[Federal Register: June 24, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 121)]
[Notices]
[Page 36649-36650]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24jn05-102]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[USCG-2005-21610]
Nontank Vessel Oil Response Plans
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice and Request for Comments.
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SUMMARY: This notice informs the public of issues related to recent
legislation requiring owners and operators of nontank vessels to
prepare plans for responding to discharges of oil from their vessels.
These issues include questions on the size of the population of vessels
affected and enforcement of the legislation by the Coast Guard. The
notice also discusses Coast Guard's efforts to engage the regulated
community at the earliest stages and to encourage early public
participation in the process of responding to this new legislation.
DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management
Facility on or before September 22, 2005.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket
number USCG-2005-21610 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice,
please contact Lieutenant Eric A. Bauer, Project Manager, Office of
Response (G-MOR-2), U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, telephone 202-267-
6714. 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:
Background and Purpose
The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 (Pub. L.
108-293) (2004 Act), in section 701, requires owners and operators of
nontank vessels to prepare and submit to the Coast Guard plans for
responding to a worst case discharge, and to a substantial threat of
such a discharge, of oil from their vessels. The 2004 Act also mandates
that the Coast Guard issue regulations requiring the submission of the
plans. This legislation raises the following questions.
1. What is the size of the affected vessel population? One issue
raised by the 2004 Act significantly affects the size of the population
of vessels subject to the Act. The Act defines a ``nontank vessel'' as
a self-propelled vessel of 400 gross tons as measured under 46 U.S.C.
14302 (the Convention measurement system) or greater, other than a tank
vessel, that carries oil of any kind as fuel for main propulsion and
that is a vessel of the United States or that operates on the navigable
waters of the United States. Accordingly, the Act applies to vessels
that are 400 gross tons as measured under 46 U.S.C. 14302 and to
vessels that would be 400 gross tons if measured under 46 U.S.C. 14302.
The Act does not specify how it applies to vessels which do not have a
current measurement under the Convention measurement system (i.e.,
those vessels measured only under the regulatory measurement system
under 46 U.S.C. 14502). It is unclear whether any relationship was
intended between a vessel's tonnage and the quantity of oil it is
capable of carrying. These are issues that must be addressed during the
rulemaking process and on which we particularly welcome your advice.
2. When will the 2004 Act be enforced by the Coast Guard? The 2004
Act requires that the response plans be prepared and submitted by
August 9, 2005 (i.e., one year after the enactment of the 2004 Act). In
addition, the Act requires the President (Coast Guard) to issue
regulations requiring the submission of plans. Because of the length of
time needed to provide the necessary opportunity for, and consideration
of, public comments, final regulations may not be in effect on that
date. This raises the question of whether the Coast Guard intends to
enforce the Act--specifically the nontank vessel response plan
submission requirement--if it does not have regulations in place on
August 9, 2005. The Coast Guard will not enforce the Act until
regulations are issued and in effect.
3. What is the Coast Guard doing in the interim? On February 4,
2005, we published Navigation and Vessel Information Circular 01-05
(NVIC 01-05) entitled ``Interim Guidance for the Development and Review
of Response Plans for Nontank Vessels.'' The NVIC is available at
http://www.uscg.mil/hg/g-m/nvic or in the docket for this notice (See
``Viewing comments and documents'' below.). It provides guidance to
owners and operators of nontank vessels for preparing and submitting
plans to the Coast Guard and is not itself enforceable by the Coast
Guard.
NVIC 01-05 describes a voluntary process for submitting response
plans and for obtaining interim authorization letters from the Coast
Guard. As the issue of vessel population is yet to be resolved, the
NVIC explains that the Act does not exempt vessels that have not been
measured under the Convention measurement system. These vessels are
referred to in the NVIC as those that have not been issued an
International Tonnage Certificate (ITC). However, an ITC is not always
issued when a vessel is measured under the Convention measurement
system; a U.S. Tonnage Certificate may be used instead to reflect
tonnage measurement under the Convention measurement system. The Coast
Guard considers owners of vessels not measured under the Convention
measurement system subject to the Act if there is no question that the
vessel would be 400 gross tons if measured under 46 U.S.C. 14302. To be
prudent, we would advise owners of vessels not measured under the
Convention measurement system that a vessel's tonnage measured under
the regulatory measurement system is generally less than that vessel's
tonnage measured under the Convention system. Therefore, it is likely
that vessels of or near 400 gross register tons when measured under the
regulatory measurement system will be subject to the response plan
requirements of the Act. Disparities between the two measurement
systems and the applicability of the Act to vessels measured under the
regulatory measurement system would need to be addressed during the
rulemaking process. Although we will not know precisely which vessels
must comply with the response plan requirements until rulemaking is
complete, vessels not measured under the Convention measurement system,
whether they are 400 gross register tons under the regulatory
measurement system or not, may ultimately be covered under the
[[Page 36650]]
regulations. Therefore, vessel owners and operators who want to secure
interim authorization letters because they believe their vessels may be
covered by the response plan regulations are highly encouraged to use
the voluntary interim authorization process under NVIC 01-05.
Request for Comments
This notice, as well as the NVIC, is part of the Coast Guard's
effort to engage the public at the outset of our efforts to carry out
the response plan provisions of the 2004 Act. Therefore, we encourage
you to submit comments on this notice and on the subject in general
that it addresses. 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'' paragraph below.
Submitting comments: If you submit a comment, please include your
name and address, identify the docket number for this notice (USCG-
2005-21610) and give the reason for each comment. You may submit your
comments by electronic means, mail, fax, or delivery to the Docket
Management Facility at the address under ADDRESSES; but please submit
your comments 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 received during the comment period.
Viewing comments and documents: To view comments, 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.
Dated: June 20, 2005.
T.H. Gilmour,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety,
Security and Environmental Protection.
[FR Doc. 05-12541 Filed 6-23-05; 8:45 am]
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