6202 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 25 / Monday, February 8, 2010 / Notices 

Dated: February 2, 2010. 

John Moses, 

Director, Collection Strategies Division. 

[FR Doc. 2010–2663 Filed 2–5–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL–9111–3] 

Notice of Open Meeting of the 

Environmental Financial Advisory 

Board (EFAB) 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The United States 

Environmental Protection Agency’s 

(EPA) Environmental Financial 

Advisory Board (EFAB) will hold a full 

board meeting on March 16–17, 2010. 

EFAB is an EPA advisory committee 

chartered under the Federal Advisory 

Committee Act (FACA) to provide 

advice and recommendations to EPA on 

creative approaches to funding 

environmental programs, projects, and 

activities. 

The purpose of the meeting is to hear 

from informed speakers on 

environmental finance issues, proposed 

legislation, Agency priorities and to 

discuss progress with work projects 

under EFAB’s current Strategic Action 

Agenda. 

Environmental Finance topics 

expected to be discussed include: 

Financial Assurance Mechanisms 

(Commercial Insurance & Cost 

Estimation); Financial Assurance and 

CO2 Underground Injection Control/ 

Carbon Capture and Sequestration; 

Water Loss Reduction; Innovative 

Financing Tools, and State Revolving 

Fund Investment Options. 

The meeting is open to the public, 

however, seating is limited. All 

members of the public who wish to 

attend the meeting must register in 

advance, no later than Monday, March 

8, 2010. 

DATES: Full Board Meeting is scheduled 

for Tuesday, March 16, 2010 from 1:30 

p.m.–5 p.m. and Wednesday, March 17, 

2010 from 9 a.m.–5 p.m.: 

ADDRESSES: Omni Shoreham Hotel, 

2500 Calvert Street, NW., Washington, 

DC 20008. 

Registration and Information Contact: 

To register for this meeting or get 

further information please contact 

Sandra Keys, U.S. EPA, at (202) 564– 

4999 or keys.sandra@epa.gov. For 

information on access or services for 

individuals with disabilities, please 

contact Sandra Keys. To request 

accommodations of a disability, contact 

Sandra Keys, preferably at least 10 days 

prior to the meeting, to give EPA as 

much time as possible to process your 

request. 

Dated: February 1, 2010. 

Joshua Baylson, 

Associate Chief Financial Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2010–2664 Filed 2–5–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

[FRL –9111–4] 

Notice of a Project Waiver of Section 

1605 (Buy American Requirement) of 

the American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to 

the Auburn, Indiana Department of 

Water Pollution Control (Auburn) 

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 Auburn for the 

purchase of a Hydroself model HS40 

flushing gate system. This is a projectspecific 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 projectspecific circumstances. These flushing 

gates, which are supplied by Gabriel 

Novac & Associates Inc, are 

manufactured in Canada, and meet 

Auburn’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. Auburn 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 a flushing gate 

system for Auburn’s ‘‘Long Term Control 

Plan Store-Treat Facility Project’’ that 

may otherwise be prohibited under 

Section 1605(a) of the ARRA. 

DATES: Effective Date: December 10, 

2009 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julie 

Henning, SRF Financial Analyst (312) 

886–4882, or Puja Lakhani, Regional 

Counsel, (312) 353–3190, U.S. EPA 

Region 5, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, 

IL 60613. 

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 Auburn for the acquisition of a 

flushing gate system which is 

manufactured in Canada. The 

manufacturer is Gabriel Novac & 

Associates Inc. 

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. 

Auburn proposes to construct a ‘‘Long 

Term Control Plan Store-Treat Facility 

Project’’ at the Auburn Water Pollution 

Control Facility on Wayne Street in 

Auburn. The project is part of Auburn’s 

20- year Long Term Control Plan to 

reduce combined sewer overflows 

(CSO’s). This project will provide 

storage volume for excess combined 

sewer flows in a storage tank during rain 

events which would have previously 

discharged to Cedar Creek. After the 

rain event, the excess sewer flow will be 

treated at the Water Pollution Control 

Facility. Proper maintenance of the 

storage tank will require periodic 

cleaning, to remove solids that settle at 

the bottom of the tank. Auburn proposes 

to use a flushing gate system to remove 

settled solids from the tank. The 

flushing gate system holds sewer 

overflow water in reserve in 

compartments at the upstream end of 

the storage tank. This flush water, 

released by a patented mechanism, gives 

rise to a high celerity wave that 

effectively removes all accumulated 

debris in basins and interceptors over 

flushway lengths greater than any other 

available method. The use of sewer 

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Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 25 / Monday, February 8, 2010 / Notices 6203 

overflow water for this process 

eliminates the need for freshwater. 

