[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 208 (Friday, October 26, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54324-54326]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-26813]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

[USCG-2000-8229]


Notice of Availability, Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement for the Integrated Deepwater System Project

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) announces the availability of the 
Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) on the 
Integrated Deepwater System Project. This PEIS covers general issues in 
a broad program-oriented analysis encompassing the replacement systems

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proposed by industry and the No-action alternative. The Coast Guard 
seeks public and agency input on the Draft PEIS.

DATES: The PEIS will be available on October 26, 2001. Comments must 
reach the Coast Guard on or before December 10, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted in several ways. To make sure your 
comments and related material are not entered more than once in the 
docket, please submit them by only one of the following means:

    (1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility (USCG-2000-8229), US 
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 20590-0001.
    (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 will become part of this docket and will be available 
along with the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for 
inspection or copying at Room PL-401, located on the Plaza Level of the 
Nassif Building at the above address between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, except for Federal holidays. You may also view this 
docket, including this notice and comments, on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice, 
the proposed project, or the associated statement, call LCDR Eric 
Johnson, Deepwater Environmental & Facilities Planner by telephone at 
202-267-1665, or by email at [email protected] or at the Coast 
Guard's Deepwater EIS Web page at http://www.deepwaterEIS.com. If you 
have 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

    We encourage you to submit comments on this Draft PEIS. Persons 
submitting comments should include their names and addresses, identify 
this notice (USCG-2000-8229), and the reason for each comment. You may 
submit your comments by mail, hand delivery, fax or electronic means to 
the Docket Management Facility at the address given under ADDRESSES; 
but please submit your comments and materials by only one means. If you 
submit them by mail or hand 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 if they 
reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard 
or envelope. We will consider all comments received during the comment 
period. For additional information about this notice or the 
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement, contact Joan Lang, 
Deepwater Project NEPA Coordinator (under contract to the Coast Guard), 
202-267-0284 or via e-mail at [email protected].

Public Hearings

    Based on the minimal number of comments received during the scoping 
period, public hearings for this stage of the PEIS development will be 
held only if there is sufficient interest shown. Because this is a 
programmatic document, meetings, if held, will be at a district or 
national level. If public hearings are held, the time and place of the 
hearings will be announced in the Federal Register and other media. 
Please contact LCDR Eric Johnson as described in the FURTHER 
INFORMATION section of this notice regarding possible public hearings.

Proposed Action

    In accordance with section 102[2][c] of the National Environmental 
Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, as implemented by the Council on 
Environmental Quality regulations (40 CFR parts 1500-1508), Department 
of Transportation (DOT) Order 5610.1C (Procedures for Considering 
Environmental Impacts), and Coast Guard Policy (NEPA: Implementing 
Procedures and Policy for Considering Environmental Impacts, COMDTINST 
M16475.1D), the Coast Guard has prepared a Draft PEIS on the Deepwater 
Project. The purpose of a PEIS is to develop a high-level approach and 
direction for implementing a broad policy or program. The Deepwater 
Project meets those criteria. As a first tier EIS, this PEIS covers 
general issues in a broader program-oriented analysis encompassing the 
replacement systems proposed by industry and the No-action alternative. 
Subsequent NEPA documentation will concentrate on specific implementing 
actions, such as home basing of new ships and aircraft, as required.
    The Coast Guard published a Notice of Intent and Request for Public 
Comments on November 9, 2000 (65 FR 67441). That same Notice included 
the dates and locations of several meetings that were held around the 
country to accept comments on what the Coast Guard should consider in 
its PEIS. During this scoping process, and based on Federal Agency 
comments, it was determined that the PEIS should address two 
alternatives: Action and No-action. The Action Alternative includes the 
proposed system replacements discussed in the NOI. The Coast Guard 
determined that the best way to describe the impacts of the Action 
Alternative in the programmatic EIS was by combining all of the 
proposals into ranges of asset quantities and types and ranges of 
environmental impacts. This approach protects the procurement-sensitive 
information regarding the specific number and types of assets proposed 
by each industry team. However, to more accurately identify potential 
environmental impacts, the actual numbers and types of each teams' 
assets were used in the impact models.
    The Coast Guard's ability to predict future environmental impacts 
of this multi-decade acquisition with 100% accuracy is drastically 
reduced by uncertainties with regard to funding, technology, political, 
social and logistics changes. When viewed from a programmatic level, 
these uncertainties more than outweigh any differences that may exist 
among the various proposed system replacements. Therefore, the use of 
ranges to show possible impacts from the two alternatives provides an 
analysis commensurate with the level of detail of the decision being 
made, protects procurement-sensitive information, and provides the 
public with sufficient information to submit informed comments.
    The specific industry team proposal information will be maintained 
in the administrative record for Coast Guard agency use only, as 
described in the NOI.
    The public comment period will provide the public with an 
opportunity to review the PEIS and to offer appropriate comments. 
Comments received during the Draft PEIS review period will be published 
in the Final PEIS. A Notice of Availability of the Final PEIS will be 
published in the Federal Register. NEPA provides for a 30-day comment 
period after publication of the Final PEIS, during which the public may 
comment on the adequacy of responses to comments and the Final PEIS. 
After that time, a Record of Decision (ROD) detailing the Coast

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Guards' decision of the selected alternative will be prepared and 
published in the Federal Register and other public notices. The entire 
ROD will be made available for public review at that time.

    Dated: October 16, 2001.
P.M. Stillman,
Rear Admiral, USCG, Deepwater Program Executive Officer.
[FR Doc. 01-26813 Filed 10-25-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-U