[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 203 (Tuesday, October 21, 2003)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 60034]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-26554]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

33 CFR Part 162

[CGD17-99-002]
RIN 1625-AA01


Anchorage Ground; Safety Zone; Speed Limit; Tongass Narrows and 
Ketchikan, AK

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Interim rule; reopen comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is re-opening the comment period for its 
interim rule published in April 2000, prior to publishing the final 
rule. The interim rule created a seven-knot speed limit zone that is 
currently in effect. This rule also re-designated the safety zone in 
Ketchikan Harbor as an anchorage to reflect its actual use as an 
anchorage for large passenger vessels. Due to the length in time since 
the comment period for the interim rule closed, the Coast Guard is 
providing an additional opportunity for public comment.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Coast Guard on or 
before December 22, 2003.

ADDRESSES: You may mail comments and related material to the USCG 
Marine Safety Office Juneau, 2760 Sherwood Lane, Suite 2A, Juneau, 
Alaska 99801. USCG Marine Safety Office Juneau maintains the public 
docket for this rulemaking. Comments and material received from the 
public, as well as documents indicated in this preamble as being 
available in the docket, will become part of this docket and will be 
available for inspection or copying at USCG Marine Safety Office Juneau 
between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lieutenant Tyrone Jones, Senior 
Investigating Officer, USCG Marine Safety Office Juneau, Alaska, 
telephone (907) 463-2470.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Request for Comments

    We encourage you to participate in this rulemaking by submitting 
comments and related material. If you do so, please include your name 
and address, identify the docket number for this rulemaking, [CGD17-99-
002], indicate the specific section of this document to which each 
comment applies, and give the reason for each comment. Please submit 
all comments and related material in an unbound format, no larger than 
8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for copying. If you would like to know 
they reached us, please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard or 
envelope. We will consider all comments and material received during 
the comment period. We may change this proposed rule in view of them.

Public Meeting

    We do not now plan to hold a public meeting. But you may submit a 
request for a meeting by writing to USCG Marine Safety Office Juneau at 
the address under ADDRESSES explaining why one would be beneficial. If 
we determine that one would aid this rulemaking, we will hold one at a 
time and place announced by a later notice in the Federal Register.

Regulatory History

    On March 25, 1999, the Coast Guard published a notice of proposed 
rulemaking (NPRM) entitled ``Anchorage Ground; Safety Zone; Speed 
Limit; Tongass Narrows and Ketchikan, AK'' in the Federal Register (64 
FR 14414). On June 2, 1999, the Coast Guard published an interim rule 
in the Federal Register (64 FR 29554). A correction was issued on June 
15, 1999 in the Federal Register (64 FR 32103).
    On April 7, 2000, the Coast Guard published a second interim rule 
entitled ``Anchorage Ground; Safety Zone; Speed Limit; Tongass Narrows 
and Ketchikan, AK'' in the Federal Register (65 FR 18242). The comment 
period for this interim rule ended on October 31, 2000.

Background and Purpose

    The Interim Rule published in 1999 extended the seven-knot speed 
limit on Tongass Narrows northward to Tongass Narrows Buoy 9 in order 
to address the needs of floatplane traffic. Non-commercial open skiffs 
were exempt from the seven-knot speed limit to allow them to transit 
crowded areas of Tongass Narrows more quickly, thereby relieving 
congestion.
    The Interim Rule also re-designated a safety zone in Ketchikan 
Harbor as an anchorage. Vessels transiting the anchorage other than 
those engaged in anchoring evolutions are required to proceed through 
the anchorage by the most direct route without delay or sudden course 
changes. The re-designation of the area reflected its actual use as an 
anchorage for large passenger vessels. The slow or erratic operation of 
small vessels in the former safety zone made it very difficult for 
large vessels to safely maneuver to and from anchor. The requirement 
that transiting vessels proceed through the anchorage directly, without 
delay or sudden course changes, made the final approach, anchoring, and 
departure of large passenger vessels, safer for the vessels involved.
    In April, 2000, a second Interim Rule was published addressing 
concerns from the public. The Coast Guard revised the exemption to the 
seven-knot speed limit to include all small vessels of 23 feet or less, 
registered length. This change allowed an increased number of small 
vessels that create little wake to transit crowded areas of Tongass 
Narrows more quickly, thereby relieving congestion.

Reopening the Comment Period

    The comment period for the interim rule published in April 2000 
ended October 31, 2000. In order to give the public a chance to make 
additional comments, the Coast Guard is reopening the comment period 
for this interim rule, prior to publishing a final rule. All comments 
must reach the public docket at the address found in ADDRESSES on or 
before December 22, 2003.

    Dated: October 9, 2003.
D.W. Ryan,
Captain, Coast Guard, Commander, Seventeenth Coast Guard District 
(Acting).
[FR Doc. 03-26554 Filed 10-20-03; 8:45 am]
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