[Federal Register: December 27, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 247)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 77147-77148]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27de04-11]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
33 CFR Part 151
[USCG-2004-19621]
RIN 1625-AA89
Dry Cargo Residue Discharges in the Great Lakes
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Advanced notice of proposed rulemaking; request for
information.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces that it has begun a rulemaking
project
[[Page 77148]]
for the regulation of non-hazardous and non-toxic dry cargo residue
discharges by vessels operating on the Great Lakes. As part of the
rulemaking project, the Coast Guard will conduct an environmental
assessment. In order to conduct this environmental assessment, the
Coast Guard intends to determine the current status of dry cargo
operations on the Great Lakes. The Coast Guard requests information in
response to any of these matters.
DATES: All relevant information and related material must reach the
Docket Management Facility on or before March 28, 2005.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket
number USCG-2004-19621 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: Lieutenant Commander Mary Sohlberg,
U.S. Coast Guard, Environmental Standards Division, telephone: 202-267-
0713, e-mail: msohlberg@comdt.uscg.mil. If you have questions on
viewing the docket, call Andrea M. Jenkins, Program Manager, Docket
Operations, telephone: 202-366-0271.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background and Purpose
In a related non-rulemaking docket (USCG-2003-16814), the Coast
Guard previously published two notices on the subject of non-hazardous
and non-toxic dry cargo residue discharges by vessels operating on the
Great Lakes (``dry cargo discharges''; see 69 FR 57711, Sep. 27, 2004;
69 FR 1994, Jan. 13, 2004). At present, some incidental dry cargo
discharges are allowed under the Coast Guard?s Interim Enforcement
Policy (IEP), which the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of
2004 (``the Act'') continues until September 30, 2008. Unless we issue
new regulations in accordance with the rulemaking authority provided by
the Act, those discharges will be prohibited after September 30, 2008.
The Act requires the Coast Guard to begin a regulatory
environmental assessment not later than November 7, 2004. We met that
requirement on September 29, 2004.
A first step in the environmental assessment is to collect and
examine information on current dry cargo residue discharge operations
in the Great Lakes. We will compare that information to the ``Study of
Dry Cargo Residue in the Great Lakes'' that we compiled in 2000, which
is docketed in USCG-2003-16814. This will allow us to see if the 2000
data are still valid or if dry cargo residue discharge operations on
the Great Lakes have changed, and if any trends can be discerned.
The information we want to collect includes what types of vessels
engage in cargo residue discharge, where they discharge, what they
discharge, how they discharge, and how much they discharge. We expect
to complete this study during the summer of 2005, and complete the
rulemaking before the IEP expires in 2008. Therefore, we ask that you
provide any relevant information on dry cargo residue discharges in the
Great Lakes (see DATES).
Once we have collected and reviewed information regarding dry cargo
residue discharges in the Great Lakes, we will formulate a proposed
regulatory action and alternatives for an environmental assessment.
Under the environmental assessment, we presently plan to focus
primarily on toxicity data to make sure any residue discharges we might
allow are neither hazardous nor toxic, and assess the environmental
impact of allowing some incidental discharges to continue.
Under the National Environmental Policy Act, the Coast Guard has
initiated an environmental assessment in which we will consider
alternative courses of action, including a ``no action'' alternative,
which in this case means declining to issue a regulation and letting
the policy expire, thus prohibiting incidental discharges of dry cargo
residues. Other alternatives might include continuing the current
policy, or modifying it as to the quantities or locations of incidental
discharges, or engineering alternatives. We welcome any suggestions you
may have on what alternatives we should consider.
We will continue to issue additional Federal Register notices to
keep you informed and to invite your continued participation, as we
proceed with the environmental assessment and regulatory processes.
Request for Information
We ask that you submit your comments, or other relevant
information, on dry cargo residue discharges in the Great Lakes. As
discussed in ``Background and Purpose'', we are particularly interested
in information that will help us determine what types of vessels
perform these discharges, where they discharge, what they discharge,
and how much they discharge. We will consider all comments and
information received during the comment period.
Submissions should include:
Docket number USCG-2004-19621.
Your name and address.
Your reasons for making each comment or for bringing
information to our attention.
Submit comments or material using only one of the following methods:
Electronic submission to the Docket Management Facility's
Docket Management System (DMS) (http://dms.dot.gov).
Fax, mail, or hand delivery to the Docket Management
Facility (see ADDRESSES). Faxed or hand delivered submissions must be
unbound, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, and suitable for copying
and electronic scanning. If you mail your submission and want to know
when it reaches the Facility, include a stamped, self-addressed
postcard or envelope.
Regardless of the method used for submitting comments or material,
all submissions will be posted, without change, to the DMS Web site
(http://dms.dot.gov), and will include any personal information you
provide. Therefore, submitting this information makes it public. You
may wish to read the Privacy Act notice that is available on the DMS
Web site, or the Department of Transportation Privacy Act Statement
that appeared in the Federal Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477).
You may view docket submissions in person, at the Docket Management
Facility (see ADDRESSES), or electronically on the DMS Web site.
Dated: December 13, 2004.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety, Security & Environmental
Protection.
[FR Doc. 04-28227 Filed 12-23-04; 8:45 am]
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