2009 Federal Register 

Notice (Volume 74, Number 185, Pages 

48952—48953), and additional experts 

identified by the SAB Staff, will be 

posted in an Updated List of Candidates 

on the SAB Web site at http:// 

www.epa.gov/sab. Public comments on 

this Updated List of Candidates will be 

accepted for 21 calendar days. The 

public will be requested to provide 

relevant information or other 

documentation on nominees that the 

SAB Staff Office should consider in 

evaluating candidates. 

For the EPA SAB Staff Office, a 

balanced subcommittee or review panel 

includes candidates who possess the 

necessary domains of knowledge, the 

relevant scientific perspectives (which, 

among other factors, can be influenced 

by work history and affiliation), and the 

collective breadth of experience to 

adequately address the charge. In 

establishing this expert ad hoc Panel to 

provide advice on the ecological 

impacts related to mountaintop mining 

and valley-fill operations and on 

deriving an aquatic life ambient water 

quality advisory value for conductivity 

using field data, the SAB Staff Office 

will consider public comments on the 

List of candidates, information provided 

by the candidates themselves, and 

background information independently 

gathered by the SAB Staff Office. 

Selection criteria to be used for Panel 

membership include: (a) Scientific and/ 

or technical expertise, knowledge, and 

experience (primary factors); (b) 

availability and willingness to serve; (c) 

absence of financial conflicts of interest; 

(d) absence of an appearance of a lack 

of impartiality; and (e) skills working in 

committees, subcommittees and 

advisory panels; and, for the Panel as a 

whole, (f) diversity of scientific 

expertise and viewpoints. EPA values 

and welcomes diversity. In an effort to 

obtain nominations of diverse 

candidates, EPA encourages 

nominations of women and men of all 

racial and ethnic groups. 

The SAB Staff Office’s evaluation of 

an absence of financial conflicts of 

interest will include a review of the 

‘‘Confidential Financial Disclosure Form 

for Special Government Employees 

Serving on Federal Advisory 

Committees at the U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency’’ (EPA Form 3110– 

48). This confidential form allows 

Government officials to determine 

whether there is a statutory conflict 

between that person’s public 

responsibilities (which includes 

membership on an EPA Federal 

advisory committee) and private 

interests and activities, or the 

appearance of a lack of impartiality, as 

defined by Federal regulation. The form 

may be viewed and downloaded from 

the following URL address http:// 

www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/epaform3110– 

48.pdf. 

The approved policy under which the 

EPA SAB Office selects subcommittees 

and review panels is described in the 

following document: Overview of the 

Panel Formation Process at the 

Environmental Protection Agency 

Science Advisory Board (EPA–SAB–EC– 

02–010), which is posted on the SAB 

Web site at http://www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/ 

ec02010.pdf. 

Dated: January 27, 2010. 

Anthony F. Maciorowski, 

Deputy Director, EPA Science Advisory Board 

Staff Office. 

[FR Doc. 2010–2250 Filed 2–2–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

Notice of Public Information Collection 

Being Reviewed by the Federal 

Communications Commission for 

Extension Under Delegated Authority, 

Comments Requested 

January 28, 2010. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Communications 

Commission, as part of its continuing 

effort to reduce paperwork burden 

invites the general public and other 

Federal agencies to take this 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with NOTICES