[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 84 (Monday, May 3, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23726-23727]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-10952]



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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard
[USCG-1999-5451]


Waiver Application; Tank Vessel; Reduction of Gross Tonnage

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is requesting comments on the Reinauer 
Transportation Companies' waiver application to reduce the gross 
tonnage of the tank barge R.T.C. 90, Official Number 625082. Approval 
of this waiver application will change the vessel's double hull 
compliance date prescribed by 46 U.S.C. 3703a. The company has met all 
the requirements for issuance of a waiver and this document provides 
the required public notice and sixty-day comment period concerning the 
application. The Coast Guard will consider all comments received during 
the comment period before taking final action on the Reinauer 
Transportation Companies application.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before July 2, 1999.

ADDRESSES: You may submit your comments and related material by only 
one of the following methods:
    (1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility, (USCG-1999-5451), 
U.S. Department of Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    (2) By hand to 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.
    (3) By fax to Docket Management Facility at 202-493-2251.
    (4) Electronically through the Web Site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this 
notice. Comments and materials referred to in this notice will become 
part of this docket and will be available for inspection or copying at 
room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building at the same 
address between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays. You may also find this docket on the Internet at 
http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on this notice, call Mr. 
Bob Gauvin, Project Manager, Office of Operating and Environmental 
Standards, Commandant (G-MSO-2), Coast Guard, telephone 202-267-1053. 
For questions on viewing, or submitting material to the docket, call 
Dorothy Walker, Chief, Dockets, Department of Transportation, telephone 
202-366-9329.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

    The Coast Guard encourages interested persons to submit written 
data, views, or arguments concerning the waiver application. Please 
include your name and address, identify the docket number (USCG-1999-
5451), 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 mail, hand, fax, or electronic means to 
the Docket Management Facility at the address under ADDRESSES; but 
please do not submit the same comment or material by more than one 
means. Submitted materials should be 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 they were received, 
please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard or envelope. We will 
consider all comments and material received during the comment period.
    We do not now plan to hold a public meeting. But, you may request 
one by submitting a request to the Docket Management Facility at the 
address under ADDRESSES explaining why one would be beneficial. If we 
determine that one would be helpful, we will hold one at a time and 
place announced by a later notice in the Federal Register.

Background

    The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) requires most single hull 
tank vessels carrying oil in bulk as cargo or cargo residue to either 
convert to double hull configuration or to stop operating in U.S. 
waters by the dates specified in the statute. These dates, in 46 U.S.C. 
3703a, are based on the vessel's age, gross tonnage, and hull 
configuration. In general, the latest operational date for single hull 
tank vessels is January 1, 2010, and for tank vessels with double sides 
or double bottoms is January 1, 2015.
    Before July 1, 1997, a tank vessel owner could extend a single hull 
tank vessel's operational life by converting cargo tanks into voids or 
segregated ballast tanks and reducing its gross tonnage. If the 
reduction in gross tonnage placed the vessel under a different 
subsection of 3703a, the vessel then had a later date for double hull 
compliance.
    In 1997, Pub. L. 105-85 added a new subsection (e) to 46 U.S.C. 
3703a mandating that after July 1, 1997, a tank vessel's gross tonnage 
could not be altered for the purpose of determining its double hull 
compliance date without a waiver from the Secretary of Transportation. 
The new provision required that all waiver applications be received by 
January 1, 1998. We received requests from six U.S. and one foreign 
tank vessel owners for conversions of fourteen tankships, two 
integrated tug-barge units (ITBs), and fifteen barges. On January 6, 
1998, the Secretary of Transportation delegated his authority to the 
Commandant to act on these waiver requests.
    In February 1998, we contracted a study entitled An Investigation 
Into the Re-Admeasurement of Single Hull Tankships and Barges By Means 
of Protectively Located Segregated Ballast Tanks. The study determined 
which conversions of cargo tanks into protectively-located segregated 
ballast tanks (PL/SBT) would result in a significant reduction in oil 
outflow when specific parameters are met. The study, looking at three 
sizes of tankships and tank barges, evaluated the risk of oil discharge 
and used the probabilistic oil outflow applications we had previously 
established under the OPA 90 requirements of Sec. 3703a to evaluate new 
tank vessel hull designs. The study found that in order for tank 
vessels to significantly reduce the risk of oil discharge, enough cargo 
tanks must be converted to PL/SBT to meet an equivalent oil spill (EOS) 
number of at least 15% less than the vessel's existing outflow 
signature.
    We provided a copy of the study and the conversion parameters to 
each waiver applicant so they could submit their plans for 
modifications and complete the supporting materials for their waiver 
applications. A copy of the Coast Guard study is available for review 
in the public docket at the address under ADDRESSES.

