[Federal Register: January 13, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 8)]
[Notices]
[Page 1994]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr13ja04-63]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[USCG-2003-16814]
Discharge of Dry Cargo Residues in the Great Lakes
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard gives notice that Congressional authorization
of the United States 1997 enforcement policy (enforcement policy)
relating to the incidental discharge of dry cargo residue on the Great
Lakes expires on September 30, 2004, and that the study of that policy
mandated by Congress has been completed. If new regulations are not in
place by September 30, 2004, the enforcement policy will expire, and
the current statute, which prohibits such discharges, will become
effective October 1, 2004, and will be enforced by the Coast Guard.
Although the Coast Guard is initiating a rulemaking regarding the
discharge of dry cargo residue on the Great Lakes, it is improbable
that any such rulemaking would be completed before the expiration of
the enforcement policy.
DATES: The interim enforcement policy discussed in this notice expires
September 30, 2004. Enforcement in accordance with current statutes
will begin October 1, 2004.
ADDRESSES: Any comments or material received from the public in regard
to this notice, as well as documents mentioned in the notice as being
available in the public docket, are part of docket USCG-2003-16814 and
may be viewed online at http://dms.dot.gov or at the Docket Management
Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh
Street SW., Washington, DC between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions relating to the
substance of this notice call LCDR Mary Sohlberg, U.S. Coast Guard,
telephone 202-267-0713. If you have questions on viewing the docket,
call Andrea M. Jenkins, Program Manager, Docket Operations, Department
of Transportation, telephone 202-366-0271.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The historical practice of bulk dry cargo
vessels on the Great Lakes is to wash non-hazardous and non-toxic cargo
residues (``dry cargo residue'' or ``cargo sweepings'') overboard. In
1987, Congress amended the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS;
see Pub. L. 100-220, sec. 2002; see also 33 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.),
adopting Annex V to the International Convention for the Prevention of
Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), 1973. Under MARPOL interpretive
guidelines, dry cargo residues and cargo sweepings are considered to be
garbage. Strict application of the MARPOL interpretive guideline
adopted the following year (33 CFR part 151) banned the discharge of
dry cargo residue and cargo sweepings in the Great Lakes.
To ease the difficult implementation issues that application of the
MARPOL guidelines would create within the unique legal, environmental,
and economic framework of the Great Lakes, the Ninth Coast Guard
District implemented in 1993 an ``enforcement policy'' (CCGD9INST
16460.1) that has been revised over the years and reissued in 1995 and
in 1997. The 1997 policy is the current practice in place in the Great
Lakes. The Coast Guard was directed by Congress in the 1998 Coast Guard
Authorization Bill to continue its current policy regarding dry cargo
residues on the Great Lakes until 2002. This authorization was
subsequently extended until September 30, 2004, in Public Law 106-554,
sec. 1117, pending completion of a study and formulation of a specific
regulatory solution to the issue. Unless new regulations adopt elements
of the enforcement policy, the Coast Guard has concluded that we have
no authority to extend the enforcement policy on our own, beyond the
September 2004 deadline. The Coast Guard contracted the completion of
the study and has received the study report on discharge of vessel dry
cargo residues mandated by Congress in Public Law 106-554. The study is
available at http://dms.dot.gov.
Because of the effects on U.S. flag commercial shipping on the
Great Lakes of a ban on dry cargo residues discharges, that study,
among other things, recommended that the current practice of allowing
vessels to discharge their incidental cargo residues into certain
portions of the Great Lakes be continued, but, citing the lack of
available data, also recommended that an Environmental Assessment be
performed of the long term effects of continuing that practice. We
intend to initiate a rulemaking and, as part of the rulemaking process,
perform an Environmental Assessment in conjunction with other
regulatory assessments. The analyses would assist in determining
whether the regulations regarding the discharge of dry cargo residues
in the Great Lakes should reflect past practice, prohibit discharges
altogether, or allow for some other course of action, taking into
account all the circumstances and stakeholder interests. If new
regulations are not in effect by September 30, 2004, the Coast Guard
will enforce the existing statutes commencing October 1, 2004.
Dated: January 7, 2004.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety, Security & Environmental
Protection.
[FR Doc. 04-590 Filed 1-8-04; 4:56 pm]
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