1584 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 8 / Tuesday, January 13, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 

1SEPs must meet the statutory requirements of 

the RESTORE Act, including: (1) All projects, 

programs and activities included in the SEP are 

eligible activities as defined by the RESTORE Act; 

(2) all projects, programs and activities included in 

the SEP contribute to the overall economic and 

ecological recovery of the Gulf Coast; (3) the SEP 

takes the Council’s Comprehensive Plan into 

consideration and is consistent with the goals and 

objectives of the Comprehensive Plan; and (4) no 

more than 25 percent of the allotted funds are used 

for infrastructure projects unless the SEP contains 

certain certifications from the Gulf Coast State 

submitting the SEP. 

2A Gulf Coast State may receive more than the 

statutory minimum depending on the calculation of 

each Gulf Coast State’s share under an allocation 

formula established by the Council by regulation 

based on criteria specified in the Act. 33 U.S.C. 

1321(t)(3)(A)(ii). The Council is developing a 

regulation to be published in the Federal Register 

at a later date establishing this allocation formula. 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

14 CFR Parts 5 and 119 

[Docket No. FAA–2009–0671; Amendment 

Nos. 5–1 and 119–17] 

RIN 2120–AJ86 

Safety Management Systems for 

Domestic, Flag, and Supplemental 

Operations Certificate Holders 

Correction 

In rule document 2015–00143 

appearing on pages 1307–1328 in the 

issue of January 8, 2015, make the 

following correction: 

§ 5.1 [Corrected] 

On page 1326, in § 5.1, in the second 

column, in the second line from the top, 

‘‘January 8, 2018’’ should read ‘‘March 

9, 2018’’. 

[FR Doc. C1–2015–00143 Filed 1–12–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 1505–01–D 

GULF COAST ECOSYSTEM 

RESTORATION COUNCIL 

40 CFR Part 1800 

[Docket Number: 110142014–1111–02] 

RIN 3600–AA00 

RESTORE Act Spill Impact Component 

Planning Allocation 

AGENCY: Gulf Coast Ecosystem 

Restoration Council. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Gulf Coast Ecosystem 

Restoration Council (Council) is issuing 

a final rule authorizing the Gulf Coast 

State members of the Council, or their 

administrative agents, and the Gulf 

Consortium of Florida counties to apply 

for grants to fund planning activities to 

develop individual State Expenditure 

Plans (SEP) using amounts up to the 

statutory minimum that each Gulf Coast 

State must receive under the Spill 

Impact Component of the Resources and 

Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist 

Opportunities, and Revived Economies 

of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 

(RESTORE Act). 

DATES: This final rule becomes effective 

on January 13, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: The Council posted all 

comments to the interim rule on its Web 

site, http://www.restorethegulf.gov/, 

without change, including any business 

or personal information provided, such 

as names, addresses, email addresses, or 

telephone numbers. All comments 

received are part of the public record 

and subject to public disclosure. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Jeffrey Roberson at 202–482–1315. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

The RESTORE Act, Public Law 112– 

141 (July 6, 2012), codified at 33 U.S.C. 

1321(t) and note, makes funds available 

for the restoration and protection of the 

Gulf Coast Region through a new trust 

fund in the Treasury of the United 

States, known as the Gulf Coast 

Restoration Trust Fund (Trust Fund). 

The Trust Fund will contain 80 percent 

of the administrative and civil penalties 

paid by the responsible parties after July 

6, 2012, under the Federal Water 

Pollution Control Act in connection 

with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. 

These funds will be invested and made 

available through five components of 

the RESTORE Act. On August 15, 2014, 

the Department of Treasury (Treasury) 

issued regulations (79 FR 48039) 

applicable to all five components, and 

which generally describe the 

responsibilities of the Federal and State 

entities that administer RESTORE Act 

programs and carry out restoration 

activities in the Gulf Coast Region. 

Two of the five components, the 

Comprehensive Plan and Spill Impact 

Components, are administered by the 

Council, an independent federal entity 

created by the RESTORE Act. Under the 

Spill Impact Component (33 U.S.C. 

