Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 102 / Friday, May 29, 2009 / Notices 25763 

and not more than a reasonable rate of 

return on investment is provided to the 

owner. This waiver permits Tribal 

applicants to submit an application 

without these components and adopt 

such after the award. If awarded a grant 

under the Recovery Act program, 

submission of this documentation will 

become a grant condition. This waiver 

will ensure that an application for 

Recovery Act funds can be submitted 

promptly in response to a NOFA. All 

other analysis components remain 

required and must be submitted with 

the application and may not be waived. 

The components that must be submitted 

include the following: any grant amount 

provided will not substantially reduce 

the amount of non-Federal financial 

support for the activity; grant funds 

used for the project will be disbursed on 

a pro rate basis with amounts from other 

sources; and establishing the project is 

financially feasible and that it has a 

reasonable chance of success. 

5. 24 CFR 1003.303; Project Rating. 

The ICDBG regulation at 24 CFR 

1003.303 requires each project in an 

ICDBG application to meet project 

threshold requirements and then be 

scored based on five specific rating 

factors. The rating factors are capacity, 

need/extent of the problem, soundness 

of the approach, leveraging of resources, 

and comprehensiveness and 

coordination. Recovery Act funds under 

the ICDBG program can only be 

awarded to recipients who received 

ICDBG funding in FY 2008. These 

recipients have already demonstrated 

the capacity to administer the grants. In 

recognition of strict funding obligations 

deadlines in the Recovery Act and the 

specific Recovery Act provisions for 

awarding funds, this section is waived 

so that the NOFA can be drafted to 

delete the applicant capacity factor in 

the ICDBG NOFA and include a new 

factor to address the requirements of the 

Recovery Act. 

6. 24 CFR 1003.604; Citizen 

Participation Requirements. The ICDBG 

regulations at 24 1003.604(a)(2) require 

applicants to consult with residents 

prior to submitting their funding 

applications. The consultation 

requirements have the potential to delay 

the ability of ICDBG recipients to 

expeditiously facilitate Recovery Act 

funds for housing and community 

development needs. Accordingly, this 

section is waived so that the Tribe will 

not have to hold one or more meetings 

to obtain the views of residents on 

community development and housing 

needs. Tribes will be required to meet 

the citizen participation requirements 

by publishing or posting information on 

their plans to use Recovery Act funds 

and accepting comments. However, 

comments will not have to be submitted 

prior to the application deadline date. 

The Tribe will be required to certify in 

its application that information has been 

published or posted for residents of the 

community in order to meet the citizen 

participation requirement. 

Dated: May 4, 2009. 

Paula O. Blunt, 

General Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public 

and Indian Housing. 

[FR Doc. E9–12483 Filed 5–28–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4210–67–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Reclamation 

Agency Information Collection; 

Activities Under OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

AGENCY: Bureau of Reclamation, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of renewal of a currently 

approved collection (OMB No. 1006– 

0029). 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 

Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation, 

we) has forwarded the following 

Information Collection Request (ICR) to 

the Office of Management and Budget 

(OMB) for review and approval: Rural 

Water Supply Act, OMB Control 

Number: 1006–0029. Title 43 CFR part 

404 requires entities interested in 

participating in the Rural Water Supply 

Program (Rural Water Program) to 

submit information to allow 

Reclamation to evaluate and prioritize 

requests for financial or technical 

assistance. 

DATES: OMB has up to 60 days to 

approve or disapprove this information 

collection, but may respond after 30 

days; therefore, public comments must 

be received on or before June 29, 2009 

to assure maximum consideration. 

ADDRESSES: You may send written 

comments to the Desk Officer for the 

Department of the Interior at the Office 

of Management and Budget, Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs, via 

facsimile to (202) 395–5806 or e-mail to 

OIRA_DOCKET@omb.eop.gov. A copy 

of your comments should also be 

directed to the Bureau of Reclamation, 

Attention: 84–52000, PO Box 25007, 

Denver, CO 80225. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Avra Morgan at: (303) 445–2906. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Title: Reclamation Rural Water 

Supply Program, 43 CFR part 404. 

