[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 133 (Wednesday, July 11, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36358-36360]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-17404]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

[USCG-2001-10062]


The National Ballast Water Management Program

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of meetings; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: As directed by the National Invasive Species Act of 1996 
[NISA], the Coast Guard seeks consultation with all interested and 
affected parties before making recommendations to Congress on the 
future of the national Ballast Water Management program. To accomplish 
this, the Coast Guard will host four regional public meetings to expand 
the opportunity for public input into the national program. We seek 
comments from any interested or affected party and encourage all 
interested parties to attend the meetings.

DATES: The public meetings will be held on the following dates in the 
cities listed:
    West Coast: Oakland, CA--August 28, 2001.
    Gulf Coast: Houston, TX--September 6, 2001.
    Great Lakes: Ann Arbor, MI--September 11, 2001.
    East Coast: Washington, DC--September 18, 2001.
    With the exception of the Houston meeting, which will begin at 9:00 
a.m., all meetings will begin at 9:30 a.m. and will end when business 
has been completed. Other comments must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before September 30, 2001.

ADDRESSES: The Coast Guard will hold the meetings at the following 
locations:

Oakland, CA: Gresham Conference Center, Coast Guard Island, Alameda, CA 
94501, 510-437-3573
Houston, TX: Hilton Houston Hobby Airport, 8181 Airport Blvd, Houston, 
TX 77061, 713-645-3000
Ann Arbor, MI: Holiday Inn, North Campus, 3600 Plymouth Rd, Ann Arbor, 
MI 48105, 734-769-9800
Washington, DC: Nassif Building, 400 7th Street SW, Rooms 8236--8240, 
Washington, DC 20590, 202-366-0135

    You may submit your comments directly to the Docket Management 
Facility. To make sure that your comments and related material are not 
entered more than once in the docket [USCG-2001-10062], please submit 
them by only one of the following means:
    (1) By mail to the Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation, 
room PL-

[[Page 36359]]

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 Facility at 202-493-2251.
    (4) Electronically through the Web Site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov.
    The Facility maintains the public docket for this notice. Comments, 
and documents as indicated 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 access this docket on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on this notice, call 
Lieutenant Junior Grade JoAnne Hanson, Project Manager, Environmental 
Standards Division, in the Office of Operating & Environmental 
Standards (G-MSO-4), Coast Guard, telephone 202-267-2079. For questions 
on viewing, or submitting material to the docket, call Dorothy Beard, 
Chief, Dockets, Department of Transportation, telephone 202-366-9329.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

    The Coast Guard encourages you to submit comments and related 
material on the national ballast water management program. If you do 
so, please include your name and address, identify the docket number 
[USCG-2001-10062] and give the reasons 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. If you 
submit them by mail or delivery, submit them 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 reached 
the Facility, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard or 
envelope. We will consider all comments and material received during 
the comment period.

Public Meetings

    The Coast Guard encourages interested persons to attend the 
meetings and present oral comments during the meetings. The meetings 
are open to members of the public. Please note that the meetings may 
close early if all business is finished. If you would like to present 
an oral comment during a meeting, please notify Lieutenant Junior Grade 
Hanson at the address given under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT no 
later than August 17, 2001. If you are unable to attend the meetings, 
we encourage you to submit comments to the Docket Management Facility 
as indicated under ADDRESSES, by September 30, 2001.

Information on Service for Individuals With Disabilities

    For information on facilities or services for individuals with 
disabilities or to seek special assistance at the meeting, contact 
Lieutenant Junior Grade Hanson at the address or phone number under FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT as soon as possible.

