[Federal Register: October 16, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 200)]
[Notices]
[Page 59627-59630]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16oc03-105]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[USCG-2003-16297]
National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP)
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice; request for public comments on PREP triennial exercise
schedule for 2004, 2005, and 2006.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard, the Research and Special Programs
Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Minerals
Management Service, in concert with representatives from various State
governments, industry, environmental interest groups, and the general
public,
[[Page 59628]]
developed the Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP)
Guidelines to reflect the consensus agreement of the entire oil spill
response community. This notice announces the PREP triennial cycle,
2004 through 2006, requests comments from the public, and requests
industry participants to volunteer for scheduled PREP Area exercises.
DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management
Facility on or before December 15, 2003.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket
number USCG-2003-16297 to the Docket Management Facility at the U.S.
Department of Transportation. To avoid duplication, please use only one
of the following methods:
(1) Web Site: http://dms.dot.gov.
(2) Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
(3) Fax: 202-493-2251.
(4) Delivery: Room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif
Building, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone
number is 202-366-9329.
(5) Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice,
or need general information regarding the PREP Program and the
schedule, contact Mr. Robert Pond, Office of Response, Plans and
Preparedness Division (G-MOR-2), U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters,
telephone 202-267-6603, fax 202-267-4065 or e-mail rpond@comdt.uscg.mil. If you have questions on viewing or submitting
material to the docket, call Ms. Andrea M. Jenkins, Program Manager,
Docket Operations, telephone 202-366-0271.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Preparedness for Response Exercise
Program (PREP) Area exercise schedule and exercise design manuals are
available on the Internet at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/nsfweb/nsfcc/prep/index.html.
To obtain a hard copy of the exercise design manual,
contact Ms. Melanie Barber at the Research and Special Programs
Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety, at 202-366-4560. The 2003
PREP Guidelines booklet is available at no cost on the Internet at
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/nsfweb/nsfcc/prep/index.html or by writing or
faxing the TASC DEPT Warehouse, 33141Q 75th Avenue, Landover, MD 20785,
facsimile: 301-386-5394. The stock number of the manual is USCG-X0241.
Please indicate the quantity when ordering. Quantities are limited to
10 per order.
Public Participation and Request for Comments
We encourage you to respond to this notice by submitting comments
and related materials. All comments received will be posted, without
change, to http://dms.dot.gov and will include any personal information
you have provided. We have an agreement with the Department of
Transportation (DOT) to use the Docket Management Facility. Please see
DOT's ``Privacy Act'' three paragraphs below.
Submitting comments: If you submit a comment, please include your
name and address, identify the docket number for this notice (USCG-
2003-16297), indicate the specific section of this document to which
each comment applies, and give the reason for each comment. You may
submit your comments and material by electronic means, mail, fax, or
delivery to the Docket Management Facility at the address under
ADDRESSES; but please submit your comments and material by only one
means. If you submit them by mail or delivery, submit them in an
unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for
copying and electronic filing. If you submit them by mail and would
like to know that they reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped,
self-addressed postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments and
material received during the comment period. We may change this
triennial exercise schedule in view of them.
Viewing comments and documents: To view comments, as well as
documents mentioned in this preamble as being available in the docket,
go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time and conduct a simple search using
the docket number. You may also visit the Docket Management Facility in
room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh
Street SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the
Department of Transportation's Privacy Act Statement in the Federal
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), or you may visit
http://dms.dot.gov.
Background and Purpose
In 1994, the Coast Guard (USCG) and the Research and Special
Programs Administration (RSPA) of the Department of Transportation, the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), and the Minerals
Management Service (MMS) of the Department of Interior, coordinated the
development of the National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program
(PREP) Guidelines to provide guidelines for compliance with the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) pollution response exercise requirements
(33 U.S.C. 1321(j)). The guiding principles for PREP distinguish
between internal and external exercises. Internal exercises are
conducted within the plan holder's organization. External exercises
extend beyond the plan holder's organization to involve other members
of the response community. External exercises are separated into two
categories: (1) Area exercises, and (2) Government-initiated
unannounced exercises. These exercises are designed to evaluate the
entire response mechanism in a given area to ensure adequate pollution
response preparedness.
Since 1994, the USCG, U.S. EPA, MMS, and RSPA's Office of Pipeline
Safety (OPS) have published a triennial schedule of Area exercises. In
short, the Area exercises involve the entire response community
(Federal, State, local, and industry participants) and therefore,
require more extensive planning than other oil spill response
exercises. The PREP Guidelines describe all of these exercises in more
detail.
Table 1 below lists the dates and Federal Register cites of past
PREP exercise notices.
Table 1--Past Prep Exercise Notices
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Date published Federal Register Cite Notice
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October 30, 2002......................... 67 FR 66189 PREP triennial exercise schedule
for 2003, 2004, and 2005.
January 22, 2002......................... 67 FR 2944 PREP triennial exercise schedule
for 2002, 2003, and 2004.
[[Page 59629]]
February 9, 2001......................... 66 FR 9744 PREP triennial exercise schedule
for 2001, 2002, and 2003.
