[Federal Register: June 29, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 123)]
[Notices]
[Page 31032-31034]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29jn09-56]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-8923-8]
Notice of a Regional Waiver of Section 1605 (Buy American
Requirement) of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
(ARRA) to the State of New Hampshire Department of Environmental
Services' Winnipesaukee River Basin Bureau
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The EPA is hereby granting a waiver of the Buy America
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 State of New Hampshire Department of Environmental
Services' Winnipesaukee River Basin Bureau (WRBB) for the purchase of
air bearing turbo aeration blowers and an associated main blower
control panel. These blowers and associated control panel are
manufactured outside of the United States by APG-Neuros of South Korea,
and meet the WRBB's technical design specifications. The Acting
Regional Administrator is making this determination based on the review
and recommendation of the Municipal Assistance Unit. The WRBB has
provided sufficient documentation to support their request.
The Assistant Administrator of the Office of Administration and
Resources Management has concurred on this decision to make an
exception to Section 1605 of the ARRA. This action permits the purchase
of air bearing turbo aeration blowers and an associated main blower
control panel by the WRBB, as specified in its May 11, 2009 waiver
request, to upgrade its regional wastewater treatment facility in
Franklin, New Hampshire as part of a project funded under the ARRA.
DATES: Effective Date: June 8, 2009
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katie Connors, Environmental Engineer,
(617) 918-1658, or David Chin, Environmental Engineer, (617) 918-1764,
Municipal Assistance Unit (CMU), Office of Ecosystem Protection (OEP),
U.S. EPA, One Congress Street, CMU, Boston, MA 02114.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with ARRA Section 1605(c), the
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 WRBB for the purchase of air bearing turbo
aeration blowers and an associated main blower control panel
manufactured outside of the United States by APG-Neuros of South Korea,
which meet the WRBB's technical design specifications for its
wastewater treatment plant upgrade project.
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 is produced in the
United States unless a waiver is provided to the recipient by EPA. A
waiver may be provided if EPA determines under Section 1605(b) that (1)
applying these requirements would be inconsistent with the 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.
In a letter dated May 11, 2009 to the EPA, the WRBB requested a
waiver from the Buy American Provision for the purchase of air bearing
turbo aeration blowers and an associated Main Blower Control Panel
(MBCP), manufactured outside of the United States (US) by APG-Neuros, a
South Korea based company.
Based on information provided to the EPA, the WRBB performed a pre-
bid selection of the high efficiency, air bearing turbo aeration
blowers with the help of a 12 member technical review committee that
included WRBB operations, maintenance, electrical, electronics and
management staff, WRBB's technical consultant, and the NHDES'
Wastewater Engineering Bureau Design Review staff. This pre-bid
selection committee determined critical specifications and manufacturer
capabilities, and the development of a weighted scoring system to
assess the submitted proposals. Three priority technical specifications
were identified by the pre-bid committee:
(1) That the entire proposed blower package proposed had to be
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) or CSA-US (NRTL) certified in order to
be approved by the State Fire Marshall for installation at the
facility;
(2) That the manufacturer demonstrated experience with installed
[[Page 31033]]
aeration blowers in US wastewater treatment plants; and
(3) That their process include site specific blower monitoring,
control and automation using dissolved oxygen, air flow, and pressure
sensing to achieve appropriate aerobic treatment levels.
A Request for Information (RFI) solicitation was published in the
New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper and sent directly to four (4)
known manufacturers of air-bearing turbo aeration blowers. Three of the
four manufacturers responded to the RFI. According to the WRBB, the
fourth manufacturer did not formally submit a RFI because its air-
bearing turbo aeration blower was not yet in production and it would
not be able to provide the required scope of supply.
One mandatory requirement identified by the pre-bid selection
committee was that the entire blower package proposed had to be UL or
CSA-US (NRTL) certified in order to be approved by the State Fire
Marshall for installation at this state-operated wastewater treatment
facility. The time for meeting required certifications was deemed
critical by the WRBB pre-selection committee in order to incorporate
the pre-selected blower into the construction contract documents so
that the contract award could meet the ``ready to proceed'' ARRA
requirements. APG-Neuros was the only manufacturer that met this
requirement at the time of the RFI submittal. The other two
manufacturers did not have this certification at the time of the RFI
submittal nor did they indicate whether they would proceed to obtain
the necessary certification.
