[Federal Register: September 21, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 182)]
[Notices]
[Page 56445-56446]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21se04-55]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[USCG-2004-19106]
National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP)
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice; request for public comments on PREP triennial exercise
schedule for 2005, 2006, and 2007, and PREP Guidelines.
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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, 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,
2005 through 2007, requests comments from the public, and requests
industry participants to volunteer for scheduled PREP Area exercises.
Additionally, this notice requests comments on issues or concerns
related to the PREP.
DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management
Facility on or before November 22, 2004.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket
number USCG-2004-19106 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,
or need general information regarding the PREP Program and the
schedule, contact Lieutenant Commander Mark Cunningham, Office of
Response, Plans and Preparedness Division (G-MOR-2), U.S. Coast Guard
Headquarters, telephone 202-267-2877, fax 202-267-
[[Page 56446]]
4065 or e-mail MCunningham@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/prepexercisesked.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 2002
PREP Guidelines booklet is available at no cost on the Internet at
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/nsfweb/nsfcc/prep/prepexercisesked.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-
2004-19106), 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 pollution response mechanism in a given geographic area to
ensure adequate response preparedness.
A National Schedule Coordination Committee (NSCC) was established
for scheduling these Area exercises. The NSCC is comprised of personnel
representing the four Federal regulating agencies--the USCG, U.S. EPA,
MMS, and RSPA's Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS). Since 1994, the NSCC
has 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.
PREP Schedule
In the PREP exercise notice for 2004 through 2006 published on
October 16, 2003 (68 FR 59627), we provided in Table 1 a lists of the
dates and Federal Register cites of past PREP exercise notices.
This notice announces the next triennial schedule of Area
exercises. The PREP schedule for calendar years 2005, 2006, and 2007
for Government-Led and Industry-Led Area exercises is available on the
Internet at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/nsfweb/nsfcc/prep/PREP_Ex_Schedule_05-07.pdf.
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.
PREP Guidelines and Workshop
The NSCC is considering whether or not to hold a public workshop on
the state of the PREP. If there are issues or concerns related to the
PREP and its Guidelines, please submit your comments using the
procedures described under the ADDRESSES section of this notice. If
sufficient interest exists, the NSCC may hold a public workshop in
calendar year 2005.
Dated: September 14, 2004.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety, Security & Environmental
Protection.
[FR Doc. 04-21137 Filed 9-20-04; 8:45 am]
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