[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 58 (Friday, March 25, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-7102]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: March 25, 1994]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Coast Guard
[CGD 94-017]

 

National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP)

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of Exercise Schedule and Workshop.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 
the Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), and the 
Minerals Management Service (MMS), in concert with the states, the oil 
industry and concerned citizens, jointly developed the National 
Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) to provide guidelines 
for compliance with Oil Pollution Act of 1990 pollution response 
exercise requirements. The PREP guidelines outline the applicability, 
type, frequency, and objectives of the required exercises and will aid 
the government and industry in meeting the Federal requirements for 
pollution response exercises. This notice proposes an exercise schedule 
for 1995, 1996, and 1997; solicits comments on the proposed schedule 
and the PREP scheduling process outlined here; solicits industry 
members to lead Area exercises for 1995; and announces a workshop to be 
held on May 19, 1994, to discuss the proposed schedule and the 
scheduling process.

DATES: Written comments relating to the schedule or the scheduling 
process should be submitted by May 1, 1994, to the address listed 
below. Industry members interested in leading the industry-led Area 
exercises or participating in the government-led Area exercises should 
submit their names to the National Scheduling Coordinating Committee 
(NSCC) by May 1, 1994, to the address listed below, and indicate the 
date and location of the proposed exercise. The workshop will be held 
on May 19, 1994, in Alexandria, Virginia.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be mailed to the NSCC at Commandant 
(G-MEP-4), room 2100, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, 2100 Second 
Street, SW, Washington, DC 20593-0001, ATTN: LCDR Rhae Giacoma.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
LCDR Rhae Giacoma, Office of Marine Safety, Security and Environmental 
Protection (G-MEP-4), (202) 267-2616.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

    The Coast Guard, EPA, RSPA, and MMS encourage interested persons to 
comment on the PREP Area exercise schedule and the scheduling process. 
The schedule and scheduling process may be revised in view of the 
comments. Comments will be discussed at the scheduling workshop to be 
held on May 19, 1994. After the workshop, the final schedule for Area 
exercises for 1995 and the tentative schedule for 1996 and 1997 Area 
exercises will be published by a notice in the Federal Register.

Background Information

    The Coast Guard, EPA, RSPA, and MMS developed the National 
Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) to provide guidelines 
for compliance with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 pollution response 
exercise requirements (33 U.S.C. 1321(j)). One section of the PREP 
focuses on Area exercises, which are designed to evaluate the entire 
response mechanism in a given Area to ensure adequate pollution 
response preparedness. Each Area is defined by geographical boundaries, 
for which, a separate and distinct Area Contingency Plan has been 
developed. The goal of the PREP is to conduct 20 Area exercises per 
year, with the intent of exercising most Areas of the country within a 
three year period.
    The three year period under consideration here for Area exercise 
scheduling includes calendar years 1995, 1996 and 1997. The schedule 
consists of 20 Area exercises per year (6 government-led and 14 
industry-led). Industry members required to submit response plans are 
actively solicited to lead the industry-led Area exercises or 
participate in the government-led Area exercises. Requests to lead or 
participate in an Area exercise should be made to the NSCC, as 
described in DATES.

