[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 206 (Monday, October 26, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65224-65225]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-27162]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9936-19-OA]
Performance Partnership Grants
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: This action adds the Beaches Environmental Assessment and
Coastal Health (BEACH) Act grant program to the list of the
Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) environmental grant programs
eligible for inclusion in Performance Partnership Grants (PPGs).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Reynold Meni, Office of Congressional
and Intergovernmental Relations, Office of the Administrator (Mail Code
1301), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 564-3669; fax number:
(202) 501-1540; email address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and
Appropriations Act of 1996 (Pub. L.
[[Page 65225]]
104-134) and the Department of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban
Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act of 1998 (Pub.
L. 105-65) authorize EPA to combine categorical grant funds
appropriated in EPA's State and Tribal Assistance Grant (STAG) account
and award the funds as PPGs. Public Law 104-134 states, in relevant
part, that: ``the Administrator is authorized to make grants annually
from funds appropriated under this heading, subject to such terms and
conditions as the Administrator shall establish, to any State or
federally recognized Indian tribe for multimedia or single media
pollution prevention, control and abatement and related environmental
activities at the request of the Governor or other appropriate State
official or the tribe.''
Public Law 105-65 amended the PPG authority by authorizing
``interstate agencies, tribal consortia, and air pollution control
agencies'' to receive PPGs. Pursuant to the authority granted in Public
Law 104-134 and Public Law 105-65, EPA promulgated PPG regulations in
January of 2001 as part of the Agency's revision of 40 CFR part 35, the
rules governing categorical environmental program grants. The
regulation at 40 CFR 35.133(b) states that: ``The Administrator may, in
guidance or regulation, describe subsequent additions, deletions, or
changes to the list of environmental programs eligible for inclusion in
Performance Partnership Grants.''
EPA is authorized under Section 406 of the Clean Water Act (CWA),
as amended by the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health
(BEACH) Act (Pub. L. 106-284), to award program development and
implementation grants to eligible states, territories, tribes, and
local governments to support microbiological monitoring and public
notification of the potential for exposure to disease-causing
microorganisms in coastal recreation waters, including the Great Lakes.
The BEACH Act grant program is funded in the same line item that funds
categorical grants for ``multimedia or single media pollution
prevention, control and abatement and related environmental
activities'' and, therefore, this grant program is eligible for
inclusion in PPGs. This notice is made pursuant to 40 CFR 35.133(b), to
inform entities eligible to receive PPGs that the program listed above
may be included in a PPG subject to any limitations herein defined.
Hereafter, BEACH Act grants are eligible for inclusion in PPGs and may
be included in a PPG at the request of the appropriate official of an
eligible entity, subject to EPA's regulations at 2 CFR part 200 and 2
CFR part 1500 and 40 CFR 35.001-35.138 and 35.500-35.538. The authority
to issue this Federal Register notice has been delegated to the Deputy
Associate Administrator for Intergovernmental Relations.
Dated: October 19, 2015.
Mark W. Rupp,
Deputy Associate Administrator for Intergovernmental Relations.
[FR Doc. 2015-27162 Filed 10-23-15; 8:45 am]
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