[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 61 (Friday, March 28, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 16674-16675]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-6400]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-8548-4]


State Cost Share Requirement for Leaking Underground Storage Tank 
(LUST) Prevention Assistance Agreements and Authority To Provide LUST 
Prevention Assistance Agreements to Tribes

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: By this notice, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 
Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) is announcing that states 
receiving leaking underground storage tank (LUST) prevention assistance 
agreements must meet a twenty-five (25) percent cost share requirement. 
In addition, EPA is announcing the authority to provide assistance 
agreements to tribes using LUST prevention funding for the development 
and implementation of programs to manage underground storage tanks 
(USTs) in Indian Country.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lynn DePont, Office of Underground 
Storage Tanks (5401P), Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone (703) 603-9900; 
fax (703) 603-0175; [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

    This notice applies to states and tribes that are eligible to 
receive leaking underground storage tank (LUST) prevention assistance 
agreements. This financial assistance program is not eligible for 
inclusion in Performance Partnership Grants under 40 CFR 35.133.

II. Background

    On August 8, 2005, President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 
2005, which amended Subtitle I of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA). 
SWDA Section 9011 authorizes the use of the Leaking Underground Storage 
Tank (LUST) Trust Fund for eligible prevention activities, including 
inspections, additional measures to protect groundwater, delivery 
prohibition, operator training, and for implementation of the UST 
program in Indian Country. In fiscal year 2008, Congress appropriated 
LUST Trust Fund money for these prevention activities for the first 
time. Since this is a new use for the LUST Trust Fund money, EPA is 
developing program guidance and revised the Catalog of Federal Domestic 
Assistance (CFDA) to provide information regarding state and tribal 
LUST prevention assistance agreements. (See http://12.46.245.173/pls/portal30/CATALOG.PROGRAM_TEXT_RPT.SHOW?p_arg_names=prog_nbr&p_arg_values=66.805.)
    By this notice, EPA is announcing a cost share requirement for 
states receiving LUST prevention funding and announcing the authority 
to provide LUST prevention funding to tribes.

III. Cost Share Requirement for States Receiving LUST Prevention 
Assistance Agreements

    When receiving an assistance agreement awarded under Section 9011 
and other applicable provisions of Subtitle I of the SWDA, states are 
required to share twenty-five (25) percent of the total project period 
costs. This requirement is consistent with the cost share requirement 
contained in 40 CFR 35.335 for release prevention and detection grants 
funded with State and Tribal Assistance Grant (STAG) appropriations 
under Section 2007(f)(2) of the SWDA. States may meet the cost share 
requirement by any means authorized by the cost share provision of 40 
CFR 31.24. Consistent with 40 CFR 35.735, there is no cost share 
requirement for LUST prevention cooperative agreements for tribes or 
intertribal consortia awarded pursuant to annual appropriation acts.

IV. Authority To Provide LUST Prevention Assistance Agreements to 
Tribes

    EPA's fiscal year 2008 Appropriations Act authorizes EPA to use 
LUST prevention appropriations for financial assistance to tribes for 
the development

[[Page 16675]]

and implementation of programs to manage underground storage tanks in 
Indian Country. This authority is consistent with EPA's existing 
authority to provide UST assistance agreements to tribes with STAG 
appropriations, as found in Public Law 105-276 (112 Stat. 2461, 2499; 
42 U.S.C. 6908a).

    Dated: March 20, 2008.
Susan Parker Bodine,
Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
 [FR Doc. E8-6400 Filed 3-27-08; 8:45 am]
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