⚡National Energy Emergency Executive Order
Executive Order 14156 declares a national energy emergency, emphasizing the need for a reliable, affordable energy supply. It calls for expedited actions from federal agencies to develop domestic energy resources and strengthen infrastructure. The order outlines emergency regulations affecting environmental permits and encourages cooperation across various sectors to ensure energy security and economic prosperity for the nation.
Learn More🏗️PHMSA Waives BABA Act for Gas Utilities
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is waiving the Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act's domestic preference requirements for certain products widely used in natural gas distribution systems on the basis of nonavailability. The waiver will apply to awards obligated on or after the effective date of the final waiver for recipients of funding under the Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization (NGDISM) Grant Program and, in the case of awards obligated prior to the effective date, all expenditures for covered products incurred after the effective date. The waiver will expire after three years after the effective date of the final waiver.
Learn More🏗️Pipeline Safety Grant Waiver for City Utilities in Missouri
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is waiving the Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act's domestic preference requirements for certain products that City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri, (City Utilities) will use in its Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization (NGDISM) grant project, due to unavailability, project cost, or public good. The waiver would exempt the following products used in City Utilities' project from BABA requirements on the basis of nonavailability: locator markers; meter stops with insulated unions; magnesium anodes; 1A meter swivels, nuts, and washers; and direct bury lugs.
Learn More🚧Pipeline Safety
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is waiving the Build America, Buy America (BABA) Act's domestic preference requirements for certain products that Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) needs for its Natural Gas Distribution Infrastructure Safety and Modernization (NGDISM) grant project due to lack of availability, unreasonable cost, or public good. The waiver would exempt the following products used in PGW's project from BABA requirements on the basis of nonavailability: electro-fusion tapping tees, anodeless risers, transition fittings, lockwing valves, magnesium anodes, service adapters, curb valves, caps, couplings, and stiffeners.
Learn More📡New Disaster Reporting Requirements from FCC for Telecommunication Providers
In this document, the Federal Communications Commission (Commission) announces that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved the information collection associated with the rule adopted in a Second Report and Order and Second Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Resilient Networks Second Report and Order) requiring cable communications, wireless, wireline, and interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers to report their infrastructure status information in the Disaster Information Reporting System (DIRS) daily when the Commission activates DIRS in geographic areas in which they provide service, even when their reportable infrastructure has not changed compared to the prior day. It also codifies, in the Commission's outage reporting rules, that a subject provider's Networks Outage Reporting System reporting obligations are waived while they report in DIRS and requires that subject providers who report in DIRS provide a single, final DIRS report to the Commission, within 24 hours of the Commission's deactivation of DIRS, that provides the status of their infrastructure identified to the Commission during the DIRS reporting period that has not yet been fully restored at the time of the deactivation. This document is consistent with the Resilient Networks Second Report and Order, which states the Commission will publish a document in the Federal Register announcing a compliance date for the rule section and revise the rule accordingly.
Learn More🏗️Public Interest Waiver for Transit-Oriented Development Housing Projects
In order to expeditiously deliver projects and provide meaningful infrastructure results while ensuring the appropriate application of domestic content standards, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is issuing waiver for the domestic preference requirements for manufactured products applicable to certain transit- oriented development (TOD) housing projects that receive credit assistance through the Build America Bureau (the Bureau) under the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) and Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) credit programs.
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