Requirements for issuance of a waiver

    As required by Sec. 3703a, a completed waiver application package 
consists of--
     An application received by January 1, 1998;
     Reliable evidence that the tank vessel had not undergone, 
nor contracted to undergo, alterations that reduce the gross tonnage of 
the vessel before July 1, 1997; and
     Supplementary materials that demonstrate the proposed 
alterations to the tank vessel will result in a

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significant reduction in the risk of a discharge of oil.
    We must then determine if both--
     The owner of the tank vessel has entered into a binding 
agreement to alter the tank vessel in a shipyard in the United States 
to reduce the gross tonnage of the tank vessel by converting a portion 
of the cargo tanks of the vessel into PL/SBT; and
     The conversion will result in a significant reduction in 
the risk of a discharge of oil.
    Section 3703a requires that we must then provide public notice and 
a sixty-day comment period on each application before we can issue a 
waiver.
    Alterations under this waiver must be completed by the later of 
either July 1, 1999, or the date of the vessel's next special hull 
survey after November 18, 1997.

Application for the R.T.C. 90

    Our records show that the Reinauer Transportation Companies (RTC) 
tank vessel R.T.C. 90, Official Number 625082, is a U.S. certificated 
single hull oil tank barge which was built in 1980. The barge was 
originally admeasured with a gross tonnage of 5,455. According to 46 
U.S.C. 3703a(c)(3), the barge's double hull compliance date is January 
1, 2005.
    With an approved waiver, RTC will reduce its vessel's gross tonnage 
to less than 5,000 gross tons (GT). Its new double hull compliance date 
under Sec. 3703a(e) would be January 1, 2008.
    The application from RTC meets the requirements for a waiver under 
Sec. 3703a(e) by having provided the following:
     Waiver application for the tank vessel R.T.C. 90, received 
on December 19, 1997;
     ``Statement of Attestation'' that the R.T.C. 90's gross 
tonnage was not reduced by a contract or shipyard alteration on or 
before July 1, 1997;
     Copy of its repair contract with Caddell Drydock and 
Repair Company Inc, of Staten Island, New York, to complete the 
modifications to the R.T.C. 90 by installing a new bulkhead at frame 6 
and converting the spaces forward of this bulkhead to PL/SBT for the 
vessel's reduction of tonnage; and
     Appropriate supplementary materials.
    Based on the supplementary materials provided by RTC for the tank 
vessel R.T.C. 90, we have determined the following:
     RTC can complete the tank barge modifications before 
September 2000, the date of the vessel's next classification society 
special survey.
     RTC's probabilistic oil outflow signature of the proposed 
vessel modifications will reduce the EOS by 21%.
    RTC's complete waiver application has been placed in the docket for 
public review at the address under ADDRESSES. We will consider all 
comments received during the comment period before taking final action 
on the RTC waiver application for the modification and reduction of 
tonnage to the tank vessel R.T.C. 90.

    Dated: April 25, 1999.
R.G. North,
Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety and Environmental Protection.
[FR Doc. 99-10952 Filed 4-30-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P