Auburn researched additional options 

for cleaning the settled solids from the 

storage tank, including tipping buckets, 

and vacuum flushing, and concluded 

that the flushing gate system is 

preferable to the other options because 

it is more cost effective and allows for 

lower maintenance and more efficiency 

in operation due the use of stored CSO 

volume for cleaning. 

Auburn has requested a waiver from 

the Buy American provision for the 

purchase of a Hydroself model HS40 

flushing gate system manufactured in 

Canada. Auburn stated in their waiver 

application that they were unable to 

locate any domestic manufacturers of 

flushing gate systems. 

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’,’’ (‘‘EPA 

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.’’ 

EPA’s national contractor prepared a 

technical assessment report dated 

August 2, 2009 based on the submitted 

waiver request, identifying two 

potential domestic suppliers of flushing 

gates. After being notified of the 

potential domestic suppliers, Auburn 

contacted each of them to determine the 

availability of the manufactured good. 

The subsequent analysis by Auburn and 

EPA concluded that neither of the 

domestic suppliers were able to provide 

the specified good at the time needed 

and place needed, and in the proper 

form or specification as dictated by the 

project plans and design. 

Domestic supplier #1 is currently 

involved in a lawsuit that could stop the 

manufacturing and sale of the flushing 

gate. EPA has determined that, under 

certain circumstances, litigation creates 

a sufficient basis to render the specified 

equipment unavailable from a defendant 

U.S. manufacturer. Specifically, a U.S. 

manufacturer’s product may be 

considered unavailable when litigation 

that may implicate an assistance 

recipient’s legal rights to use—and 

consequently may subject the assistance 

recipient to patent infringement liability 

for using—the manufactured good being 

considered for a project has proceeded 

through initial legal processes, or been 

pending for a sufficient period of time 

(to make clear that the litigation will not 

be dismissed as frivolous). EPA 

reviewed the litigation documentation 

and concluded that, due to this pending 

litigation, procuring the flushing gates 

from domestic supplier #1 would 

present an unacceptable risk to Auburn, 

and this impediment thus means that 

the specified goods are not available 

from this supplier. Auburn contacted 

domestic supplier #2, and inquired 

about their ability to deliver the 

manufactured good within the project 

timeline. On September 30, 2009, 

domestic supplier #2 stated in writing 

that they could not meet Auburn’s 

timeline requirements for this project, 

thus establishing that the flushing gates 

would not be available from domestic 

supplier #2. EPA’s national contractor’s 

technical assessment report from August 

2, 2009, did not find any additional 

domestic suppliers of the specified 

manufactured good. 

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 Auburn 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 Auburn is 

sufficient to meet the criteria listed 

under Section 1605(b) of the ARRA, 

OMB’s regulations at 2 CFR 176.60– 

176.170, and in the April 28, 2009, EPA 

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 product in the United States in 

sufficient and reasonably available 

quantities and of a satisfactory quality 

in order to meet Auburn’s 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, Auburn is hereby 

granted a waiver from the Buy American 

requirements of Section 1605(a) of 

Public Law 111–5 for the purchase of 

the Hydroself model HS40 flushing gate 

system using ARRA funds as specified 

in the community’s request of July 14, 

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 10, 2009. 

Walter W. Kovalick, Jr., 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5. 

[FR Doc. 2010–2661 Filed 2–5–10; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE 

CORPORATION 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities: Submission for OMB 

Review; Comment Request 

AGENCY: Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation (FDIC). 

ACTION: Notice of information collection 

to be submitted to OMB for review and 

approval under the Paperwork 

Reduction Act. 

SUMMARY: The FDIC, as part of its 

continuing effort to reduce paperwork 

and respondent burden, invites the 

general public and other Federal 

agencies to take this opportunity to 

comment on renewal of an existing 

information collection, as required by 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (4 

U.S.C. chapter 35). On December 1, 

2009 (74 FR 62776), the FDIC solicited 

public comment for a 60-day period on 

renewal of its ‘‘Qualifications for Failed 

Bank Acquisitions’’ information 

collection (OMB No. 3064–0169), 

currently approved under OMB 

emergency clearance procedures. No 

comments were received. Therefore, the 

FDIC hereby gives notice of its 

submission of the information collection 

to OMB for review under normal 

clearance procedures. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before March 10, 2010. 

ADDRESSES: Interested parties are 

invited to submit written comments to 

the FDIC by any of the following 

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