[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 118 (Monday, June 21, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34385-34386]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-13975]



[[Page 34385]]

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[USCG 2004-17674]


Coast Guard Inspection and Certification of Permanently Moored 
Vessels

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of proposed policy; request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard seeks comments on our proposed policy that, 
beginning January 1, 2006, the Coast Guard will no longer inspect 
gaming vessels that are permanently moored vessels (PMVs). We are 
issuing this notice to inform the public and affected State 
legislatures that we intend to more strictly and consistently enforce 
our long-standing policies regarding the inspection and certification 
of PMVs and, beginning January 1, 2006, will no longer issue a 
Certificate of Inspection to any vessel that is considered 
``substantially a land structure.'' This notice is expected to affect 
gaming, casino, or other vessels that are designed and constructed to 
go into PMV operations to satisfy a state requirement for obtaining a 
gaming license.

DATES: Comments must reach the Coast Guard on or before September 20, 
2004.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket 
number USCG-2004-17674 to the Docket Management Facility at the U.S. 
Department of Transportation. To avoid duplication, please use only one 
of the following methods:
    (1) Web site: http://dms.dot.gov.
    (2) Mail: Docket Management Facility, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    (3) Fax: 202-493-2251.
    (4) Delivery: 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on this proposed policy, 
contact Lieutenant Commander Nussbaumer of the Coast Guard's Office of 
Compliance, telephone 202-267-2978. For questions on viewing, or 
submitting material to, the docket, call Andrea M. Jenkins, Program 
Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-366-0271.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments and Viewing Documents Referenced in This Notice

    We encourage you to comment on this notice. If you wish to do so, 
please send your comment and any related materials to the Docket 
Management Facility at the address under ADDRESSES. All comments 
received will be posted, without change, to http://dms.dot.gov and will 
include any personal information you have provided. We have an 
agreement with the Department of Transportation (DOT) to use the Docket 
Management Facility. Please see DOT's ``Privacy Act'' paragraph below.
    Submitting comments: If you submit a comment, please include your 
name and address, and identify the docket number (USCG-2004-17674). You 
may submit your comments and material by electronic means, mail, fax, 
or delivery 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 that they reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped, 
self-addressed postcard or envelope.
    Viewing comments and documents: To view comments, as well as 
documents mentioned in this notice as being available in the docket, go 
to http://dms.dot.gov at any time and conduct a simple search using the 
docket number. You may also visit the Docket Management Facility in 
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.
    Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of all comments 
received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the 
Department of Transportation's Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), or you may visit 
http://dms.dot.gov.

Background and History of Policy

    The Coast Guard inspects passenger vessels and promulgates 
regulations on the inspections of these vessels under authority from 
Congress, 46 U.S.C. 3301 and 3306. Our regulations, for example 46 CFR 
70.05-1, exclude certain vessels from inspection requirements while 
they are laid up or in other situations when they are not capable of 
navigating.
    The Coast Guard Marine Safety Manual, Volume II, Section B, Chapter 
4.I (available at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/nmc/pubs/msm/vol2.htm) 
defines ``permanently moored vessels'' (PMVs) as vessels that are 
removed from navigation and are not inspected by the Coast Guard. 
Examples of PMVs include showboats, theaters, hotels, gaming sites, 
restaurants, museums, and business offices on a barge.
    Initially, gaming vessels were designed and operated as traditional 
vessels that got underway on a regular basis. More recently, however, 
many gaming vessels have changed their operation and now remain 
permanently moored. Some are sited within a fixed and secured 
impoundment, and are structurally connected to shoreside hotel 
accommodations, land-based water and electrical sources, and sewage 
pipes. Some vessels that currently possess a valid Certificate of 
Inspection issued by the U.S. Coast Guard either cannot get underway or 
can do so only with great difficulty.
    Under state law, some gaming vessels must have a Coast Guard COI to 
obtain and maintain a gaming license. For example, the State of 
Louisiana permits gaming activities on riverboats and defines 
``riverboat'' as a vessel that carries a valid Coast Guard COI, 27 
Louisiana Rev. Stat. Sec. Sec.  44 & 70.
    For many years, we have responded to requests of gaming vessels for 
Certificates of Inspection (COI) and have issued a COI if the vessel 
meets requirements in 46 CFR chapter I--either in subchapter H for 
passenger vessels or subchapter K for small passenger vessels carrying 
more than 150 passengers or with overnight accommodations for more than 
49 passengers--or the equivalent alternative vessel standards in 
Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular (NVIC) 8-93.

Current Circumstances

    The Coast Guard has recently received a design proposal for a new 
generation of gaming waterborne structures intended to be built as 
PMVs. This new design far exceeds the parameters envisioned by vessel 
regulatory standards. The design places a vessel inside a permanent 
impoundment or cofferdam. And in this new-generation design proposal, 
the structural fire protection standards related to means of escape, 
safe refuge and dimensions of spaces onboard more closely align with 
shoreside structures than with requirements in 46 CFR chapter I, 
subchapters K and H, or the equivalent

[[Page 34386]]

alternative vessel standards in Navigation and Vessel Inspection 
Circular (NVIC) 8-93.
    While PMVs are not required to have COIs, in the past the Coast 
Guard has voluntarily inspected vessel designs that were in fact PMVs. 
As previously noted, the evolving nature of gaming vessels has resulted 
in PMVs that are more like a building than a vessel, and are physically 
restricted from navigating on waterways. In the face of this 
development, we must reiterate our policies with regard to PMVs and 
clarify our future intent toward these structures.
    Maintaining a valid COI requires expenditure of both Coast Guard 
resources for inspections and vessel owner resources for complying with 
Coast Guard regulations. Whether they get underway or not, vessels with 
a U.S. Coast Guard COI must remain in full compliance with Coast Guard 
regulations.

Proposed Policy

    Under our proposed policy, starting January 1, 2006, the Coast 
Guard will no longer issue COIs to PMVs and we will no longer inspect 
PMVs that currently have a COI.
    The Coast Guard will notify all PMVs that currently have a COI and 
cognizant State and local authorities that this proposed policy would 
affect them. We have proposed the January 1, 2006 date for terminating 
inspections of these PMVs to allow for the transition of safety 
oversight from the Coast Guard to local authorities. By continuing our 
voluntary inspections through December 31, 2005, we provide PMV owners, 
with current COIs, time to arrange for inspections by state or local 
authorities to ensure their PMV is in compliance with state and local 
regulations that may be applicable in the absence of inspections by the 
Coast Guard.

    Dated: June 10, 2004.
T.H. Gilmour,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety, 
Security and Environmental Protection.
[FR Doc. 04-13975 Filed 6-18-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P