[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 18 (Friday, January 26, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Page 7876]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-2392]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy


Special Area Solid Waste Discharge Standards for Ships 
Decommissioning Between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2005

AGENCY: Department of Defense.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Section 324 of the National Defense Authorization Act for 
Fiscal Year 1997, Public Law 104-201, requires the Secretary of the 
Navy to prescribe and publish in the Federal Register standards to 
ensure that ships decommissioning between January 1, 2001, and December 
31, 2005, are to the maximum extent practicable without impairing the 
operations or operational capabilities of the ship, operated in a 
manner that is consistent with the special area requirements of 
Regulation 5 of Annex V to The International Convention for the 
Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) and provide a list of the 
applicable ships.

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 number (703) 602-2602.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 areas'' within which additional 
discharge limitations apply. One of the discharges specified for 
restriction under MARPOL Annex V is solid waste.
    Ships that are decommissioning between January 1, 2001, and 
December 31, 2005, and do not have Navy solid waste equipment 
installed, will, to the maximum extent practicable without impairing 
the operations or operational capabilities of these ships, be operated 
in a manner that is consistent with the special area requirements of 
Regulation 5 of Annex V of MARPOL in accordance with the following 
standards:
    Prior to entering a special area, surface ships will identify 
essential logistics requirements needed to facilitate the offload and 
disposal of shipboard garbage at either port reception facilities or 
supply ships, which have the capacity to receive and store other ship's 
garbage for transfer and disposal ashore.
    Surface ships may not discharge unprocessed garbage in the special 
areas defined in Regulation 5 of ANNEX V unless such discharge is in 
compliance with the applicable exceptions listed in Regulation 6 of 
ANNEX V which states that the prohibition on the discharge of garbage 
in special areas ``* * * shall not apply to:
    (a) the disposal of garbage from a ship necessary for the purpose 
of securing the safety of a ship and those on board or saving life at 
sea, or
    (b) the escape of garbage resulting from damage to a ship or its 
equipment provided all reasonable precautions have been taken before 
and after the occurrence of the damage for the purpose of preventing or 
minimizing the escape; * * *''
    On the unusual occasions in which a discharge may be necessary in a 
special area in accordance with the exceptions noted above, surface 
ships shall use all available means to cause unprocessed garbage to 
sink as rapidly as possible. The commanding officer shall note the 
details of such a discharge (date of discharge, special area involved, 
and nature and amount of discharge) in the ship's deck log. Upon 
completion of operations in a special area in which a garbage discharge 
was necessary, ships shall report all discharges other than food waste, 
pulped garbage and shredded and bagged metal and glass to CNO (N45), 
regarding:
    (a) Date of discharge.
    (b) Special area involved.
    (c) Nature and amount of discharge (estimated pounds of unshredded 
metal and glass; unpulped wood, paper and cardboard; ceramic; or other 
non-food material).
    These standards apply to the following ships:
USS CONSTELLATION (CV 64)
USS HEWITT (DD 966)
USS AUSTIN (LPD 4)
USS OGDEN (LPD 5)
USS WADSWORTH (FFG 9)
USS GEORGE PHILIP (FFG 12)
USS SAMUEL E. MORISON (FFG 13)
USS SIDES (FFG 14)
USS ESTOCIN (FFG 15)

    Dated: January 11, 2001.
J.L. Roth,
Lieutenant Commander, Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy, 
Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 01-2392 Filed 1-25-01; 8:45 am]
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