42 U.S.C. § 16371 — Definitions

In this part: (1) “CIFIA program” means the carbon-dioxide transportation infrastructure finance and innovation program under § 16372(a). (2) “Common carrier” means a transportation-infrastructure operator or owner^* that publicly posts a tariff with fair and reasonable nondiscriminatory rates, terms, and conditions and offers transportation services to the public for a fee. (3) “Contingent commitment” means a promise to obligate future budget authority only if a future law makes the funds available; it is not a Federal Government obligation. (4) “Eligible project costs” means amounts substantially all paid by or for an obligor for a project, including development work such as planning, feasibility, revenue forecasts, environmental review, permits, preliminary engineering and design; construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, replacement, real-property acquisition, environmental mitigation, contingencies, equipment, and labor; capitalized interest, reasonable reserves, issuance expenses, and other construction carrying costs; and financing transaction costs, including legal and technical consultants and subsidy amounts under §§ 16372(c)(3)(B)(ii) or 16373(b)(6)(B)(ii). (5) “Federal credit instrument” means a CIFIA secured loan or loan guarantee for a project. (6) “Lender” means a qualified institutional buyer under 17 C.F.R. § 230.144A(a), or a successor rule, that is not a Federal qualified institutional buyer. (7) “Letter of interest” means a potential applicant’s pre-application letter in the Secretary’s required website format describing the project, location, purpose, and cost; proposed finances, requested credit and grant help, and proposed obligor; environmental-review status; and compliance with other CIFIA eligibility rules. (8) “Loan guarantee” means the Secretary’s guarantee or other promise to pay all or part of principal or interest on an obligor’s loan or debt obligation funded by a lender. (9) “Master credit agreement” means a conditional agreement for credit help for a high-priority project under § 16372(c)(3)(A) or a project under § 16372(c)(3)(B). It creates no current Federal-fund obligation. It may make a future contingent promise of a credit instrument or grant, subject to future CIFIA funds and all requirements including § 16373(b); set maximum amounts and general terms; identify repayment revenue sources; provide for obligating funds after all project requirements and available funds exist, including §§ 16372(d) and 16373(b)(1); and require financial closing and obligation within 4 years after the agreement or release unless the Secretary^* extends it. (10) “Obligor” means a corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust, non-Federal governmental entity, agency, instrumentality, or other entity liable for principal or interest on a Federal credit instrument. (11) For iron and steel, “produced in the United States” means all manufacturing, including coating, occurs in the United States. (12) “Project” means common-carrier carbon-dioxide transportation infrastructure or associated equipment, including pipeline, shipping, rail, or other transport infrastructure and equipment, that the Secretary finds appropriate for transporting or handling carbon dioxide captured from human-caused sources or ambient air. (13) “Project obligation” means a note, bond, debenture, or other project debt issued by an obligor, other than a Federal credit instrument. (14) “Secured loan” means a direct loan to an obligor or an obligor debt obligation purchased by the Secretary, funded by the Secretary for project financing under § 16373. (15) “Subsidy amount” means budget authority sufficient to cover the Federal Government’s estimated long-term cost of a Federal credit instrument, calculated at net present value and excluding administrative costs and incidental effects on receipts or outlays under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990. (16) “Substantial completion,” for a project, means the date the project begins transporting carbon dioxide or a comparable event that the Secretary determines and states in the project credit agreement.