Scheduling Process

    The Area exercise scheduling process is as follows:
    1. The NSCC, comprised of representatives of the Coast Guard, EPA, 
RSPA, and MMS, will meet in January of each year to develop a proposed 
Area exercise schedule for the upcoming three year period. (For 
example, when the NSCC meets in 1995, the three years considered will 
be 1996, 1997 and 1998.) The information included in the proposed 
schedule will be the exercise Area, the exercise quarter, whether the 
exercise is industry-led or government-led, and the types of industry 
that will lead the exercise (vessel, marine transportation-related 
(mtr) facility, non marine transportation-related facility, offshore 
facility or pipeline). Once developed, the proposed schedule will be 
published in the Federal Register in February of each year.
    2. The NSCC will solicit input on this proposed schedule for each 
three year period. The NSCC is specifically looking for input from On-
Scene Coordinators (OSCs), Coast Guard Districts and EPA Regional 
Offices, the Regional Response Teams, the states and the industry plan 
holders regarding the Area scheduled to be exercised, the time frame 
for each exercise, the mix of the industry types selected for 
participation, and any federal, state or local government or industry 
operational issues affecting the schedule. The NSCC is also looking for 
industry plan holders to lead the Area exercises or participate in the 
government-led Area exercises.
    3. When reviewing the proposed schedule, issues to be considered at 
the local Area level include:
    a. Can the Area sponsor an exercise in the quarter listed? Do Area 
activities already scheduled preclude an exercise from being held in 
this time frame? What specific dates would be appropriate for the 
exercise?
    b. Is the industry type to be exercised in accordance with the 
proposed schedule appropriate for the Area? For instance, if needed for 
the exercise planned, is there a pipeline or offshore platform 
operating in the Area? Has one specific type of industry dominated Area 
exercises in the past? For example, have many or most of the Area 
exercises in the past focused on vessels?
    c. Should the Area receive credit for response to a major pollution 
incident? Was the response to this incident evaluated in accordance 
with the PREP guidelines? (Only responses to major pollution incidents 
that have been evaluated using the criteria for an Area exercise, as 
outlined in the PREP guidelines, will be considered for credit as an 
Area exercise.)
    4. Issues to be considered at the district and regional level 
include:
    a. Does the mix of industry types proposed for involvement in the 
exercises fairly represent the district or region? Are all industry 
types adequately covered?
    b. Are state issues being taken into consideration? Close 
coordination with the states is critical when reviewing the exercise 
schedule and the types of industries being exercised.
    c. Regional Response Teams (RRTs) should be consulted to ensure 
that RRT issues such as the coordination of other exercises (for 
example, FEMA hazmat exercises) are taken into consideration when 
scheduling the Area exercises and exercise participants.
    d. Regional coordinating committees (such as the Area Industry 
Exercise Coordinating Committee in the Pacific Northwest) should be 
consulted for input.
    5. The suggested process for commenting on the schedule is as 
follows:
    a. Coast Guard OSCs are requested to comment, on behalf of their 
Area Committees, to the NSCC through their respective district offices.
    b. EPA OSCs are requested to comment, on behalf of their Area 
Committees, to the NSCC through their respective regional offices.
    c. Industry plan holders are requested to comment directly to the 
NSCC as described in ``ADDRESSES.'' (If a regional coordinating 
committee is established in the region, industries are encouraged to 
use this committee to coordinate industry responses for forwarding to 
the NSCC.)
    d. Coast Guard Districts and EPA Regions are requested to comment 
directly to the NSCC, on behalf of their OSCs, RRTs, and other regional 
organizations, as described in ``ADDRESSES.''
    e. The states are requested to comment on the scheduling process 
directly to the NSCC as described in ``ADDRESSES.''

Selection of Industry Participants for Area Exercises

    The selection process for industry participants for the Area 
exercises will be as follows:
    1. Industry response plan holders interested in leading the Area 
exercises or supporting the government-led Area exercises should submit 
their requests directly to the NSCC as described in ``DATES.'' These 
requests should be submitted by May 1. The NSCC will notify the 
districts/regions and OSCs of the industry plan holder requests 
received; the districts/regions and OSCs shall notify the NSCC of 
requests submitted locally for exercise participation. The NSCC will 
coordinate with the districts/regions and OSCs prior to the scheduling 
workshop to finalize the list of potential exercise plan holders slated 
for exercise participation, for presentation at the workshop.
    2. In Areas where no plan holders have come forth and expressed an 
interest in leading or participating in the Area exercises, OSCs will 
recommend industry plan holders for exercise participation to the NSCC. 
Some issues that will be considered when selecting industry 
participants include the number of times a specific industry has 
conducted exercises in the past, the operating history of industries in 
the Area and the perceived need for a particular industry plan holder 
to be exercised. The OSCs will consult with the selected industry plan 
holders prior to submitting their names for exercise participation.
    3. In Areas scheduled for exercises involving pipelines or offshore 
facilities, the OSCs will coordinate with the respective regulatory 
agency (RSPA or MMS) to select plan holders to lead or participate in 
these exercises.

