[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 83 (Friday, April 29, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24022-24023]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-10347]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA--New England Region I-EPA-R01-OW-2011-0364; FRL-9299-6]
Massachusetts Marine Sanitation Device Standard--Receipt of
Petition
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice--receipt of petition.
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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that a petition has been received from
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts requesting a determination by the
Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that
adequate facilities for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment of
sewage from all vessels are reasonably available for the waters of
Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown,
collectively termed the Outer Cape Cod for the purpose of this notice.
DATES: Comments must be submitted by May 31, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R01-
OW-2011-0364, by one of the following methods: http://www.regulations.gov, Follow the on-line instructions for submitting
comments.
E-mail: [email protected].
Fax: (617) 918-0538
Mail and hand delivery: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency--New
England Region, Five Post Office Square, Suite 100, OEP06-1, Boston, MA
02109-3912. Deliveries are only accepted during the Regional Office's
normal hours of operation (8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
excluding legal holidays), and special arrangements should be made for
deliveries of boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R01-OW-
2011-0364. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov, or e-mail. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an
``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without
going through http://www.regulations.gov your e-mail address will be
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of
any defects or viruses.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copy-righted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency--New England Region, Five Post Office Square, Suite
100, OEP06-01, Boston, MA 02109-3912. Such deliveries are only accepted
during the Regional Office's normal hours of operation, and special
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information. The
Regional Office is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
excluding legal holidays. The telephone number is (617) 918-1538.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ann Rodney, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency--New England Region, Five Post Office Square, Suite
100, OEP06-01, Boston, MA 02109-3912. Telephone: (617) 918-1538, Fax
number: (617) 918-0538; e-mail address: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Notice is hereby given that a petition has been received from the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts requesting a determination by the
Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, pursuant
to Section 312(f)(3) of Public Law 92-500 as amended by Public Law 95-
217 and Public Law 100-4, that adequate facilities for the safe and
sanitary removal and treatment of sewage from all vessels are
reasonably available for the Outer Cape Cod area.
The Outer Cape Cod No Discharge Area will encompass the tidal
waters for Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and
Provincetown, and from mean high water out to the State/Federal
boundary. Within Nauset Harbor, the NDA covers all tidal waters and all
embayments including: Nauset Bay, Salt Pond, Salt Pond Bay, Woods Cove,
Rachel Cove, and Mill Pond.
The proposed No Discharge Area for the Outer Cape Cod:
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Waterbody/general area From longitude From latitude To longitude To latitude
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The westernmost landward 69[deg]59'0'' W 41[deg]39'26'' N 69[deg]59'0'' W 41[deg]37'20'' N
boundary of the NDA starting
on the south side of Chatham
is an imaginary line drawn
between the western part of
the outlet of Stage Harbor
and the northern tip of
Monomoy Island (All state
waters east of Monomoy
Island are included in this
NDA).
The southwestern boundary 70[deg]0'36'' W 41[deg]32'30'' N 70[deg]0'11'' W 41[deg]29'15'' N
then continues from the
southern tip of Monomoy
Island through two
navigational aids to the
state/federal waters
boundary.
The landward boundary of the 69[deg]56'36'' W 41[deg]39'40'' N 69[deg]56'6'' W 41[deg]40'56'' N
NDA follows the mean high
water line from Chatham to
Provincetown except at an
imaginary line drawn
between: (This imaginary
line is across the mouth of
Pleasant Bay, which is
already an NDA).
[[Page 24023]]
The westernmost boundary on 70[deg]10'0'' W 42[deg]7'59'' N 70[deg]10'0'' W 42[deg]4'47'' N
the northern side of Cape
Cod is an imaginary line
drawn from three miles off
shore to the mean high water
line in Provincetown (This
imaginary line is contiguous
with the Cape Cod Bay NDA).
The eastern edge of the
boundary is contiguous with
the state/federal line also
known as the Submerged Lands
Act boundary line and
Territorial Sea boundary.
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The boundaries were chosen based on easy line-of-sight locations
and generally represent all navigational waters.
There is only one harbor within the proposed Outer Cape Cod NDA,
which is Nauset Harbor. Small skiffs owned by the residents of the area
are the primary users of Nauset Harbor. Other vessels that would use
the harbor would most likely come from Provincetown Harbor, Pleasant
Bay, or Chatham Harbor, all of which are currently NDAs and have
pumpout facilities for these boaters. Massachusetts has certified that
there is one landside pumpout facility at Goose Hummock Marine in
Orleans within the proposed area available to the boating public. The
location, contact information, hours of operation, and water depth are
provided at the end of this petition.
Massachusetts has provided documentation indicating that the total
vessel population is estimated to be 519 in the proposed area. It is
estimated that 91 of the total vessel population may have a Marine
Sanitation Device (MSD) of some type.
The majority of coastline of the proposed area is the Cape Cod
National Seashore, a 43,500 acre park established by Congress in 1961
to, ``preserve the nationally significant and special cultural and
natural features, distinctive patterns of human activity, and ambience
that characterize the Outer Cape, along with the associated scenic,
cultural, historic, scientific, and recreational values'', and to,
``provide opportunities for current and future generations to
experience, enjoy, and understand these features and values.''
The various beaches, marshes, and harbors and their recreational
opportunities attract thousands of visitors to Cape Cod every year. On
the eastern shore of Cape Cod, from Chatham to Provincetown there are
24 bathing beaches covering over thirty miles of coastline.
The area contains known habitat for soft shelled clam, surf clam,
sea scallop, quahog, ocean quahog, and blue mussel; all important
recreational and commercial species.
Pumpout Facility Within Proposed No Discharge Area
[Outer Cape Cod]
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Mean low water
Name Location Contact info. Hours depth
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Goose Hummock Marine, Nauset 13 Old County Rd, 508-255-2620 VHF On call........... 3 ft.
Harbor. Orleans, MA. 16.
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Dated: April 20, 2011.
Ira W. Leighton,
Acting Regional Administrator, New England Region.
[FR Doc. 2011-10347 Filed 4-28-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P