Background and Purpose

    The NISA mandated the Coast Guard to establish a national voluntary 
ballast water management (BWM) program, which became effective in July 
1999. Additionally, the NISA requires the Coast Guard to: report to 
Congress no later than January 1, 2002, on the level of compliance with 
the guidelines; assess the effectiveness of the guidelines and 
standards issued under the national voluntary BWM program in reducing 
the introduction and spread of aquatic nuisance species by vessels; and 
begin revising the guidelines and standards as necessary.
    The precursor to the NISA, the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance 
Prevention and Control Act (NANPCA) [Pub. L. 101-646], was enacted by 
Congress on November 29, 1990, as a means of preventing and controlling 
the spread of zebra mussels and other aquatic nuisance species (ANS) in 
coastal and inland waters of the United States, with a particular 
emphasis on regulating ships entering the Great Lakes ecosystem.
    The Coast Guard published a final rule titled ``Ballast Water 
Management for Vessels Entering the Great Lakes'' in the Federal 
Register on April 8, 1993 [58 FR 18330]. This rule established 
mandatory BWM procedures for the Great Lakes as detailed in 33 CFR part 
151, subpart C. On December 30, 1994, the Coast Guard expanded the 
mandatory BWM practices to include portions of the Hudson River and 
amended the regulations in 33 CFR part 151 [59 FR 67632].
    The NISA [Pub. L. 104-332] was enacted by Congress on October 26, 
1996. This act reauthorized and amended the NANPCA, reemphasizing the 
significant role that ships' ballast water plays in the introduction 
and spread of ANS. The Coast Guard published the interim rule, 
``Implementation of the National Invasive Species Act of 1996,'' on May 
17, 1999 [64 FR 26672]. These regulations expanded BWM to all remaining 
U.S. waters as follows:
     Requiring operators of vessels entering U.S. waters from 
outside the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) to submit a BWM report
     Providing recommended BWM practices for operators of 
vessels entering the waters of the U.S. from beyond the EEZ
     Promoting BWM for operators of all vessels in waters of 
the U.S.
    While the NISA provides that inadequate reporting of BWM practices 
will lead to a mandatory BWM program, there are presently no federal 
penalties associated with failing to submit the required BWM reports. 
Data from the first year since the implementation of the reporting 
requirement indicates a nationwide compliance of approximately 25%, and 
preliminary reviews of subsequent months indicate little change. In the 
absence of federal requirements for BWM, several states have passed ANS 
legislation and implemented mandatory BWM programs, including mandatory 
ballast water reporting and associated penalties.
    The data gathered through the ballast water reports is being 
compiled by the Coast Guard and the National Ballast Information 
Clearinghouse and, combined with comments from the public and the 
shipping industry, will form the basis of the recommendation by the 
Secretary of Transportation to Congress about the future of the BWM 
program. In order to better gather input from the public, the Coast 
Guard requests comments be submitted to the Docket Management Facility 
(see details under ADDRESSES) and invites interested parties to attend 
any of the four regional public meetings.
    The absence of a quantitative ballast water treatment (BWT) 
standard is widely viewed as a major impediment to the development, 
testing and evaluation of BWT technologies that could supplement or 
replace mid-ocean exchange of ballast water. To address this, the Coast 
Guard recently published two notices in the Federal Register. 
``Potential Approaches to Setting Ballast Water Treatment Standards'' 
requesting comments on approaches to setting, implementing, and 
enforcing ballast water standards, was published on May

[[Page 36360]]

1, 2001 [66 FR 21807]. The second notice, ``Approval for Experimental 
Shipboard Installations of Ballast Water Treatment Systems'' was 
published on May 22, 2001 [66 FR 28213] and requests comments on a 
possible means of providing incentives to further the development and 
testing of BWT technologies.

Sample Topics for Consideration

    In order to focus the discussion about the future of the national 
BWM program, please consider the following when submitting comments: 
(NOTE--some of these questions contain redundancies and they are not 
posed in a sequential fashion.)
    1. Should BWM (including mid-ocean exchange of ballast water) be 
mandatory?
    2. Should an exemption be allowed for those situations where a 
ship's master believes that performing BWM, including exchange, would 
endanger his vessel, crew and/or passengers? If so, how should the 
validity of such exemptions be verified?
    3. Should there be an exemption from ballast water exchange 
requirements for those voyages whose routes take them outside the U.S. 
EEZ but not into waters of at least 2000 meters in depth and 200 miles 
from land (the prescribed depth of water and distance from land for 
conducting a mid-ocean exchange)?
    4. Should the depth of water required for mid-ocean exchange be 
reduced to 500 meters, as is contained in the International Maritime 
Organization's definition of mid-ocean exchange?
    5. Should ballast water exchange be permitted in waters less than 
200 miles from shore? If so, what parameters should be considered?
    6. Should the Coast Guard wait for the development of a BWT 
standard (a means of measuring the effectiveness of and comparing 
various ballast water treatments) before implementing mandatory BWM 
regulations?
    7. Should ship type (e. g. passenger, container, bulk) influence 
regulatory requirements on BWM, and if so, how?
    8. If BWM becomes mandatory, should ships constructed before the 
establishment of a mandatory program be treated differently than those 
constructed after the program goes into effect? If so, what should the 
distinctions be?
    9. If a mandatory BWM program is developed, should the mandatory 
reporting requirement still be in effect? If so, what is the most 
efficient means of obtaining BWM data from vessels? Should BWM 
information be part of the advance notice of arrivals currently 
required of vessels arriving in U.S. ports and submitted to the 
appropriate Coast Guard Captain of the Port, even if this meant 
providing significantly more information in the advance notice of 
arrival than is currently required? Or should separate reports continue 
to be sent to the National Ballast Water Information Clearinghouse, 
which acts as the Coast Guard's agent for the collection, storage and 
further processing of these reports?
    10. Should ballast water management requirements (including 
reporting and treatment) be extended to cover coast-wise shipping that 
operates well within the EEZ? What kinds of BWM should coastwise 
shipping be required to practice?
    11. Should there be an exemption from ballast water exchange 
requirements for those voyages where the vessel is only outside the 
U.S. EEZ for a minimal length of time? What length of time should be 
considered minimal?

    Dated: July 5, 2001.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety and Environmental Protection.
[FR Doc. 01-17404 Filed 7-10-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-u