1321(t)(3)), the subject of this final rule, 

30 percent of funds in the Trust Fund 

will be disbursed to the five Gulf Coast 

States (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, 

Mississippi, and Texas) or their 

administrative agents based on an 

allocation formula established by the 

Council by regulation based on criteria 

in the RESTORE Act. The RESTORE Act 

establishes a statutory minimum under 

which each of the five Gulf Coast States 

is guaranteed five percent of the funds 

made available under this component. 

In order for funds to be disbursed to a 

Gulf Coast State, the RESTORE Act 

requires each Gulf Coast State to 

develop a SEP and submit it to the 

Council for approval. The RESTORE Act 

specifies the particular entity within 

each Gulf Coast State that will prepare 

the individual SEPs: In Alabama, the 

Alabama Gulf Coast Recovery Council; 

in Florida, a consortium of local 

political subdivisions that includes a 

minimum of one representative of each 

affected county (officially named the 

‘‘Gulf Consortium’’ as organized under 

Florida law); in Louisiana, the Coastal 

Protection and Restoration Authority of 

Louisiana; in Mississippi, the Office of 

the Governor or an appointee of the 

Office of the Governor; and in Texas, the 

Office of the Governor or an appointee 

of the Office of the Governor. 33 U.S.C. 

1321(t)(3)(B)(iii). 

On August 22, 2014, the Council 

issued an interim final rule to permit 

the five eligible entities responsible for 

drafting SEPs to have access to amounts 

up to the statutory minimum to help 

draft a SEP that meets all statutory 

requirements.1 79 FR 49690. The 

Council opened this interim final rule 

up for public comment for 30 days. The 

Council received substantive comments 

from three separate commenters. 

After considering public comments, 

the Council now issues the regulations 

as a final rule. The rule will take effect 

on January 13, 2015. The Council will 

separately make available a guidance 

document that details the content and 

process requirements of both the 

planning SEP that is required to get 

access to the planning grants authorized 

under this rule and the full SEP that is 

required to get access to the entire 

amount of funds made available to each 

Gulf Coast State under the Spill Impact 

Component of the RESTORE Act. The 

Council is also currently developing 

another set of regulations to more fully 

implement the Spill Impact Component 

of the RESTORE Act. These regulations 

will be published in the Federal 

Register at a later date and will establish 

how funds made available from the 

Trust Fund will be allocated between 

the five Gulf Coast States based on the 

allocation formula. 

II. Public Comments and Summary of 

Final Rule 

Each of the five Gulf Coast States, 

Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, 

Mississippi, and Texas, are statutorily 

guaranteed a minimum of five percent 

of amounts made available from the 

Trust Fund under the Spill Impact 

Component.2 33 U.S.C. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 8 / Tuesday, January 13, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 1585 

1321(t)(3)(A)(iii). The Council originally 

issued this regulation as an interim final 

rule in order to facilitate expeditious 

development of full SEPs by the five 

entities required by the RESTORE Act to 

draft the SEPs and thus speed delivery 

of projects, programs and activities 

authorized under the Spill Impact 

Component to help restore and protect 

the Gulf Coast Region. The Council is 

now finalizing the rule without 

substantive change. Instead, minor 

clarifications have been made to the rule 

and preamble text to make the intent 

clearer. 

Under this final rule, an amount of 

funds less than or equal to the statutory 

minimum allocation (five percent of 

funds available under the Spill Impact 

Component) are available to the five 

eligible entities for development of a 

planning SEP that funds planning 

activities only, an eligible activity under 

the Spill Impact Component. 33 U.S.C. 

1321(t)(1)(B)(i)(VIII); 33 U.S.C. 

1321(t)(3)(B)(i)(I). Eligible entities 

include the States of Mississippi and 

Texas, the Coastal Protection and 

Restoration Authority of Louisiana, the 

Alabama Gulf Coast Recovery Council, 

and the Gulf Consortium of Florida 

counties. 