Scheduling Workshop

    A PREP scheduling workshop will be conducted by the NSCC annually 
in May. The workshop will focus primarily on the upcoming year's Area 
exercise schedule, but will also address issues relating to the 
following two years of the triennial schedule. National level industry 
representation is strongly encouraged at these workshops, as this will 
be an opportunity for industry plan holders to comment on the schedule 
and address issues which may affect them and their operations. This 
will also be an opportunity for the plan holders to comment on 
priorities for each exercise, particularly in instances when more than 
one plan holder expresses an interest in leading or participating in 
the same exercise, or when plan holders have been selected by the OSC 
for exercise participation. The workshops will be the forum for 
discussion and final selection of the industry plan holders to lead the 
Area exercises or participate in the government-led Area exercises. 
Input from the workshop will be used for finalizing the upcoming year's 
schedule and proposing the schedule for the following two years.

Workshop Format and Schedule

    The workshop format will consist of a presentation of the PREP Area 
exercise schedule listed here, followed by a question and answer period 
and open discussion of the schedule and the scheduling process.
    The workshop will be held on May 19, 1994, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., 
at the Best Western Old Colony Inn, 625 1st Street, Alexandria, 
Virginia.

Final Schedule

    After the workshop is completed, the NSCC will forward information 
received from the workshop to the Coast Guard Districts/EPA Regions for 
distribution to the OSCs. The proposed final schedule will specify the 
exercise Area, the exercise dates, whether the exercise is government 
or industry-led, the type of industry participating, and the government 
and industry plan holders that will lead or participate in the 
exercises. The Coast Guard Districts/EPA Regions will coordinate with 
the OSCs to validate the schedule and comment back to the NSCC. 
Comments should be provided to the NSCC as soon as possible, but no 
later than August 1, to allow for timely publication of the final 
schedule. The Coast Guard will publish a final schedule in the Federal 
Register annually in September.

Proposed Triennial Schedule for 1995, 1996 and 1997

                           Prep Schedule--1995                          
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              Industry (I) or           
                   Area                     Government (G) Led    QTR*  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guam Area (MSO Guam OSC)..................  Vessel (I)........         1
Southern Coastal NC Area (MSO Wilmington    CG (G)............         1
 OSC).                                                                  
San Diego, CA Area (MSO San Diego OSC)....  Facility (Mtr) (I)         1
Maryland Coastal Area (MSO Baltimore OSC).  Vessel (I)........         1
Portland, OR Area (MSO Portland, OR OSC)..  CG (G)............         2
EPA Regional III Area (EPA OSC)...........  Pipeline (I)......         2
Long Island Sound, NY Area (COTP Long       Vessel (I)........         2
 Island Sound OSC).                                                     
EPA Region I Area (EPA OSC)...............  Facility (non mtr)         2
                                             (I).                       
San Francisco Bay & Delta Region Area (MSO  CG (G)............         2
 San Francisco OSC).                                                    
EPA Region II Area (EPA OSC)..............  Facility (non mtr)         2
                                             (I).                       
Boston, MA (MSO Boston OSC)...............  Vessel (I)........         3
Cleveland, OH Area (MSO Cleveland OSC)....  Facility (mtr) (I)         3
Sault Ste. Marie, MI Area (COTP Sault Ste.  Vessel (I)........         3
 Marie OSC).                                                            
EPA Region V Area (EPA OSC)...............  EPA (G)...........         3
Savannah Area (MSO Savannah OSC)..........  Vessel (I)........         3
Southeast Alaska Area (MSO Juneau OSC)....  Pipeline (I)......         3
Tampa, FL Area (MSO Tampa OSC)............  CG (G)............         4
EPA Region X Area (EPA OSC)...............  Facility (non mtr)         4
                                             (I).                       
EPA Region VII Area (EPA OSC).............  Facility (non mtr)         4
                                             (I).                       
South Texas Coastal Zone Area (MSO Corpus   CG (G)............         4
 Christi OSC).                                                          
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Quarterly Schedule: 1 (January-March); 2 (April--June); 3 (July-       
  September); 4 (October-December).                                     