OMB Control Number: 1006–0029. 

Abstract: The purpose of the Rural 

Water Program is to provide assistance 

to small communities of 50,000 

inhabitants or less, including tribes and 

tribal organizations, to plan the design 

and construction of projects to serve 

rural areas with industrial, municipal, 

and residential water. Specifically, 

Reclamation is authorized to provide 

financial and technical assistance to 

conduct appraisal investigations and 

feasibility studies for rural water supply 

projects. Reclamation’s regulations (43 

CFR part 404) establish criteria 

governing how the program will be 

implemented, including eligibility and 

prioritization criteria, and criteria to 

evaluate appraisal and feasibility 

studies. 

Entities interested in participating in 

the Rural Water Program will be 

requested to submit information 

regarding proposed appraisal 

investigations and feasibility studies, to 

allow Reclamation to evaluate and 

prioritize requests for financial or 

technical assistance under the program. 

Reclamation will apply the program 

criteria to the information provided to 

determine whether the entity seeking 

assistance is eligible, whether the 

project is eligible for assistance, and to 

what extent the project meets 

Reclamation’s prioritization criteria. 

Requests for assistance under the Rural 

Water Program will be made on a 

voluntary basis. There is no form 

associated with this information 

collection. 

There are three different types of 

assistance that a project sponsor can 

request under the Rural Water Program, 

each of which requires different 

information to be submitted, as follows: 

(1) Review of a Completed Study. To 

request Reclamation to review a 

completed appraisal investigation or 

feasibility study—which was not 

completed with assistance under the 

Rural Water Program, the entity making 

the request (the project sponsor) must 

submit a cover letter requesting 

Reclamation to commence the review. 

The cover letter must address the 

eligibility criteria set forth in §§ 404.6 

and 404.7 of the regulations, and the 

prioritization criteria under § 404.13. 

(2) Assistance to Conduct an 

Appraisal Investigation. To request 

technical or financial assistance to 

conduct an appraisal investigation, the 

project sponsor must submit a statement 

of interest in response to the program 

announcement, as explained in 

§ 404.14. Reclamation will post a 

program announcement on 

www.grants.gov one time annually to 

provide notice to the public of the 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES

25764 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 102 / Friday, May 29, 2009 / Notices 

opportunity to request assistance under 

the Rural Water Program. No form is 

required to be filled out in order to 

submit a statement of interest. The 

statement of interest will include 

information regarding the eligibility of 

the project sponsor to participate in the 

program, whether the proposed project 

meets the program eligibility 

requirements, and the extent to which 

the proposed project meets the 

prioritization criteria. 

(3) Assistance to Conduct a Feasibility 

Study. To request technical or financial 

assistance to conduct a feasibility study, 

the project sponsor must have already 

completed an appraisal investigation. 

Since a statement of interest will have 

already been submitted, project 

sponsors seeking to conduct a feasibility 

study may simply complete a full 

proposal without having to complete 

another statement of interest. No form is 

required to be filled out in order to 

submit a full proposal. The full proposal 

will be used by Reclamation to 

determine whether the project sponsor 

is eligible to participate in the program, 

whether the proposed project meets the 

program eligibility requirements, the 

extent to which the proposed project 

meets the prioritization criteria, and to 

evaluate the proposal in general to 

determine whether it is reasonable and 

can be successful. The content of a full 

proposal will be described in detail in 

the program announcement and will 

typically include a detailed scope of 

work for the proposed study. 

Frequency: Once annually, in 

response to the program announcement. 

Respondents: States, tribes, 

municipalities, water districts, and 

other entities created under State law 

with water management authority. 

Estimated Annual Total Number of 

Potential Respondents: 185. 

Estimated Number of Responses per 

Respondent: 1.0. 

Estimated Total Number of Annual 

Responses: 56.0. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden on 

Respondents: 2,100 hours. 