One of the highest priority requirements identified by the pre-
selection committee was demonstrated experience with numerous installed
aeration blowers in wastewater treatment plants within the United
States. According to the WRBB, wastewater aeration processes, as
approved by the State through operational and design requirements,
require the facility to include appropriate site specific blower
monitoring, control and automation using dissolved oxygen, air flow,
and pressure sensing to achieve appropriate aerobic treatment levels.
Only one manufacturer, APG-Neuros, had a multiple year turbo aeration
blower manufacturing history, including over sixty-five (65) aeration
blower installations at US wastewater treatment plants, and provided
additional verifiable documentation of their ability to automate the
process using dissolved oxygen, air flow, and pressure sensing. The
other two manufacturers that were evaluated, including the US-based
manufacturer, did not cite or propose any experience with automated
dissolved oxygen control as required in the specifications for this
facility for aerobic wastewater treatment supplied with the RFI. Based
upon conformance with identified mandatory and critical parameters, as
well as the scoring for additional technical requirements, the twelve
member pre-bid selection committee unanimously selected APG-Neuros,
Inc. as the highest scoring respondent to the RFI.
APG-Neuros of South Korea was the only manufacturer that met the
technical design specifications set forth in the RFI, and had a
verifiable history of supplying air bearing turbo aeration blowers for
US wastewater treatment plant applications. It was the only
manufacturer that had current UL/CSA-US certifications for their
proposed air bearing turbo aeration blowers package systems as required
for installation at State of New Hampshire operated facilities. The
other two responding manufacturers did not meet any of these critical
requirements.
Based on the information provided to EPA from the WRBB, and to the
best of our knowledge at the time of the review, there do not appear to
be other air bearing turbo aeration blowers currently manufactured in
the United States available to meet the WRBB's exact technical
specifications and requirements.
In addition, the WRBB is highly ranked on New Hampshire's Intended
Use Plan due in part to the highly energy efficient air bearing turbo
aeration blower components in this project. The electric energy savings
from using these turbo blowers is projected to result in an estimated
50-54% reduction in power compared to the existing blowers. This
reduction will result in a savings of 548,000 kilowatt-hours of
electricity use per year for an estimated 18-19% reduction in the total
energy consumption required for the wastewater treatment plant
operation.
Requiring a less efficient product would be contrary to Congress'
explicit and specific intent to achieve greater energy efficiency as
stated in the SRF-specific 20% Green Project Reserve requirements of
Title VII of the ARRA. Furthermore, the purpose of the ARRA is to
stimulate economic recovery by funding current infrastructure
construction, not to delay projects that are already ``shovel ready''
by requiring potentially eligible SRF recipients such as the WRBB to
revise their standards and specifications and to start the bidding
process again. The imposition of ARRA Buy American requirements in this
case would result in unreasonable delay for this project. To delay this
construction would directly conflict with a fundamental economic
purpose of ARRA, which is to create or retain jobs.
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' '' (``Memorandum''), 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 same Memorandum defines
satisfactory quality as ``the quality of steel, iron or manufactured
good specified in the project plans and designs.''
The Municipal Assistance Unit (CMU) has reviewed this waiver
request and has determined that the supporting documentation provided
by the WRBB 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 WRBB's technical
specifications, a waiver from the ARRA 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 WRBB is hereby
granted a waiver from the Buy American requirements of Section 1605(a)
of Public Law 111-5 for the purchase of air bearing turbo aeration
blowers and an associated main blower control panel manufactured
outside of the United States by APG-Neuros of South Korea. This
supplementary information constitutes
[[Page 31034]]
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: June 22, 2009.
Ira W. Leighton,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region I, New England.
[FR Doc. E9-15318 Filed 6-26-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P