Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 185 / Friday, September 24, 2010 / Notices 58379 

commercial and industrial (ICI) boilers, 

vapor recovery at gas stations, large 

above ground storage tanks, seaports, 

aftermarket catalysts, lightering, and 

non-road idling. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

November 10, 2010 starting at 9 a.m. 

and ending at 4 p.m. 

Location: Sheraton Boston, 39 Dalton 

Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02199; 

(617) 236–2000 or (888) 627–7054. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

documents and press inquiries contact: 

Ozone Transport Commission, 444 

North Capitol Street, NW., Suite 638, 

Washington, DC 20001; (202) 508–3840; 

e-mail: ozone@otcair.org; Web site: 

http://www.otcair.org. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Clean 

Air Act Amendments of 1990 contain at 

Section 184 provisions for the Control of 

Interstate Ozone Air Pollution. Section 

184(a) establishes an Ozone Transport 

Region (OTR) comprised of the States of 

Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, 

Maryland, Massachusetts, New 

Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, 

Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, 

parts of Virginia and the District of 

Columbia. The purpose of the OTC is to 

deal with ground-level ozone formation, 

transport, and control within the OTR. 

Type of meeting: Open. 

Agenda: Copies of the final agenda 

will be available from the OTC office 

(202) 508–3840; by e-mail: 

ozone@otcair.org or via the OTC Web 

site at http://www.otcair.org. 

Dated: September 7, 2010. 

W.C. Early, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region III. 

[FR Doc. 2010–23994 Filed 9–23–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9205–4] 

Notice of a Regional Project Waiver of 

Section 1605 (Buy American) of the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (ARRA) to the City of 

Lewiston, ME and the Auburn, Maine 

Water District 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The EPA is hereby granting a 

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 City of Lewiston, Maine and the 

Auburn, Maine Water District (‘‘AuburnLewiston’’) for the purchase of thirteen 

separate types of ductile iron pipe 

fittings (with various quantities for each 

individual fitting configuration totaling 

33 fittings) that are foreign 

manufactured as part of an upgrade 

project at the Auburn-Lewiston Water 

Treatment Facility. This is a project 

specific waiver and only applies to the 

use of the specified product for the 

ARRA project being proposed. Any 

other ARRA recipient that wishes to use 

the same product must apply for a 

separate waiver based on project 

specific circumstances. Based upon 

information submitted by AuburnLewiston, it has been determined that 

there are currently no domestically 

manufactured pipe fittings available to 

meet the Auburn-Lewiston’s project 

construction schedule. The Regional 

Administrator is making this 

determination based on the review and 

recommendations of the Municipal 

Assistance Unit. 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 foreign 

manufactured pipe fittings by AuburnLewiston, as specified in its July 28, 

2010 request. 

DATES: Effective Date: September 15, 

2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Katie Connors, Environmental Engineer, 

(617) 918–1658, or David Chin, 

Environmental Engineer, (617) 918– 

1764, Municipal Assistance Unit (CMU), 

Office of Ecosystem Protection (OEP), 

U.S. EPA, 5 Post Office Square, Suite 

100, Boston, MA 02109–3912. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 

accordance with ARRA Section 1605(c), 

the 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 City of Lewiston, 

Maine and the Auburn, Maine Water 

District for the purchase of foreign 

manufactured pipe fittings as part of its 

water treatment facility upgrade project. 

The specific ductile iron fittings are not 

available from a domestic manufacturer 

to meet the project construction 

schedule. 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 a public works 

project unless all of the iron, steel, and 

manufactured goods used in the project 

is produced in the United States, or 

unless a waiver is provided to the 

recipient by the head of the appropriate 

agency, here the 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. 

Consistent with the direction of the 

OMB Guidance at 2 CFR 176.120, EPA 

will generally regard waiver requests 

with respect to components that were 

specified in the bid solicitation or in a 

general/primary construction contract as 

‘‘late’’ if submitted after the contract 

date. However, in this case EPA has 

determined that the Auburn-Lewiston’s 

request, though made after the date that 

the contract was signed on March 11, 

2010, can be evaluated as timely 

because the supplier informed the 

subcontractor of the recipient on July 

19, 2010 that the domestic manufacturer 

would not be able to deliver the 

required type and number of fittings to 

meet the project schedule/delivery date. 

The need for a waiver was not 

determined until after the subcontractor 

had been informed of the extended 

delivery delay and further research 

indicated that there were no domestic 

manufacturers that could provide the 

necessary pipe fittings to meet the 

required project delivery schedule. The 

recipient could not reasonably foresee 

the need for such a determination until 

it was informed that the specific 

domestic pipe fittings would not be 

available at the originally scheduled 

time frame. Accordingly, EPA will 

evaluate the request as if it were timely. 

Auburn-Lewiston is constructing a 

new Ultraviolet (UV) disinfection 

treatment facility in order to comply 

with the Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface 

Water Treatment Rule requirements of 

the Safe Drinking Water Act, and part of 

the work involves the installation of 

new pipe and pipe fittings. According to 

information provided by AuburnLewiston, there are 13 different fitting 

types of various sizes and connection 

types, resulting in a total of 33 

individual fittings. The fittings are also 

required to meet the following 

specifications: (1) Manufactured to 

conform with ANSI/AWWA A21.51/ 

C151; (2) inside bituminous coating; and 

(3) outside primer of TNEMEC 

Omnithane Series 1. 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with NOTICES
58380 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 185 / Friday, September 24, 2010 / Notices 

According to Auburn-Lewiston, the 

subcontract to furnish and install the 

ductile iron pipe and pipe fittings was 

awarded on March 11, 2010 and none of 

the subcontractors raised any concerns 

about getting the pipe fittings delivered 

on time. A purchase order for the 

ductile iron piping and fittings was 

placed on April 29, 2010 with an agreed 

upon shipping date of July 19, 2010 to 

meet the project schedule. 