Comments 

We invite your comments on: 

(a) Whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of our functions, including 

whether the information will have 

practical use; 

(b) The accuracy of our burden 

estimate for the proposed collection of 

information; 

(c) Ways to enhance the quality, 

usefulness, and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and 

(d) Ways to minimize the burden of 

the information collection on 

respondents, including the use of 

automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid OMB 

control number. A 60-day comment 

period soliciting comments on this 

collection of information was published 

in the Federal Register (73 FR 67778, 

Nov. 17, 2008) in an interim final rule. 

No public comments were received. 

Before including your address, 

telephone number, e-mail address, or 

other personal identifying information 

in your comment, you should be aware 

that your entire comment (including 

your personal identifying information) 

may be made publicly available at any 

time. While you can ask us in your 

comment to withhold your personal 

identifying information from public 

review, we cannot guarantee that we 

will be able to do so. 

Roseann Gonzales, 

Director, Policy and Program Services, Bureau 

of Reclamation. 

[FR Doc. E9–12525 Filed 5–28–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4310–MN–P 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

Bureau of Land Management 

[NM–114438; AZA–35058; L51010000 

ER0000 LVRWG09G0690] 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement and 

Possible Resource Management Plan 

Amendments for the SunZia Southwest 

Transmission Project in Arizona and 

New Mexico 

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, 

Interior. 

ACTION: Notice of Intent. 

SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land 

Management (BLM), New Mexico State 

Office, announces its intent to prepare 

an Environmental Impact Statement 

(EIS), and by this notice is announcing 

the beginning of the scoping process 

and soliciting input on identification of 

issues and proposed planning criteria in 

response to a right-of-way application 

filed by SunZia Transmission, LLC 

(SunZia). 

DATES: Comments should be submitted 

no later than 45 days after publication 

of this Notice in the Federal Register. 

The BLM will announce public scoping 

meetings to identify relevant issues 

through local news media, newsletters, 

and the BLM Web site (see below) at 

least 15 days prior to each meeting. We 

will provide additional opportunities 

for public participation upon 

publication of the Draft EIS, including a 

90-day public comment period. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

or resource information by any of the 

following methods: 

Web site: http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/ 

prog/more/lands_realty.html. 

E-Mail: NMSunZiaProject@blm.gov. 

Mail: Bureau of Land Management, New 

Mexico State Office, SunZia 

Southwest Transmission Project, P.O. 

Box 27115, Santa Fe, NM 87502– 

0115. 

Courier/Hand Delivery: Bureau of Land 

Management, SunZia Southwest 

Transmission Project, 1474 Rodeo 

Road, Santa Fe, NM 87505. 

Documents pertinent to the right-ofway application may be examined at: 

Bureau of Land Management New 

Mexico State Office, Public Room, 1474 

Rodeo Road, Santa Fe, NM 87505, 

Telephone (505) 438–7471. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: For further 

information and/or to have your name 

added to the mailing list, contact Adrian 

Garcia, SunZia Southwest Transmission 

BLM Project Manager, at the New 

Mexico State Office, P.O. Box 27115, 

Santa Fe, NM 87502–0115, or by e-mail 

at NMSunZiaProject@blm.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SunZia 

has submitted a right-of-way application 

to construct, operate, and maintain two 

new single-circuit overhead 500 kilovolt 

(kV) transmission lines originating at a 

new substation in either Socorro County 

or Lincoln County in the vicinity of 

Bingham or Ancho, New Mexico, and 

terminating at the Pinal Central 

Substation in Pinal County near 

Coolidge, Arizona. The overall 

transmission line route would be 

approximately 460 miles in length, a 

substantial part of this length on BLM 

lands, and two separate transmission 

lines would be located on BLM, State, 

and private lands. 

SunZia’s proposal is to transport 

electricity generated by power 

generation resources, including 

primarily renewable resources, to 

western power markets and load 

centers. The SunZia project would 

enable the development of renewable 

energy resources, including wind, solar, 

and geothermal generation, by creating 

access to the interState power grid in 

the Southwest and providing increased 

transfer capacity. The proposed project 

would also increase power reliability 

across the southwestern United States, 

allow communities in southern Arizona 

and southern New Mexico to 

economically access energy generated 

from renewable sources, provide power 

mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with NOTICES