[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 105 (Wednesday, June 2, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30828-30829]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-13225]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9157-6]


Notice of a Project Waiver of Section 1605 (Buy American 
Requirement) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 
(ARRA) to the Canaan Valley Public Service District, West Virginia

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Regional Administrator of EPA Region 3 is hereby granting 
a project waiver of the Buy American 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 Canaan Valley Public 
Service District (CVPSD) for the purchase of a membrane bioreactor 
system (MBR), supplied by Enviroquip Inc., that contains a primary 
component not manufactured in America, at two of its Wastewater 
Treatment Plants (WWTPs). CVPSD indicates that the MBR treatment 
process is necessary to achieve the wastewater treatment levels 
required by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) 
permits issued for these WWTPs. The membrane filtration equipment under 
consideration is manufactured by a company located in Japan and no 
United States manufacturer produces an alternative that meets the 
CVPSD's technical specifications. This is a project specific waiver and 
only applies to the use of the specified product for the ARRA funded 
project being proposed. Any other ARRA project that may wish to use the 
same product must apply for a separate waiver based on the specific 
project circumstances. The Regional Administrator is making this 
determination based on the review and recommendations of the EPA Region 
III, Water Protection Division, Office of Infrastructure and 
Assistance. The CVPSD has provided sufficient documentation to support 
its request. The Assistant Administrator of the EPA's 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 membrane filtration cassettes for the proposed project 
being implemented by the CVPSD.

DATES: Effective Date: May 17, 2010.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Chominski, Deputy Associate 
Director, (215) 814-2162, or David McAdams, Environmental Engineer, 
(215) 814-5764, Office of Infrastructure & Assistance (OIA), Water 
Protection Division, U.S. EPA Region III, 1650 Arch Street, 
Philadelphia, PA 19103-2029.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with ARRA Sections 1605(c) and 
1605(b)(2), EPA hereby provides notice that it is granting a project 
waiver of the requirements of Section 1605(a) of Public Law 111-5, Buy 
American requirements to the Canaan Valley Public Service District 
(CVPSD) for the acquisition of an ``Enviroquip MBR system.'' CVPSD has 
been unable to find an MBR system that contains American-made MBR 
cassettes to meet its specific wastewater requirements.
    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 public work unless all of the iron, 
steel, and manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the 
United States unless a waiver is provided to the recipient by EPA. A 
waiver may be provided if EPA determines that (1) applying these 
requirements would be inconsistent with public 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.
    CVPSD's waiver request is to allow the purchase of the Enviroquip 
MBR system with four membrane filtration cassettes, manufactured by 
Kubota Inc. of Japan, for use in improvements to two existing WWTPs in 
West Virginia. This project will upgrade two of its existing

[[Page 30829]]

WWTPs by adding a new MBR treatment process. The membrane filtration 
cassette is an integral component of the MBR treatment process because 
it separates the treated wastewater from the mixed liquor which comes 
from the biological reactors, before the treated wastewater is 
disinfected and discharged. After an engineering analysis of alternate 
treatment processes, the CVPSD determined MBR to be the most 
environmentally sound and cost effective solution. The MBR is an 
advanced waste water treatment process which is designed to meet the 
high quality effluent requirements of the waste load allocation under 
the NPDES permit. In addition, in anticipation of procuring the MBR 
system, the CVPSD has already incorporated specific technical design 
requirements for installation of membrane filter cassettes with the MBR 
treatment process at their WWTPs, including specific tankage footprint, 
geometry and configuration. To require CVPSD to redesign its project 
would cause an unacceptable delay to the initiation of construction.
    The CVPSD has provided information to the EPA demonstrating that 
there are no membrane filtration cassettes manufactured in the United 
States in sufficient and reasonable quantity and of a satisfactory 
quality to meet the required technical specification. Four companies 
were considered for the membrane filtration cassettes, none based in 
the United States. The CVPSD has performed market research but was 
unsuccessful in its effort to locate any domestic manufacturers of 
membrane filtration cassettes for WWTPs.
    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'', 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 CVPSD has incorporated specific technical design 
requirements for installation of membrane filtration cassettes at its 
WWTPs.
    The purpose of the ARRA is to stimulate economic recovery in part 
by funding current infrastructure construction, not to delay projects 
that are ``shovel ready'' by requiring utilities, such as the CVPSD, to 
revise their standards and specifications, institute a new bidding 
process, and potentially choose a more costly, less efficient project. 
The imposition of ARRA Buy American requirements on such projects 
otherwise eligible for State Revolving Fund assistance would result in 
unreasonable delay and thus displace the ``shovel ready'' status for 
this project. To further delay construction is in direct conflict with 
a fundamental economic purpose of the ARRA, which is to create or 
retain jobs.
    Based on additional research conducted by EPA's Office of 
Infrastructure and Assistance (OIA) in Region 3, and to the best of the 
Region's knowledge at the time of review, there do not appear to be 
other membrane filtration cassettes manufactured domestically that 
would meet the CVPSD's technical specification. EPA's national 
contractor prepared a technical assessment report dated January 9, 2010 
based on the waiver request submitted. This report included a detailed 
review intended to enable EPA to determine if any company could be 
considered to substantially transform these cassettes in the United 
States. However, sufficient information was not available or made 
available to establish either performance characteristics for any 
potential alternative product, or the substantial transformation of any 
such product in the United States. Accordingly, the report determined 
that the waiver request submittal was complete, that adequate technical 
information was provided, and that there were no significant weaknesses 
in the justification provided. The report confirmed the waiver 
applicant's claim that there are no American-made membrane filtration 
cassettes for use in MBRs in WWTPs.
    The OIA has reviewed this waiver request and to the best of our 
knowledge at the time of review has determined that the supporting 
documentation provided by the CVPSD is sufficient to meet the criteria 
listed under Section 1605(b) and in the April 28, 2009, 
``Implementation of Buy American provisions of Public Law 111-5, the 
`American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 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 basis for this project waiver is the authorization 
provided in Section 1605(b)(2). Due to the lack of production of this 
product in the United States in sufficient and reasonably available 
quantities and of a satisfactory quality in order to meet the CVPSD's 
technical specifications, a waiver from the Buy American requirement is 
justified.
    The March 31, 2009 Delegation of Authority Memorandum provided 
Regional Administrators with the authority to issue exceptions to 
Section 1605 of 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, the Canaan 
Valley Public Service District is hereby granted a waiver from the Buy 
American requirements of Section 1605(a) of Public Law 111-5 for the 
purchase of four membrane filtration cassettes using ARRA funds as 
specified in the CVPSD's request of December 16, 2009. This 
supplementary information constitutes the detailed written 
justification required by Section 1605(c) for waivers ``based on a 
finding under subsection (b).''

    Authority:  Public Law 111-5, section 1605.

    Dated: May 17, 2010.
W. C. Early,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 2010-13225 Filed 6-1-10; 8:45 am]
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