[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 26 (Tuesday, February 9, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6387-6389]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-2810]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9112-4]
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 Troy, VT
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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[[Page 6388]]
SUMMARY: The EPA is hereby granting a waiver of the Buy America
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 Town of Troy, Vermont (``Town'') for the purchase of
foreign manufactured butterfly valves and actuators for an arsenic and
manganese removal water treatment installation 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. Based upon information
submitted by the Town and its consulting engineer, it has been
determined that there are currently no domestic manufactured butterfly
valves and actuators available to meet its proposed specialized needs
and project 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 butterfly valves and actuators by the
Town, as specified in its November 19, 2009 request.
DATES: Effective Date: January 29, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katie Connors, Environmental Engineer,
(617) 918-1764, or David Chin, Environmental Engineer, (617) 918-1658,
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(b)(2) of Public Law 111-5, Buy American
requirements, to the Town for the purchase of non-domestic manufactured
butterfly valve and actuators to meet the Town's project schedule to
install an for arsenic and manganese water treatment system.
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 the 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.
The Town of Troy, Vermont (``Town'') is receiving funding from the
VT ARRA Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF) to install a water
treatment facility for arsenic and manganese removal, as well as water
meters in the distribution system. The treatment system is a skid
mounted, preassembled and prewired arsenic and manganese removal system
from a U.S. manufacturer. The components of the filtration system are
manufactured in the U.S. with the exception of the system's
electrically actuated butterfly valves which are manufactured by Value
Valve in Taiwan. The Town is requesting a waiver for these foreign
manufactured valves and actuators which are standard components
provided on the selected U.S. manufacturer's filtration treatment
systems.
The waiver is being requested after bid solicitation has been
completed and construction has begun. The late request was due to
unavailability of a domestic company able to provide the specialized
valves and actuators according to the project schedule. The Town is
under an enforcement action deadline by the State of Vermont to install
and operate an arsenic removal system by April 30, 2010.
The Town contacted several domestic manufacturers of butterfly
valve and actuators and although some of them could provide the
products within the project specifications, they could not do so within
the established project schedule. In order to adhere to the April 30,
2010 regulatory deadline, the skid system must be delivered to the
construction site by December 2009. The domestic manufacturers could
not produce the specialized valves and actuators needed for
incorporation into the system within the time required. The filter
system, including the valves and actuators, is assembled in California
and will be freighted across the country to Troy, VT. Delaying the
components several weeks would put their availability to the
manufacturer at mid December to early January, depending on the
domestic supplier. To wait for domestically available valves and
actuators and allowing for the time necessary to assemble and test the
complete system would have pushed delivery of the system to the end of
January. The delay would result in the Town of Troy possibly violating
its regulatory compliance schedule.
An evaluation of all of the supporting documentation by EPA's
national contractor, including results of research and communication
with manufacturers of valves and actuators, supports and confirms the
Town's claim that there are currently no domestic manufacturers that
can provide specialized butterfly valves and actuators to meet the pre-
established compliance schedule.
The consulting engineer for the Town identified three domestic
manufacturers in the United States. The three companies could provide
the valves and actuators. However, the shortest delivery time available
was 6-8 weeks, with one of the companies estimating the delivery period
to be 10-12 weeks. The supporting information for this proposed project
includes contacts with valve and actuator manufacturers, telephone
calls, and e-mail correspondence with domestic manufacturers. An
independent review of the submitted documentation by EPA's national
contractor confirmed this documentation.
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 Town of Troy, VT, to possibly violate the
established compliance schedule. The imposition of ARRA Buy American
requirements in this case would result in 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 Public Law 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 Municipal Assistance Unit (CMU) has reviewed this waiver
request and has determined that the supporting documentation provided
by the Town
[[Page 6389]]
establishes both a proper basis to specify a particular manufactured
good, and that the domestic manufactured good that is currently
available cannot be delivered in the necessary timeframe 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 in the necessary
timeframe, the Town of Troy, Vermont is 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 butterfly valves and actuators documented in Town's waiver
request submitted to the EPA on November 19, 2009. 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: January 29, 2010.
Ira Leighton,
Acting Regional Administrator, EPA Region 1--New England.
[FR Doc. 2010-2810 Filed 2-8-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P