[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 202 (Wednesday, October 18, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62408-62409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-26767]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

[USCG 2000-8079]


Setting the Environmental Agenda of the Coast Guard for Oil 
Pollution--Prevention, Preparedness, and Response--in the 21st Century

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is holding at least one public meeting to help 
in setting its environmental agenda for oil pollution--prevention, 
preparedness, and response--in the 21st Century. A decade after the Oil 
Pollution Act of 1990, spills of cargo oil from tank vessels and other 
sources have declined; but spills continue to occur in marine transport 
and to pose new risks and challenges. The Coast Guard hopes to receive 
input from all stakeholders to identify likely threats to the 
environment, and to receive ideas on which it may base its prevention, 
preparedness, and response programs and needs in the future.

DATES: (1) The public meeting will take place on December 12, 2000, 
from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., but will conclude before 4 p.m. if there are 
no more comments. (2) Comments and related material must reach the 
Docket Management Facility on or before December 30, 2000. (3) If the 
Coast Guard decides to hold a second public meeting, it will announce 
that meeting by a later notice in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will take place at Coast Guard 
Headquarters, 2100 2nd Street SW., Washington, DC 20593-0001, in room 
4202. The meeting will also be video broadcast on the internet.
    To make sure your comments and related materials enter the docket 
[USCG 2000-8079] once and only once, please submit them by only one of 
the following means:
    (1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 
20590-0001.
    (2) By delivery 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 the 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 material received from the public 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, 400 Seventh Street 
SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
except Federal holidays. You may also access the public docket on the 
Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on this public meeting, 
including those on how to access the meeting on the internet, contact 
Commander George H. Burns III, Office of Response (G-MOR-1), Coast 
Guard, telephone 202-267-0421, e-mail [email protected]. (In 
particular, we ask that those attending the meeting notify CDR Burns so 
he can ensure that adequate space is available.) For questions on 
viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Ms. Dorothy Beard, 
Chief of Dockets, Department of Transportation, telephone 202-366-9329.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 62409]]

Request for Comments

    We encourage you to participate in this meeting by attending it or 
by submitting comments and related material to the docket. If you do 
submit comments or related material, please include your name and 
address, identify this notice [USCG 2000-8079], and the reason for each 
comment. You may submit your comments and material by mail, delivery, 
fax, or electronic means to the Docket Management Facility at the 
address under ADDRESSES; but please submit your comments and material 
by only one means. The Coast Guard will consider the comments received 
from this initial meeting, and those submitted to the docket, to 
evaluate the need for subsequent meetings, which may examine various 
factors in more detail. Please submit all comments and attachments in 
an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for 
copying and electronic filing to the Docket Management Facility at the 
address under ADDRESSES. If you want acknowledgement of receipt of your 
comments, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard or 
envelope. We will consider all comments and material received whether 
submitted in writing to the docket or presented during the meeting.

Background and Purpose

    Many factors determine the nature of spills into our nation's 
waterways and coastal areas. One such factor is future growth. Larger 
ships with greater fuel capacities may use our navigable waters. 
Increasing demand for petro-chemicals may exert pressures on the 
transport system. Offshore production of crude oil from remoter areas 
will grow as the price of oil rises. Transport of oil through aging 
pipelines near or under our waterways will pose increasing risk of 
spills into aquatic and marine environments. Further, with the phasing-
in of double-hull requirements for tankships and tank barges over the 
next several years, the Coast Guard suspects that both the methods of 
waterborne transport of oil and the risks associated with these methods 
will change. All of this will affect the environmental services and 
leadership that the Coast Guard provides.
    The Coast Guard, the public, and industry have engaged in numerous 
partnerships, and conducted many studies, over the past ten years; 
these certainly point the way toward a reasonable and coherent 
environmental agenda to fit the future. This meeting will examine ideas 
generated by these efforts, as well as explore emerging trends. It will 
be the first step in reconciling the expectations of both the public 
and industries engaged in marine transport. An agenda will be provided 
at the meeting based on the following questions.
    Questions: Your responses to the following questions are solicited. 
Please submit your responses as noted above under ADDRESSES.
    1. What source do you see as presenting the biggest risk of oil 
pollution?
    2. How do you see that risk changing over the next ten years?
    3. How do you see the waterborne transport of oil changing over the 
next ten or twenty years?
    4. What best practices for prevention, if any, from what industry 
or company, should we urge for uniform application throughout the 
waterborne transport of oil?
    5. Should the Coast Guard concentrate its efforts toward preventing 
oil pollution on vessels and management, or on measures external to the 
vessel, such as Vessel Traffic Services, port risk assessments, and the 
like?
    6. Do you perceive the public as becoming less tolerant of the 
risks of oil pollution? If yes, how is that affecting shipping, 
mariners' practice, and efforts toward prevention?
    7. How will mariners' roles change with respect to preventing oil 
pollution in the future?
    8. Should the Coast Guard be equally prepared for spills from 
foreign sources and for those from domestic ones? If so, how should we 
advance preparedness for spills from foreign sources (perhaps through 
the International Maritime Organization or classification societies)?
    9. Should response plans for other sources of spills mirror the 
response plans for vessels envisioned by OPA 90?
    10. Should non-tank vessels have to contract resources for worst 
cases, as tank vessels must under OPA 90?
    11. Should the scope of, frequency of, and criteria for spill 
response exercises align with those in the Preparedness for Exercise 
Program (PREP)?
    12. Should Qualified Individuals for non-tank vessels meet the same 
standards as those required for tank vessels?
    13. Should strategies for response to and mitigation of other 
sources of spills differ from those used for sources of spills 
identified under OPA 90? How?
    14. What needs improvement in control of and assessment for 
response to spills? (These comprise modeling, remote sensing, direct-
reading instruments, and field technologies.) How?
    15. What needs improvement in cleanup methods and technologies? 
(These comprise in-situ burning, dispersants, mechanical recovery, 
shoreline cleanup, bioremediation, and other innovations.) How?
    16. How does risk of oil pollution compare with risks from other 
forms of pollution in terms of effect on the environment? (These may 
comprise hazardous materials, airborne materials, aquatic nuisance 
species, or others.)
    17. Should we consider specific sources of funding for further 
improvements? (These may comprise per-barrel taxes, port tariffs, 
users' fees, or others.) Should the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund or a 
similar source be available for preventive measures?
    18. What improvements would you make to the U.S. Marine 
Transportation System to minimize the risk of pollution?
    19. Given that the costs of improving the infrastructure of the 
Marine Transportation System could be significant, what portion of 
these costs of improvement to reduce the risk of pollution should the 
public bear?

Information on Services for People with Disabilities

    For information on facilities or services for people with 
disabilities, or to request special assistance at the meeting, please 
contact Commander George H. Burns III, Office of Response (G-MOR-1), 
Coast Guard, telephone 202-267-0421, e-mail [email protected] as 
soon as possible.

    Dated: October 12, 2000.
Howard L. Hime,
Acting Director of Standards, Marine Safety and Environmental 
Protection.
[FR Doc. 00-26767 Filed 10-17-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P