[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 121 (Friday, June 24, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36649-36650]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-12541]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[USCG-2005-21610]


Nontank Vessel Oil Response Plans

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice and Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: This notice informs the public of issues related to recent 
legislation requiring owners and operators of nontank vessels to 
prepare plans for responding to discharges of oil from their vessels. 
These issues include questions on the size of the population of vessels 
affected and enforcement of the legislation by the Coast Guard. The 
notice also discusses Coast Guard's efforts to engage the regulated 
community at the earliest stages and to encourage early public 
participation in the process of responding to this new legislation.

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

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket 
number USCG-2005-21610 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, 
please contact Lieutenant Eric A. Bauer, Project Manager, Office of 
Response (G-MOR-2), U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, telephone 202-267-
6714. If you have questions on viewing or submitting material to the 
docket, call Ms. Andrea M. Jenkins, Program Manager, Docket Operations, 
telephone 202-366-0271.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background and Purpose

    The Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2004 (Pub. L. 
108-293) (2004 Act), in section 701, requires owners and operators of 
nontank vessels to prepare and submit to the Coast Guard plans for 
responding to a worst case discharge, and to a substantial threat of 
such a discharge, of oil from their vessels. The 2004 Act also mandates 
that the Coast Guard issue regulations requiring the submission of the 
plans. This legislation raises the following questions.
    1. What is the size of the affected vessel population? One issue 
raised by the 2004 Act significantly affects the size of the population 
of vessels subject to the Act. The Act defines a ``nontank vessel'' as 
a self-propelled vessel of 400 gross tons as measured under 46 U.S.C. 
14302 (the Convention measurement system) or greater, other than a tank 
vessel, that carries oil of any kind as fuel for main propulsion and 
that is a vessel of the United States or that operates on the navigable 
waters of the United States. Accordingly, the Act applies to vessels 
that are 400 gross tons as measured under 46 U.S.C. 14302 and to 
vessels that would be 400 gross tons if measured under 46 U.S.C. 14302. 
The Act does not specify how it applies to vessels which do not have a 
current measurement under the Convention measurement system (i.e., 
those vessels measured only under the regulatory measurement system 
under 46 U.S.C. 14502). It is unclear whether any relationship was 
intended between a vessel's tonnage and the quantity of oil it is 
capable of carrying. These are issues that must be addressed during the 
rulemaking process and on which we particularly welcome your advice.
    2. When will the 2004 Act be enforced by the Coast Guard? The 2004 
Act requires that the response plans be prepared and submitted by 
August 9, 2005 (i.e., one year after the enactment of the 2004 Act). In 
addition, the Act requires the President (Coast Guard) to issue 
regulations requiring the submission of plans. Because of the length of 
time needed to provide the necessary opportunity for, and consideration 
of, public comments, final regulations may not be in effect on that 
date. This raises the question of whether the Coast Guard intends to 
enforce the Act--specifically the nontank vessel response plan 
submission requirement--if it does not have regulations in place on 
August 9, 2005. The Coast Guard will not enforce the Act until 
regulations are issued and in effect.
    3. What is the Coast Guard doing in the interim? On February 4, 
2005, we published Navigation and Vessel Information Circular 01-05 
(NVIC 01-05) entitled ``Interim Guidance for the Development and Review 
of Response Plans for Nontank Vessels.'' The NVIC is available at 
http://www.uscg.mil/hg/g-m/nvic or in the docket for this notice (See 
``Viewing comments and documents'' below.). It provides guidance to 
owners and operators of nontank vessels for preparing and submitting 
plans to the Coast Guard and is not itself enforceable by the Coast 
Guard.
    NVIC 01-05 describes a voluntary process for submitting response 
plans and for obtaining interim authorization letters from the Coast 
Guard. As the issue of vessel population is yet to be resolved, the 
NVIC explains that the Act does not exempt vessels that have not been 
measured under the Convention measurement system. These vessels are 
referred to in the NVIC as those that have not been issued an 
International Tonnage Certificate (ITC). However, an ITC is not always 
issued when a vessel is measured under the Convention measurement 
system; a U.S. Tonnage Certificate may be used instead to reflect 
tonnage measurement under the Convention measurement system. The Coast 
Guard considers owners of vessels not measured under the Convention 
measurement system subject to the Act if there is no question that the 
vessel would be 400 gross tons if measured under 46 U.S.C. 14302. To be 
prudent, we would advise owners of vessels not measured under the 
Convention measurement system that a vessel's tonnage measured under 
the regulatory measurement system is generally less than that vessel's 
tonnage measured under the Convention system. Therefore, it is likely 
that vessels of or near 400 gross register tons when measured under the 
regulatory measurement system will be subject to the response plan 
requirements of the Act. Disparities between the two measurement 
systems and the applicability of the Act to vessels measured under the 
regulatory measurement system would need to be addressed during the 
rulemaking process. Although we will not know precisely which vessels 
must comply with the response plan requirements until rulemaking is 
complete, vessels not measured under the Convention measurement system, 
whether they are 400 gross register tons under the regulatory 
measurement system or not, may ultimately be covered under the

[[Page 36650]]

regulations. Therefore, vessel owners and operators who want to secure 
interim authorization letters because they believe their vessels may be 
covered by the response plan regulations are highly encouraged to use 
the voluntary interim authorization process under NVIC 01-05.

Request for Comments

    This notice, as well as the NVIC, is part of the Coast Guard's 
effort to engage the public at the outset of our efforts to carry out 
the response plan provisions of the 2004 Act. Therefore, we encourage 
you to submit comments on this notice and on the subject in general 
that it 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, identify the docket number for this notice (USCG-
2005-21610) and give the reason for each comment. You may submit your 
comments by electronic means, mail, fax, or delivery to the Docket 
Management Facility at the address under ADDRESSES; but please submit 
your comments 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 received during the comment period.
    Viewing comments and documents: To view 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.

    Dated: June 20, 2005.
T.H. Gilmour,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety, 
Security and Environmental Protection.
[FR Doc. 05-12541 Filed 6-23-05; 8:45 am]
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