On July 19, 2010, the supplier 

received notification from the domestic 

foundries manufacturing the subject 

fittings that due to production order 

backlog, delivery of standard fittings 

would be delayed at least 4 weeks and 

delivery of the special, non-standard 

fittings (long radius bends and large 

diameter tees) could be delayed at least 

8 weeks. The project procurement 

manager reported that the estimated 4 

and 8 week delays were not guaranteed 

and that the delays could be longer. The 

possibility of delays was confirmed by 

EPA’s national contractor in 

conversation with the manufacturer. 

The project schedule called for 

delivery and installation of the ductile 

iron pipe fittings between July 16, 2010 

and August 12, 2010, so the testing of 

the lines could be initiated prior to 

September 1, 2010. In addition, the 

ultraviolet disinfection treatment system 

testing completion and operator training 

milestone date is December 8, 2010, 

with an overall project completion and 

transfer of facility to the owner date of 

January 5, 2011. If the delivery of the 

pipe fittings is delayed until midSeptember of 2010, it is estimated that 

final completion date will be pushed 

back to at least several weeks. There 

also has been no guarantee given by the 

manufacturer that the fittings will be 

delivered by mid-September, the revised 

delivery date. According to AuburnLewiston, delivery times for certain 

items are being quoted as long as six 

months for existing orders. 

The project procurement manager 

solicited quotations and committed 

delivery times for non-domestic 

manufactured ductile iron fittings from 

two local suppliers. Based on the 

information that was obtained, the nondomestic manufactured ductile iron 

pipe fittings necessary for the project, 

with the exception of one 24′′ x 4′′ tee, 

could be delivered within a time frame 

to meet the project schedule. The work 

could be coordinated to accommodate 

the later delivery of the 24′′ x 4′′ tee and 

preserve the December 8, 2010 overall 

system testing and operator training 

milestone date, as well as the January 5, 

2011 overall project completion date. 

Based on the review conducted by 

EPA’s national contractor, AuburnLewiston’s claim that the specific 

ductile iron fittings are not available 

from a domestic manufacturer to meet 

project schedule milestones is 

supported by the available evidence. At 

least eight additional potential domestic 

manufacturers of ductile iron pipe 

fittings were contacted and it was 

determined that none would be able to 

meet the required project delivery 

schedule. 

Furthermore, the purpose of the 

ARRA is to stimulate economic recovery 

by funding current infrastructure 

construction, not to delay projects that 

are ‘‘shovel ready’’ by requiring potential 

SRF eligible recipients, such as the 

Auburn-Lewiston to either revise their 

design standards and specifications, or 

in this situation significantly alter its 

construction schedule. The imposition 

of ARRA Buy American requirements in 

this case would result in an 

unreasonable delay for this project. To 

delay this construction would directly 

conflict with a fundamental economic 

purpose of ARRA, which is to create or 

retain jobs. 

The April 28, 2009 EPA HQ 

Memorandum, ‘‘Implementation of Buy 

American provisions of Pub. L. 111–5, 

the ‘American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009’ ’’ 

(‘‘Memorandum’’), 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 same Memorandum 

defines ‘‘satisfactory quality’’ as ‘‘the 

quality of steel, iron or manufactured 

good specified in the project plans and 

designs.’’ 

The Municipal Assistance Unit (CMU) 

has reviewed this waiver request and 

has determined that the supporting 

documentation provided by AuburnLewiston establishes both a proper basis 

to specify a particular manufactured 

good, and that the domestic 

manufactured good is currently not 

available to meet the construction 

schedule for the proposed project. The 

information provided is sufficient to 

meet the following criteria listed under 

Section 1605(b) of the ARRA and in the 

April 28, 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 March 31, 2009 Delegation of 

Authority Memorandum provided 

Regional Administrators with the 

temporary 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, 

the City of Lewiston, Maine and the 

Auburn, Maine Water District are 

hereby granted a waiver from the Buy 

American requirements of Section 

1605(a) of Public Law 111–5. This 

waiver permits use of ARRA funds for 

the purchase of non-domestic 

manufactured pipe fittings documented 

in Auburn-Lewiston’s waiver request 

submittal dated July 28, 2010. 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: September 15, 2010. 

Ira W. Leighton, 

Acting Regional Administrator, EPA Region 

1—New England. 

[FR Doc. 2010–23989 Filed 9–23–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9206–3] 

Notice of a Regional Project Waiver of 

Section 1605 (Buy American) of the 

American Recovery and Reinvestment 

Act of 2009 (ARRA) to the Town of 

Bristol, RI 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The EPA is hereby granting a 

waiver of the Buy American 

requirements of ARRA Section 1605 

under the authority of Section 

1605(b)(1) [inconsistent with the public 

interest] to the Town of Bristol, Rhode 

Island (Town) for the utilization and 

installation of two influent and two 

effluent sluice gates for the facility’s two 

final clarifiers as part of a larger overall 

wastewater treatment plant upgrade 

project. This is a project specific waiver 

and only applies to the use of the 

specified product for the ARRA project 

being proposed. Any other ARRA 

recipient that wishes to use the same 

product must apply for a separate 

waiver based on project specific 

circumstances. The Town had been 

assured by the manufacturer that the 

sluice gates would be made in a facility 

in Massachusetts. However, the 

manufacturer informed the Town of 

Bristol in writing on July 8, 2010 that 


srobinson on DSKHWCL6B1PROD with NOTICES