[Federal Register: December 29, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 250)]
[Notices]
[Page 78449-78451]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29de06-87]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[USCG-2006-26560]
National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice; request for public comment.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
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 National 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 exercise cycle for 2007 through 2009, 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 February 27, 2007.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket
number USCG-2006-26560 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 or the triennial
exercise schedule, contact Lieutenant Damon Sanders, Office of
Contingency Exercises and Training (CG-3RPE), U.S. Coast Guard,
telephone (202) 372-2151, or e-mail Damon.C.Sanders@uscg.mil. If you
have questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket, call
Ms. Renee V. Wright, Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-
493-0402.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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'' paragraph below.
Submitting comments: If you submit a comment, please include your
name and address, identify the docket number for this notice (USCG-
2006-26560), 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
[[Page 78450]]
the comment period. We may change this triennial exercise schedule as
well as other elements of the PREP 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 last five digits of 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 United States Coast Guard (USCG) and the Research and
Special Programs Administration (RSPA) of the Department of
Transportation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the
Minerals Management Service (MMS) of the Department of the Interior,
coordinated the development of the 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 planholder's
organization. External exercises extend beyond the planholder's
organization to involve other members of the response community.
External exercises are separated into two categories: Area exercises,
and Government-initiated, unannounced exercises. External 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 Area exercises. The NSCC is comprised of personnel
representing the four Federal regulating agencies--the USCG, EPA, MMS,
and PHMSA's Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS). Since 1994, the NSCC has
published a triennial schedule of area exercises. Area exercises
involve the entire response community including Federal, State, local,
tribal, and non-government organizations, and industry participants;
therefore, these area exercises require more extensive planning than
other oil spill response exercises. The PREP Guidelines describe all of
these exercises in more detail.
Source for PREP Documents
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/federalregister.html. To
obtain a hard copy of the exercise design manual, contact Ms. Melanie
Barber at the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA), Office of Pipeline Safety at 202-366-4560. Instructions for
ordering the 2002 PREP Guidelines booklet are available on the Internet
at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/nsfweb/nsfcc/prep/federalregister.html. The
stock number of the manual is USCG-X0241. Please indicate the quantity
when ordering. Quantities are limited to 10 per order.
PREP Schedule
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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Federal Register
Date published Cite Notice
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January 3, 2006............... 71 FR 124........ PREP triennial
exercise schedule
for 2006, 2007, and
2008.
September 21, 2004............ 69 FR 56445...... PREP triennial
exercise schedule
for 2005, 2006, and
2007.
February 5, 2004.............. 69 FR 5562....... Revision to PREP
triennial exercise
schedule for 2004,
2005, and 2006.
October 16, 2003.............. 68 FR 59627...... PREP triennial
exercise schedule
for 2004, 2005, and
2006.
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.
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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[[Page 78451]]
This notice announces the next triennial schedule of area
exercises. The PREP schedule for calendar years 2007, 2008, and 2009
for Government-led and Industry-led Area exercises is available on the
Internet at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/[fxsp0]nsfweb/nsfcc/[fxsp0]prep/
federalregister.html. If a company wants to volunteer for an Area
exercise, a company representative may call either the Coast Guard or
EPA on-scene coordinator where the exercise is scheduled.
If you have concerns or recommended improvements to the Government-
led PREP exercises, please submit those using the procedures described
under the ADDRESSES section of this notice.
Dated: December 22, 2006.
C.E. Bone,
Assistant Commandant for Prevention.
[FR Doc. E6-22442 Filed 12-28-06; 8:45 am]
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