[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 22 (Friday, February 2, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5014-5016]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-461]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

[030602141-7006-46]


California Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program, 
Adult and Community Watershed Education in the Monterey Bay; Extension 
of Application Deadline

AGENCY: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: NOAA publishes this notice to extend the solicitation period 
for applications for the California Bay Watershed Education and 
Training (B-WET) Program, Adult and Community

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Watershed Education in the Monterey Bay which was originally announced 
in the Federal Register on December 27, 2006. The solicitation period 
for this program was extended to provide the public more time to submit 
proposals.

DATES: Proposals must be received no later than 5 p.m., Pacific 
standard time, March 1, 2007.

ADDRESSES: It is strongly encouraged that applications submitted in 
response to this announcement are submitted through the Grants.gov Web 
site. Electronic access to the Full Funding Opportunity Announcement 
for this program is available via the Grants.gov Web site: http://www.grants.gov. Applicants must comply with all requirements contained 
in the Full Funding Opportunity Announcement. Paper applications (a 
signed original and two copies) may also be submitted to the following 
address: Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, 299 Foam Street, 
Monterey, CA 93940. No facsimile or electronic mail applications will 
be accepted.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Seaberry Nachbar, National Marine 
Sanctuary Program, 299 Foam Street, Monterey, CA 93940, or by phone at 
(831) 647-4204.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NOAA publishes this notice to extend the 
solicitation period on the California Bay Watershed Education and 
Training (B-WET) Program, Adult and Community Watershed Education in 
the Monterey Bay which was originally announced in the Federal Register 
on December 27, 2006 (71 FR 77727). NOAA extends the solicitation 
period from February 1, 2007 to March 1, 2007 to provide the public 
more time to submit proposals, as the Full Funding Opportunity was not 
available for review at the time Federal Register Notice was published. 
All other requirements for this solicitation remain the same.

Funding Availability

    This solicitation announces that approximately $100,000 may be 
available in FY 2007 in award amounts to be determined by the proposals 
and available funds. The National Marine Sanctuary Program anticipates 
that approximately 2-4 grants will be awarded with these funds and that 
typical project awards will range from $10,000 to $50,000.

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1440, 15 U.S.C. 1540.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance: 11.429.

Eligibility

    Eligible applicants are institutions of higher education, 
nonprofit, organizations, state or local government agencies, and 
Indian tribal governments. The Department of Commerce/National Oceanic 
and Atmospheric Administration (DOC/NOAA) is strongly committed to 
broadening the participation of historically black colleges and 
universities, Hispanic serving institutions, tribal colleges and 
universities, and institution that service undeserved areas.
    Cost Sharing Requirements: No cost sharing is required under this 
program; however, the National Marine Sanctuary Program strongly 
encourages applicants to share as much of the costs of the award as 
possible. Funds from other Federal awards are not considered matching 
funds. The nature of the contribution (cash versus in-kind) and the 
amount of matching funds will be taken into consideration in the 
selection process with cash having priority over in-kind as the method 
of contribution.

Intergovernmental Review

    Applications under this program are not subject to Executive Order 
12372, ``Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs.''

Evaluation Criteria and Selection Procedures

    NOAA published its agency-wide solicitation entitled--Omnibus 
Notice Announcing the Availability of Grant Funds for Fiscal Year 
2006--for projects for Fiscal Year 2006 in the Federal Register on June 
30, 2005 (70 FR 37766). The evaluation criteria and selection 
procedures for projects contained in that omnibus notice are applicable 
to this solicitation. Copies of this notice are available on the 
Internet at http://www.ofa.noaa.gov/%7Eamd/SOLINDEX.HTML. Further 
details on evaluation and selection criteria can be found in the full 
funding opportunity announcement.

Pre-Award Activities

    If applicants incur any costs prior to an award being made, the do 
so solely at their own risk of not being reimbursed by the Government. 
Notwithstanding any verbal assurance that may have been received, there 
is no obligation to the applicant on the part of Department of Commerce 
to cover pre-award costs.

Limitation of Liability

    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/NA0216_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 to 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 the denial of an 
application. In some cases if additional information is required after 
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.

Pre-Award Notification Requirements for Grants and Cooperative 
Agreements

    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 (PRA)

    This notification involves collection-of-information requirements 
subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act. the use of Standard Forms 424, 
424A, 424B, and SF-LLL and CD-346 has been approved by the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) under control numbers 0348-0043, 0348-0044, 
0348-0040 and 0348-0046 and 0604-0001, respectively. Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law, no person is required to respond to,

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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

    It has been determined that this notice is not significant for 
purposes of Executive Order 12866.

Executive Order 13132 (Federalism)

    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 comments are not 
required pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(2)). Because notice and 
opportunity for comments 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 26, 2007.
Daniel J. Basta,
Director, National Marine Sanctuary Program, National Ocean Service.
[FR Doc. 07-461 Filed 2-1-07; 8:45 am]
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