The preamble to the interim final rule 

discussed in broad terms the grant 

submission process. Commenters 

requested clarification on that process 

because they felt the interim final rule 

was unclear on whether an SEP was 

required for the planning grant 

authorized by this Rule in addition to a 

grant application. Commenters also 

requested that if an SEP is required, that 

the Council remove that requirement. 

The Council did not make any changes 

to the text of the final rule because this 

issue is not implicated in the text itself. 

Rather, the Council is clarifying in the 

preamble that the process for receiving 

grant funds under the final rule involves 

two steps. First, the Council’s 

interpretation of the sections of the 

RESTORE Act that authorize funds 

under the Spill Impact Component 

require an SEP prior to any distribution 

of funds. 33 U.S.C. 1321(t)(3)(B). As 

such, the Council has no discretion to 

do away with this requirement. 

However, the Council feels it is within 

its discretion to permit a much simpler 

SEP than would be required in order to 

receive a full distribution of funds 

under the Spill Impact Component once 

the allocation formula is complete. 

While the Treasury regulations (31 CFR 

34.203(a)) state that that eligible entities 

may apply to the Council for a grant for 

planning purposes, the Council does not 

believe these regulations authorize to 

the Council to distribute such funds 

without an approved SEP, nor would it 

be appropriate for the Treasury 

regulations to do so, since it would be 

outside the scope of the Act to distribute 

funds without an SEP. The Council 

intends to release guidance materials 

separately from this final rule that will 

clarify the content requirements 

associated with a ‘‘planning SEP’’ under 

this final rule, and differentiating those 

requirements from those of a ‘‘full SEP’’ 

that would be required to get a full share 

of funds pursuant to the Council’s 

allocation formula regulation that is in 

the process of being drafted. Second, an 

eligible entity that has submitted a 

planning SEP and had it approved by 

the Council would have to complete a 

standard grant application. 

Commenters also pointed out that in 

Florida, the process for submitting an 

SEP to the Council involves the 

administrative step of submitting the 

SEP to the Executive Office of the 

Governor of Florida. The Act requires 

that all SEPs be submitted to the 

Council by the Gulf Coast State. 33 

U.S.C. 1321(t)(3)(B)(i). 

The final rule describes the eligible 

uses for the amounts made available 

under the final rule as including 

planning activities related solely to the 

development of a full SEP, including 

conceptual design and feasibility 

studies related to specific projects. It 

does not include engineering and 

environmental studies related to 

specific projects. Commenters pointed 

out that this definition of planning 

activities is narrower in scope than the 

definition provided by Treasury in its 

regulations (31 CFR 34.2) and asked that 

the Council modify its definition to 

match the Treasury definition. This 

narrower construction was intentional. 

The purpose of this rule is to permit an 

eligible entity access to a limited pool 

of funds in order to draft a full SEP. As 

such, the definition of planning 

assistance used in the Treasury 

regulations is too broad in scope, and 

would permit engineering and 

environmental studies related to 

specific projects or procurement of grant 

processing systems, activities that the 

Council does not intend to fund under 

this final rule. Those sorts of activities 

will be eligible uses once the full 

amount of funds is available under the 

Spill Impact Component pursuant to the 

forthcoming allocation formula. At this 

time, however, those sorts of activities 

are beyond the narrowly tailored 

purpose of this final rule, which is to 

fund the drafting of a full SEP only. 

Similarly, the final rule does not 

permit any pre-award costs incurred 

prior to the date of publication of the 

interim final rule on August 22, 2014, 

and provides that any pre-award costs 

incurred after that publication will be 

evaluated pursuant to 2 CFR part 200. 

Commenters requested that the Council 

remove this time limitation on when 

pre-award costs were incurred. The final 

rule retains this time limitation because 

of the narrow purpose of the rule, to 

fund the drafting of a full SEP. Under 2 

CFR 200.458, pre-award costs must be 

directly linked to a particular grant and 

until the announcement of the interim 

final rule on August 22, 2014, eligible 

entities did not know that the Council 

would award grants for the purpose of 

drafting a full SEP. As such, the Council 

does not feel it is unreasonably 

constraining pre-award costs by 

imposing a limitation that it will 

consider pre-award costs only if they 

were awarded after August 22, 2014. 

