[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 243 (Tuesday, December 17, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66264-66265]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-31926]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Notice on Plastic Processor Installation on Navy Ships

SUMMARY: Under Section 1003 of the National Defense Authorization Act 
for Fiscal Year 1994, Public Law 103-160, the Secretary of Defense must 
report annually in years 1996 through 1998 a list of ships equipped 
with plastic processors. This notice is the first annual report.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The International Convention on the 
Prevention of Pollution from ships (MARPOL) as amended by the MARPOL 
Protocol of 1978, protects the ocean environment by prohibiting some 
discharges altogether, restricting other discharges to particular 
distances from land, and establishing ``special area'' within which 
additional discharge limitations apply. One of the discharges specified 
for restriction under MARPOL Annex V is plastics.
    Section 1003 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
Year 1994, Public Law 103-160, 107 Stat. 1745, requires ships equipped 
with plastics processors to comply with MARPOL Annex V provisions for 
the disposal of plastics. The Act also establishes an installation 
schedule for plastics processor equipment aboard ships. The first 
production unit shall be installed by July 1, 1996 on board a Navy 
ship. At least 25 percent of ships requiring processors shall be 
equipped by March 1, 1997. At least 50 percent of ships requiring 
processors shall be equipped by July 1, 1997. No less than 75 percent 
of ships requiring processors shall be equipped by July 1, 1998, and 
all vessels requiring plastics processors shall be equipped by December 
31, 1998. The Act further requires the Secretary of Defense to report 
in the Federal Register a list of the names of ships equipped with 
plastics processors.
    This Federal Register notice is the first of the required annual 
reports. A

[[Page 66265]]

list of the ten Navy ships equipped with plastics processors by October 
1, 1996 follows:

AO-178  USS Monongahela
CG-50  USS Valley Forge
CG-57  USS Lake Champlain
CGN-37  USS South Carolina
DDG-54  USS Curtis Wilbur
DDG-63  USS Stethem
DDG-996  USS Chandler
FFG-48  USS Vandegrift
FFG-55  USS Elrod
LPD-12  USS Shreveport

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Louis Maiuri, Office of the Chief 
of Naval Operations Environmental Protection, Safety and Occupational 
Health Division, Crystal Plaza #4, Room 654, 2211 South Clark Place, 
Arlington, Virginia 22244-5108; telephone 703-602-2602.

    Dated: December 9, 1996.
D.E. Koenig, Jr.,
LCDR, JAGC, USN, Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 96-31926 Filed 12-16-96; 8:45 am]
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