[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 13, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11368-11369]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-6048]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

[USCG-2000-7514]


National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP)

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency, the 
Research and Special Programs Administration, and the Mineral 
Management Service, in concert with the States, the oil industry and 
concerned citizens, developed the Preparedness for Response Exercise 
Program (PREP). This notice announces the availability of the revised 
PREP Guidelines for comment and announces the participating agencies' 
intent to hold a public meeting in 2002.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before May 13, 2002.

ADDRESSES: To make sure that 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-2000-7514), 
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 find this docket, including the 
PEA, on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on this notice and 
general information regarding the National Preparedness for Response 
Exercise Program (PREP) and the schedule, contact Mr. Robert Pond, 
Office of Response, Plans and Preparedness Division (G-MOR-2), U.S. 
Coast Guard Headquarters, 2100 Second St. SW., Washington, DC 20593-
0001, telephone: 202-267-6603, facsimile: 202-267-4065, or email: 
[email protected].
    The PREP Area exercise schedule and exercise design manuals are 
available on the Internet at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/gmhome.htm (see 
index, then oil response). To obtain a hard copy of the exercise design 
manual, contact Ms. Melanie Barber at the Research and Special Programs 
Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety, at 202-366-4560. The 1994 
PREP Guidelines can be found on the following Web site: http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/nmc/response/#PREP. Hard copies of the PREP 
Guidelines are available at no cost by writing or faxing the TASC DEPT 
Warehouse, 33141Q 75th Avenue, Landover, MD 20785, fax: 301-386-5394. 
The stock number of the manual is USCG-X0191. Please indicate the 
quantity when ordering. Quantities are limited to 10 per order.
    If you have questions on viewing or submitting material to the 
docket, call Ms. Dorothy Beard, Chief, Dockets, Department of 
Transportation, telephone: 202-366-5149.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:   

Request for Comments

    We encourage you to submit comments and related material. If you do 
so, please include your name and address, identify the docket number 
for this notice (USCG-2000-7514) and give the reasons for each comment. 
You may submit your comments and material by mail, hand 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 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 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.

Background and Purpose

    In 1994, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA), the Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), 
and the Minerals Management Service (MMS) coordinated the development 
of the National Preparedness for Response Exercise Program (PREP) 
Guidelines. Through a series of public workshops involving 
representatives from many State governments, the regulated community, 
environmental interest groups, and the general public, the PREP 
Guidelines were crafted to reflect the consensus agreement of the 
entire oil spill response community regarding an appropriate exercise 
program, including exercise types, frequency, scope, and objectives. 
For their part, USCG, EPA, RSPA, and MMS agreed that while the PREP 
Guidelines are not regulatory, each agency would accept that an 
industry entity following the PREP Guidelines would be in compliance 
with the pollution response exercise requirements in 33 U.S.C. 1321(j). 
(For Coast Guard rules, see 33 CFR 154.1055(f) and 33 CFR 155.1060(h); 
for EPA rules, see 40 CFR 112.21; for RSPA rules, see 49 CFR 194; or 
for MMS rules, see 30 CFR 254).
    Since 1994, USCG, EPA, RSPA, and MMS have hosted public workshops 
in 1995, 1997, and 2000, to review the PREP Guidelines and consider 
need for changes. The first two workshops endorsed preserving the 1994 
PREP Guidelines without amendment. The 2000 workshop recommended 
consideration of amending the PREP Guidelines to clarify or amend 
certain exercise parameters and standards.

[[Page 11369]]

    The National Schedule Coordination Committee (NSCC) requested 
comments to proposed changes to the 1994 PREP Guidelines that were 
posted on the Docket Management System Web site on July 3, 2001. Based 
on review of comments to those proposed changes, the NSCC has posted 
the proposed final draft changes to the PREP Guidelines to the docket 
and at the following Web sites: http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/nmc/response/#PREP and http://www.uscg.mil/hq/nsfcc/nsfweb.
    This proposed final draft is also available electronically or in 
hard copy from Mr. Robert Pond at the address indicated above. Based on 
the comments received in response to the July 3, 2001, draft, a public 
meeting to discuss proposed changes is not anticipated prior to 
publication of final revised PREP Guidelines in August 2002. The next 
public meeting to discuss PREP is scheduled on November 8, 2002, in 
Galveston, TX, in conjunction with Clean Gulf 2002.

    Dated: February 28, 2002.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety and Environmental Protection.
[FR Doc. 02-6048 Filed 3-12-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P