[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 3, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 125-126]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E5-8200]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[USCG-1998-3417]
RIN 1625-AA19 (Formerly RIN 2115-AF60)


Salvage and Marine Firefighting Requirements; Vessel Response 
Plans for Oil

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the availability of a draft 
Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) on its proposal to clarify, 
and set new response time requirements for salvage and marine 
firefighting requirements in the vessel response plans for oil. We 
request your comments on the draft PEA.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before February 17, 2006.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket 
number USCG-1998-3417 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, 
the proposed project, or the associated draft Programmatic 
Environmental Assessment, call Mr. Frank Esposito, Office of 
Environmental Law (G-LEL),

[[Page 126]]

Coast Guard, telephone 202-267-0053, or e-mail 
[email protected]. If you have questions on viewing or 
submitting material to the docket, call Ms. Renee V. Wright, Program 
Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-493-0402.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Participation and Request for Comments

    We encourage you to submit comments and related material on the 
draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment. 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-
1998-3417), 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 and draft Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment: To view the comments and draft Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment, go to http://dms.dot.gov at any time, click on ``Simple 
Search,'' enter the last four digits of the docket number for this 
notice, and click on ``Search.'' 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 as published in 
the Federal Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), or you may visit 
http://dms.dot.gov.

Proposed Action

    The Coast Guard published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for 
``Salvage and Marine Firefighting Requirements; Vessel Response Plans 
for Oil'' in the Federal Register on May 10, 2002 (67 FR 31868). Please 
refer to this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for a summary of the 
regulatory history behind that Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is available in the DOT docket.
    During the comment period on the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, we 
received comments both in the docket and at public meetings challenging 
our reliance upon an environmental analysis done in 1992 to support the 
publication of the original vessel response plan requirements. These 
comments argued that it was old and out of date, and missing pieces 
that would be required of an Environmental Assessment done today. We 
reviewed those comments, as well as the old Environmental assessment/
Finding of No Significant Impact, and determined that while the 
original study remains valid for the non-salvage portion of the vessel 
response plan we should conduct a new Environmental Analysis before 
finalizing the salvage and marine firefighting rulemaking.

Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment

    We have prepared a draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment. See 
``Viewing the comments and draft Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment'' above. The draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment 
identifies and examines the reasonable alternatives and assesses their 
potential environmental impact.
    We are requesting your comments on environmental concerns that you 
may have related to the Programmatic Environmental Assessment. This 
includes suggesting analyses and methodologies for use in the 
Programmatic Environmental Assessment or possible sources of data or 
information not included in the draft Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment. Your comments will be considered in preparing the final 
Programmatic Environmental Assessment.

    Dated: December 27, 2005.
Craig E. Bone,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Acting Assistant Commandant for Marine 
Safety, Security and Environmental Protection.
 [FR Doc. E5-8200 Filed 12-30-05; 8:45 am]
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