                           Prep Schedule--1996                          
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              Industry (I) or           
                   Area                     Government (G) Led    QTR*  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charleston, SC Area (MSO Charleston OSC)..  CG (G)............         1
Mobile, AL Area (MSO Mobile OSC)..........  Offshore (I)......         1
Virginia Coastal Area (MSO Hampton Roads    Vessel (I)........         1
 OSC).                                                                  
Puget Sound Area (MSO Puget Sound OSC)....  CG (G)............         1
Grand Haven, MI Area (COTP Grand Haven      Vessel (I)........         2
 OSC).                                                                  
Santa Barbara/Ventura Area (MSD Santa       Vessel (I)........         2
 Barbara OSC).                                                          
EPA Region VIII Area (EPA OSC)............  EPA (G)...........         2
Buffalo, NY Area (MSO Buffalo OSC)........  Facility (mtr) (I)         2
Western Lake Erie Area (MSO Toledo OSC)...  Facility (mtr) (I)         2
EPA Region VI Area (EPA OSC)..............  Pipeline (I)......         2
South Florida Area (MSO Miami OSC)........  CG (G)............         3
Western Alaska Area (MSO Anchorage OSC)...  Pipeline (I)......         3
EPA Region IX Area (EPA OSC)..............  Facility (non mtr)         3
                                             (I).                       
Duluth--Superior Area (MSO Duluth OSC)....  Vessel (I)........         3
Maine & New Hampshire Area (MSO Portland    Vessel (I)........         3
 OSC).                                                                  
Philadelphia Coastal Area (MSO              CG (G)............         3
 Philadelphia OSC).                                                     
Palau Area (MS) Guam OSC).................  Vessel (I)........         4
Orange County Area (MSO LA/LB OSC)........  Facility (mtr) (I)         4
SW Louisiana--SE Texas Area (MSO Port       CG w/MMS (G)......         4
 Arthur OSC).                                                           
EPA Region II Area (Caribbean) (EPA OSC)..  Facility (non mtr)         4
                                             (I).                       
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Quarterly Schedule: 1 (January-March); 2 (April-June); 3 (July-        
  September); 4 (October-December).                                     


                           Prep Schedule--1997                          
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              Industry (I) or           
                   Area                     Government (G) Led    QTR*  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Providence, RI Area (MSO Providence OSC)..  CG (G)............         1
Northeast North Carolina Coastal Area (MSO  Vessel (I)........         1
 Hampton Roads OSC).                                                    
Jacksonville Area (MSO Jacksonville OSC)..  CG (G)............         1
Caribbean Area (MSO San Juan OSC).........  Facility (mtr) (I)         1
Florida Panhandle Area (MSO Mobile OSC)...  Vessel (I)........         2
Morgan City Area (MSO Morgan City OSC)....  CG (G)............         2
Eastern Wisconsin Area (MSO Milwaukee OSC)  Facility (mtr) (I)         2
Chicago Area (MSO Chicago OSC)............  Facility (mtr) (I)         2
North Coast Area (MSO San Francisco OSC)..  Vessel (I)........         2
Commonwealth of N. Marianas Islands Area    Vessel (I)........         3
 (MSO Guam OSC).                                                        
Detroit Area (MSO Detroit OSC)............  CG (G)............         3
EPA Alaska Region (EPA OSC)...............  Facility (non mtr)         3
                                             (I).                       
EPA Oceania Region (EPA OSC)..............  EPA (G)...........         3
Houston/Galveston Area (MSO Houston OSC)..  Offshore (I)......         3
New York, NY Area (COTP New York OSC).....  Vessel (I)........         3
Hawaii/American Samoa Area (MSO Honolulu    Vessel (I)........         4
 OSC) Commanding Officer.                                               
EPA Region IV Area (EPA OSC)..............  Facility (non mtr)         4
                                             (I).                       
Central Coast Area (MSO San Francisco OSC)  Vessel (I)........         4
Los Angeles/Long Beach Area (MSO Los        Vessel (I)........         4
 Angeles OSC).                                                          
New Orleans Area (MSO New Orleans OSC)....  CG w/ MMS (G).....         4
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Quarterly Schedule: 1 (January-March); 2 (April-June); 3 (July-        
  September); 4 (October-December).                                     

    Dated: March 22, 1994.
R.C. North,
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Acting Chief, Office of Marine Safety, 
Security and Environmental Protection.
[FR Doc. 94-7102 Filed 3-24-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-14-M