Further, to the extent that an eligible 

entity incurred costs prior to August 22, 

2014, that the entity thinks would 

qualify as legitimate pre-award costs 

under 2 CFR 200.458, the entity is free 

to request funding for such costs under 

the awards issued when a full SEP is 

submitted in order to access the full 

allocation under the Spill Impact 

Component. 

Commenters also advocated for 

changing the Rule to provide for a clear 

path for funding the Gulf Consortium of 

Florida. Given the narrow purpose of 

this Rule, to fund the drafting of a full 

SEP, the Council feels that this request 

goes beyond the scope of this Rule. 

Whether Spill Impact Component funds 

are available for this purpose is best 

addressed in the entity’s application for 

pre-award costs associated with the full 

SEP required to access the full 

allocation under the Spill Impact 

Component or under the Council’s 

broader forthcoming regulation 

establishing the allocation formula. The 

Council will keep this comment in mind 

as it drafts that future regulation. 

Finally, commenters requested that all 

forthcoming guidance and rulemakings 

from the Council be promulgated in a 

manner that will allow for comments 

prior to them being finalized, consistent 

with the Administrative Procedure Act, 

5 U.S.C. 553. As is its custom, the 

Council intends to comply with the 

requirements of the Administrative 

Procedure Act. 

Minor clarifying edits were made to 

sections 1800.1 and 1800.20 to remove 

confusing, superfluous references to the 

fiscal year. The minimum allocation 

amount available to each Gulf Coast 

State will be at least equal to 5% of the 

total amount available in the Trust Fund 

for the Spill Impact Component over the 

life of the Trust Fund. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with RULES
1586 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 8 / Tuesday, January 13, 2015 / Rules and Regulations 

III. Procedural Requirements 

A. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 

U.S.C. 601 et seq.) generally requires 

agencies to prepare a regulatory 

flexibility analysis of any rule subject to 

notice and comment rulemaking 

requirements under the Administrative 

Procedure Act or any other statute, 

unless the agency certifies that this final 

rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. The Council 

hereby certifies that this final rule will 

not have a significant economic impact 

on a substantial number of small 

entities, for the following reasons. 

This final rule only affects those Gulf 

Coast States that are eligible recipients 

of these funds, and States are not 

considered ‘‘small entities’’ under the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act. For two Gulf 

Coast States, Alabama and Florida, the 

Act mandates that entities not officially 

part of the Executive Office of the 

State’s government develop the SEPs. 

The Alabama Gulf Coast Recovery 

Council, in the context of the Act, serves 

as an administrative agent of the State 

of Alabama, so the effects of this rule are 

still directed solely at the State. For the 

State of Florida, while the Gulf 

Consortium of counties is tasked with 

developing the SEP, it is a consortium 

of 23 counties with a total population of 

greater than 50,000. As such, neither 

entity is considered ‘‘small entities’’ 

under the Regulatory Flexibility Act. 

Additionally, while this final rule 

describes procedures concerning the 

allocation and expenditure of amounts 

from the Trust Fund under the Spill 

Impact Component, most of these 

requirements come from the RESTORE 

Act itself or other Federal law. The 

RESTORE Act determines the statutory 

minimum percentage of funds available 

to the Gulf Coast States under the Spill 

Impact Component. 

Because no small entities will be 

impacted by this final rule, no initial 

regulatory flexibility analysis is 

required, and none has been prepared. 

