[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 2, 2006)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 25798-25799]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-6628]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

33 CFR Part 151

[USCG-2006-24580]


Ballast Water Treatment Technology and Analysis Methods

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard seeks public assistance in gathering 
information regarding the status of research and development of ballast 
water management systems and analytical technologies/methods used in 
testing ballast water management systems. The Coast Guard may then 
provide this information to the 55th Session of the International 
Maritime Organization's (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee 
(MEPC 55) to inform the Committee during the review of the status of 
the development of ballast water management systems. Our specific 
interest is in ballast water management systems that have been 
rigorously tested both in land-based test platforms and on board ships. 
We are also interested in technologies/methods for rapid detection, 
enumeration, and determination of organism viabilities in ballast 
water.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before Friday, June 23, 2006.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket 
number USCG-2006-24580 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

[[Page 25799]]

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, 
contact LT Heather St. Pierre, Environmental Standards Division, U.S. 
Coast Guard, via the ballast water information line at 202-267-2716 or 
via e-mail at [email protected]. If you have 
questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Renee 
V. Wright, Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-493-0402.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Request for Comments

    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-
2006-24580) 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, 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, click on ``Simple Search,'' enter the last 
five digits of the docket number for this rulemaking, 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 in the Federal 
Register published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477), or you may visit 
http://dms.dot.gov.

Background and Purpose

    The Coast Guard is interested in receiving information about the 
current status of the development of ballast water management systems. 
Specifically, the Coast Guard requests comments to be submitted based 
on two categories:
     Ballast water management systems that have been carefully 
tested at all scales, including rigorous land-based testing and tests 
on board ships; and
     Technologies/methods for rapid detection, enumeration, and 
determination of organism viabilities in ballast water.
    Ballast Water Management System Submissions: For those submissions 
pertaining to shipboard ballast water management systems, specific 
areas must be addressed for the submission to be considered pertinent 
to the discussion during the Review:
    (1) Types and sizes of ships, ballast capacities, flow rates, and 
the geographic region in which the testing occurred;
    (2) The availability of commercial infrastructure and support, 
including sufficient manufacturing capacity to meet initial 
requirements of the IMO's Ballast Water Convention (At MEPC 53, it was 
estimated that between 300 and 500 vessels may be subject to the 
Convention's discharge requirement in 2009);
    (3) Concise explanation of system requirements, including space, 
power, consumables, maintenance and manning requirements; and
    (4) Concise quantitative description of the technology's ability to 
meet IMO's Ballast Water Performance Standard (Regulation D-2) under 
shipboard circumstances identified in (1) above, including specific 
information about the ships on which the management system meets this 
performance standard, and whether or not the IMO guidelines for 
approval of ballast water management systems were employed.
    Testing Technology/Methodology Submissions: For those submissions 
pertaining to testing ballast water, submissions must address the 
following areas:
    (1) Types of organisms to which the test technology or method 
applies;
    (2) The intended purpose of the technology/method (detection, 
enumeration, viability assessment, etc.);
    (3) Explanation of how this technology/method will facilitate 
testing of ballast water treatment systems; and
    (4) Cost of the technology/method, to include capital costs and 
maintenance/annual costs (including personnel, special training, and 
expendable supplies).
    General Submission Information: Submissions for both treatment and 
testing technologies/methods must be five pages or less (Times New 
Roman font size 12, single spaced with a minimum of one-inch margins) 
and relate to the specific classifications of organisms as expressed in 
the Ballast Water Performance Standard (Regulation D-2) of the IMO's 
International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' 
Ballast Water & Sediments. If deemed applicable and pertinent to the 
discussions of the meeting at IMO, the United States may submit the 
documents on these technologies and methods to MEPC 55 as information 
papers. These information papers are documents submitted to the 
Committee to make note of, and sample papers can be requested via the 
e-mail address and phone number listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT. The Coast Guard appreciates any assistance and information 
offered by the public; however, providing this information to the Coast 
Guard does not guarantee the information will be submitted to IMO.
    Supporting information--including relevant citations for reported 
results, not intended for wider dissemination--may also be provided. 
Such material need not comply with the formatting and page limitations 
described above. Any material considered proprietary or commercially 
sensitive should be plainly marked as such. The Coast Guard will retain 
all information received, and may use the information for development 
and implementation of regulations and policies.

    Dated: April 27, 2006.
Howard L. Hime,
Acting Director of Standards, Assistant Commandant for Prevention, U.S. 
Coast Guard.
[FR Doc. E6-6628 Filed 5-1-06; 8:45 am]
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