March 7, 2000............................ 65 FR 12049 PREP triennial exercise schedule
for 2000, 2001, and 2002.
June 15, 1999............................ 64 FR 32090 PREP triennial exercise schedule
for 1999, 2000, and 2001.
January 8, 1998.......................... 63 FR 1141 PREP triennial exercise schedule
for 1998, 1999, and 2000.
March 26, 1997........................... 62 FR 14494 PREP triennial exercise schedule
for 1997, 1998, and 1999.
January 26, 1996......................... 61 FR 2568 Correction to PREP triennial
exercise schedule for 1996,
1997, and 1998.
November 13, 1995........................ 60 FR 57050 PREP triennial exercise schedule
for 1996, 1997, and 1998.
October 26, 1994......................... 59 FR 53858 Revision to PREP triennial
exercise schedule for 1995,
1996, and 1997.
March 25, 1994........................... 59 FR 14254 PREP triennial exercise schedule
for 1995, 1996, and 1997.
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This notice announces the next triennial schedule of Area
exercises. If a company wants to volunteer for an Area exercise, a
company representative may call either the Coast Guard or EPA On-Scene
Coordinator (OSC) where the exercise is scheduled.
Table 2 below is the PREP schedule for calendar years 2004, 2005,
and 2006.
Table 2.--Prep Schedule
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Area Agency Qtr \1\ Participant
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Government-Led Area Exercises
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Calendar Year 2004
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Guam (Marine Safety Office (MSO) Guam)... CG 1
Los Angeles/Long Beach South (MSO LA/LB), CG 2
SONS \2\.
San Diego (MSO San Diego), SONS \2\...... CG 2
Prince William Sound (MSO Valdez)........ CG 4
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Calendar Year 2005
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Houston-Galveston (MSO Houston).......... CG 1
Virginia Coastal (MSO Hampton Road)...... CG 1
Alabama-Mississippi (MSO Mobile)......... CG 2
Providence (MSO Providence).............. CG 3
Western Alaska (MSO Anchorage)........... CG 3
Region V Regional Contingency Plan (RCP) EPA 4
(EPA Region V).
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Calendar Year 2006
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Cleveland, OH (MSO Cleveland)............ CG 1
Jacksonville, FL (MSO Jacksonville)...... CG 2
To Be Determined......................... CG 2
Northwest Area-Portland (MSO Portland)... CG 3
Region IX RCP or Oceania (EPA Region IX). EPA 3
New Orleans, LA (MSO New Orleans)...... CG 4
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Area Qtr \1\ Participant
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Industry-Led Area Exercises
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Calendar Year 2004
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Chicago, IL (MSO Chicago)..... 2
Long Island Sound (MSO Long 2
Island).
Maryland Coastal (MSO 2
Baltimore).
San Francisco Bay (MSO San 2
Francisco).
South Texas Coast (MSO Corpus 2
Christi).
Charleston, SC (MSO 3
Charleston).
Morgan City, LA (MSO Morgan 3
City).
New York, NY (Activities NY).. 3
Savannah, GA (MSO Savannah)... 3
Duluth-Superior (MSO Duluth).. 4
Eastern Wisconsin (MSO 4
Milwaukee).
Northwest-Puget Sound (MSO 4
Puget Sound).
Region IV RCP (EPA Region IV). 4
Region VII RCP (EPA Region 4
VII).
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Calendar Year 2005
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Detroit, MI (MSO Detroit)..... 1
[[Page 59630]]
Region VIII (EPA Region VIII). 1
Boston (MSO Boston)........... 2
Hawaiian Islands (MSO 2
Honolulu).
South Florida (MSO Miami)..... 2
South Los Angeles/Long Beach, 2
CA (MSO LA/LB).
S. North Carolina (MSO 3
Wilmington).
SW La./SE Texas (MSO Port 3
Arthur).
Tampa, FL (MSO Tampa)......... 3
Region X or EPA Alaska RCP 4
(EPA Region X).
Sault Ste. Marie, MI (MSO 4
Sault Ste. Marie).
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Calendar Year 2006
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Florida Panhandle (MSO Mobile) 1
SE Alaska (MSO Juneau)........ 1
Buffalo (MSO Buffalo)......... 2
Maine-New Hampshire (MSO 2
Portland, ME).
Philadelphia, PA (MSO 2
Philadelphia).
Region II RCP or Caribbean 2
(EPA Region II).
North Coast (CA) Area (MSO San 3
Francisco).
Region III RCP (EPA Region 3
III).
Region VI RCP (EPA Region VI). 3
Caribbean Area (MSO San Juan). 4
Northern Marianas (MSO Guam).. 4
Western Lake Erie (MSO Toledo) 4
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\1\ Quarters: 1 (January-March); 2 (April-June); 3 (July-September); 4
(October-December).
\2\ SONS: 2004 Spill of National Significance Exercise.
Dated: October 9, 2003.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety, Security and Environmental
Protection.
[FR Doc. 03-26129 Filed 10-15-03; 8:45 am]
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