[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 120 (Thursday, June 23, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 36363]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-12399]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

33 CFR Chapter I

[USCG-2004-19615]


Exclusion Zones for Marine LNG Spills

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Reopening of comment period.

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SUMMARY: In response to a request from the public, the Coast Guard is 
once again reopening the public comment period on a petition from the 
City of Fall River, Massachusetts. Fall River's petition asks the Coast 
Guard to promulgate regulations establishing thermal and vapor 
dispersion exclusion zones for marine spills of liquefied natural gas, 
similar to Department of Transportation regulations for such spills on 
land.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before August 22, 2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket 
number USCG-2004-19615 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: If you have questions on this notice, 
call Commander John Cushing at 202-267-1043 or e-mail 
[email protected]. If you have questions on viewing or submitting 
material to the docket, call Andrea M. Jenkins, Program Manager, Docket 
Operations, telephone 202-366-0271.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Participation and Request for Comments

    We encourage you to submit comments and related material on the 
petition for rulemaking. 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, identify the docket number for this notice (USCG-
2004-19615), and give the reason for each comment. 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. We will consider all comments and material received during 
the comment period.
    Viewing the comments: To view the comments, 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 Purpose

    As we stated in the original notice and request for public comments 
(69 FR 63979, Nov. 3, 2004), the City of Fall River, Massachusetts, has 
petitioned the Coast Guard to promulgate regulations establishing 
thermal and vapor dispersion exclusion zone requirements for liquefied 
natural gas (LNG) spills on water. The City asks that these regulations 
be similar to Department of Transportation regulations for LNG spills 
on land, contained in 49 CFR 193.2057 (Thermal radiation protection) 
and 193.2059 (Flammable vapor-gas dispersion protection).
    In our original notice, we provided a public comment period that 
ended February 1, 2005. Near the end of that comment period, we 
received a letter from the Attorney General of Rhode Island that read 
in part: ``* * * I wish to emphasize that my office is waiting for the 
completion of a Threat Analysis * * *. I am formally requesting that 
the public comment period in this docket remain open for an additional 
sixty (60) days to allow for consideration of [that] report.'' In 
response to that request, on March 10, 2005, the Coast Guard published 
the notice reopening the comment period (70 FR 11912).
    The Coast Guard has since been informed that the report, ``LNG 
Facilities in Urban Areas'' was not released until May 9, 2005--the day 
the docket was scheduled to close. On May 24, 2005, the report was 
filed in the docket: Clark Report, Item 76 in docket USCG-2005-19615.
    The Coast Guard was requested to reopen the comment period again, 
so that the report may be reviewed and comments on it may be submitted 
to the docket. In response to this request, the Coast Guard is 
reopening the comment period.
    The public is invited to review the referenced report and other 
material contained in the docket and to submit relevant comments by 
August 22, 2005. The Coast Guard will consider the City's petition, any 
comments received from the public, and other information to determine 
whether or not to initiate the requested rulemaking.

    Dated: June 13, 2005.
Howard L. Hime,
Acting Director of Standards, Marine Safety, Security & Environmental 
Protection.
[FR Doc. 05-12399 Filed 6-22-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-P