B. Paperwork Reduction Act 

The collections of information 

contained in this final rule would at 

most require submissions of grant 

paperwork from five entities (four of the 

Gulf Coast States, or their administrative 

agents, and the Gulf Consortium) below 

the threshold requirement for 

application of the Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3507(d)). As 

such, any request for information under 

this final rule is not considered a 

‘‘collection of information’’ subject to 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 

C. Regulatory Planning and Review 

(Executive Orders 12866 and 13563) 

As an independent federal entity that 

is composed of, in part, six federal 

agencies, including the Departments of 

Agriculture, the Army, Commerce, and 

the Interior, the Department in which 

the Coast Guard is operating, and the 

Environmental Protection Agency, the 

requirements of Executive Orders 12866 

and 13563 are inapplicable to this final 

rule. 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 1800 

Coastal zone, Fisheries, Grant 

programs, Grants administration, Gulf 

Coast Restoration Trust Fund, Gulf 

RESTORE Program, Intergovernmental 

relations, Marine resources, Natural 

resources, Oil pollution, Research, 

Science and technology, Trusts, 

Wildlife. 

Dated: December 8, 2014. 

Justin R. Ehrenwerth, 

Executive Director, Gulf Coast Ecosystem 

Restoration Council. 

For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, the Gulf Coast Ecosystem 

Restoration Council amends 40 CFR 

chapter VIII, by revising part 1800 to 

read as follows: 

PART 1800—SPILL IMPACT 

COMPONENT 

Subpart A—Definitions 

Sec. 

1800.1 Definitions. 

Subpart B—Minimum Allocation Available 

for Planning Purposes 

Sec. 

1800.10 Purpose. 

1800.20 Minimum allocation available for 

planning purposes. 

Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1321(t). 

Subpart A—Definitions 

§ 1800.1 Definitions. 

As used in this part: 

Gulf Coast State means any of the 

States of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, 

Mississippi, and Texas. 

Gulf Consortium means the 

consortium of Florida counties formed 

to develop the Florida State Expenditure 

Plan pursuant to 33 U.S.C. 

1321(t)(3)(B)(iii)(II). 

Minimum allocation means the 

amount made available to each Gulf 

Coast State which totals at least five 

percent of the total allocation made 

available under the Spill Impact 

Component. 

RESTORE Act means the Resources 

and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist 

Opportunities, and Revived Economies 

of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012. 

Spill Impact Component means the 

component of the Gulf RESTORE 

program authorized by section 311(t)(3) 

of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

Act (33 U.S.C. 1321(t)(3)), as added by 

section 1603 of the Act, in which Gulf 

Coast States are provided funds by the 

Council according to a formula that the 

Council establishes by regulation, using 

criteria listed in the Act. 

State Expenditure Plan means the 

plan for expenditure of amounts 

disbursed under the Spill Impact 

Component that each Gulf Coast State 

must submit to the Council for approval. 

Subpart B—Minimum Allocation 

Available for Planning Purposes 

§ 1800.10 Purpose. 

This subpart establishes that up to the 

statutory minimum allocation (five 

percent) is available under the Spill 

Impact Component of the Resources and 

Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist 

Opportunities, and Revived Economies 

of the Gulf Coast States Act of 2012 

(RESTORE Act) (Pub. L. 112–141, 126 

Stat. 405, 588–607) for planning 

purposes associated with development 

of a State Expenditure Plan. 

§ 1800.20 Minimum allocation available for 

planning purposes. 

A Gulf Coast State or its 

administrative agent, or the Gulf 

Consortium, may apply to the Council 

for a grant to use the minimum 

allocation available under the Spill 

Impact Component of the RESTORE Act 

for planning purposes. These planning 

purposes are limited to development of 

a State Expenditure Plan, and includes 

conceptual design and feasibility 

studies related to specific projects. It 

does not include engineering and 

environmental studies related to 

specific projects. It also does not 

include any pre-award costs incurred 

prior to August 22, 2014. 

[FR Doc. 2014–30675 Filed 1–12–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–EA–P 

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 

COMMISSION 

47 CFR Parts 1, 51 and 63 

[GC Docket No. 10–44; FCC 14–183] 

Amendment of the Commission’s 

Rules of Practice and Procedure; 

Electronic Filing of Domestic Section 

214 Applications and Notices of 

Network Changes 

AGENCY: Federal Communications 

Commission. 

ACTION: Final rule. 


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