[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 18 (Monday, January 29, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 3978-3979]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-1314]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[Docket No. 030602141-7007-47]


Availability of Grant Funds for Fiscal Year 2007

AGENCY: National Ocean Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Amendment of Notice; Extension of Solicitation Period and 
Eligibility Change

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SUMMARY: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National 
Ocean Service, publishes this notice to amend the competitive 
solicitation for the Social Science Fellowship in the National 
Estuarine Research Reserve Program to modify the eligibility criteria 
to allow part-time students to apply for the program. In addition, two 
National Estuarine Research Reserves are being added to the list of 
eligible reserves where candidates can propose their research including 
the Old Woman Creek National Estuarine Research Reserve in Huron, Ohio 
and the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in 
Watsonville, California. Due to these amendments, the solicitation 
period is extended to allow eligible candidates time to submit 
applications.

DATES: The new deadline for the receipt of proposals is 11 p.m. EST, 
February 28, 2007, for both electronic and paper applications.

ADDRESSES: The address for submitting proposals electronically is: 
http://www.grants.gov/. (Electronic submission is strongly encouraged). 
Paper submissions should be sent to the attention of Erica Seiden, 
Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management Estuarine Reserves 
Division (N/ORM5), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 
1305 East-West Highway, SSMC4, 10th Floor Station 10542, Silver Spring, 
MD 20910.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information, contact: 
Erica Seiden 301-563-1172, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This program was originally solicited in the 
Federal Register on December 18, 2006 (71 FR 75712). Since the date of 
publication of the original solicitation, two Estuarine Reserve sites 
have indicated to the program that they were interested in hosting 
graduate fellows. In addition, the program received a number of 
inquiries from part-time graduate students indicating their interest in 
participating in this new fellowship program. As a result, NOAA amends 
the competitive solicitation for the Social Science Fellowship in the 
National Estuarine Research Reserve Program to add Old Woman Creek 
National Estuarine Research Reserve in Huron, Ohio and the Elkhorn 
Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve in Watsonville, California 
to the list of eligible reserves where candidates can propose their 
research, and to modify the eligibility criteria to allow part-time 
students to apply for the program. In order to accommodate the two new 
sites and allow the expanded pool of potential applicants to submit 
proposals, NOAA is extending the deadline for the receipt of 
applications from 11 p.m. EST, on February 1, 2007 to 11 p.m. EST, on 
February 28, 2007, for both electronic and paper applications. All 
other requirements for this solicitation remain the same as that 
published on December 18, 2006 (71 FR 75712).

Limitation of Liability

    Funding for this program is contingent upon the availability of 
Fiscal Year 2007 appropriations. Applicants are hereby given notice 
that funds have not yet been appropriated for the programs listed in 
this notice. In no event will NOAA or the Department of Commerce be 
responsible for proposal preparation costs if these programs fail to 
receive funding or are cancelled because of other agency priorities. 
Publication of this announcement does not oblige NOAA to award any 
specific project or to obligate any available funds.

Universal Identifier

    Applicants should be aware that they are required to provide a Dun 
and Bradstreet Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number during the 
application process. See the October 30, 2002, Federal Register, Vol. 
67, No. 210,

[[Page 3979]]

pp. 66177-66178, for additional information. Organizations can receive 
a DUNS number at no cost by calling the dedicated toll-free DUNS Number 
request line at 1-866-705-5711 or via the Internet (http://www.dunandbradstreet.com).

National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

    NOAA must analyze the potential environmental impacts, as required 
by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), for applicant projects 
or proposals which are seeking NOAA federal funding opportunities. 
Detailed information on NOAA compliance with NEPA can be found at the 
following NOAA NEPA Web site: http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/, including our 
NOAA Administrative Order 216-6 for NEPA, http://www.nepa.noaa.gov/NAO216_6_TOC.pdf, and the Council on Environmental Quality 
implementation regulations, http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/nepa/regs/ceq/toc_ceq.htm Consequently, as part of an applicant's package, and under 
their description of their program activities, applicants are required 
to provide detailed information on the activities to be conducted, 
locations, sites, species and habitat to be affected, possible 
construction activities, and any environmental concerns that may exist 
(e.g., the use and disposal of hazardous or toxic chemicals, 
introduction of non-indigenous species, impacts to endangered and 
threatened species, aquaculture projects, and impacts to coral reef 
systems). In addition to providing specific information that will serve 
as the basis for any required impact analyses, applicants may also be 
requested to assist NOAA in drafting of an environmental assessment, if 
NOAA determines an assessment is required. Applicants will also be 
required to cooperate with NOAA in identifying feasible measures to 
reduce or avoid any identified adverse environmental impacts of their 
proposal. The failure to do so shall be grounds for not selecting an 
application. In some cases if additional information is required after 
an application is selected, funds can be withheld by the Grants Officer 
under a special award condition requiring the recipient to submit 
additional environmental compliance information sufficient to enable 
NOAA to make an assessment on any impacts that a project may have on 
the environment.
    The Department of Commerce Pre-Award Notification Requirements for 
Grants and Cooperative Agreements contained in the Federal Register 
notice of December 30, 2004 (69 FR 78389), are applicable to this 
solicitation.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This document contains collection-of-information requirements 
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The use of Standard Forms 
424, 424A, 424B, SF-LLL, and CD-346 has been approved by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) under the respective control numbers 0348-
0043, 0348-0044, 0348-0040, 0348-0046, and 0605-0001. Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law, no person is required to respond to, nor 
shall any person be subject to a penalty for failure to comply with, a 
collection of information subject to the requirements of the PRA unless 
that collection of information displays a currently valid OMB control 
number.

Executive Order 12866

    This notice has been determined to be not significant for purposes 
of Executive Order 12866.

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)

    It has been determined that this notice does not contain policies 
with Federalism implications as that term is defined in Executive Order 
13132.

Administrative Procedure Act/ Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Prior notice and an opportunity for public comment are not required 
by the Administrative Procedure Act or any other law for rules 
concerning public property, loans, grants, benefits, and contracts (5 
U.S.C. 553(a)(2)). Because notice and opportunity for comment are not 
required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553 or any other law, the analytical 
requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) 
are inapplicable. Therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis has not 
been prepared.

    Dated: January 22, 2007.
David M. Kennedy,
Director, Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, National 
Ocean Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
 [FR Doc. E7-1314 Filed 1-26-07; 8:45 am]
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