[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 92 (Friday, May 12, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27716-27717]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-7274]



[[Page 27716]]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OW-2004-0003; FRL-8168-9]


National Guidance: Best Management Practices for Preparing 
Vessels Intended To Create Artificial Reefs

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: This notice informs the public of the availability of the 
final National Guidance: Best Management Practices for Preparing 
Vessels Intended to Create Artificial Reefs, which provides information 
on national environmentally-based best management practices for 
preparation of vessels to be sunk with the intention of creating 
artificial reefs. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and 
the Maritime Administration (MARAD) jointly developed this guidance 
recommending environmental best management practices to be used in the 
preparation of vessels for use as artificial reefs as required by 
Section 3516 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 
2004. The first of its kind, this guidance document provides clean-up 
performance goals and information on methods for achieving those goals 
when preparing vessels prior to sinking.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura S. Johnson, Marine Pollution 
Control Branch, Office of Wetlands, Oceans and Watersheds, (4504T), 
U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460; telephone 
number: (202) 566-1273; fax number: (202) 566-1546; e-mail address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

A. Interested Entities

    Entities potentially interested in today's notice are those who 
want to transfer their vessel for reefing, have the capacity to prepare 
a vessel for reefing, wish to undertake a vessel-to-reef project, or 
are responsible for managing an artificial reef. Categories and 
entities interested in today's notice include:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                Category                 Examples of interested entities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal Government.....................  Maritime Administration, U.S.
                                          Army Corps of Engineers, U.S.
                                          Coast Guard, U.S. Navy,
                                          National Oceanic and
                                          Atmospheric Administration.
State/Local/Tribal Government..........  Governments owning or
                                          responsible for artificial
                                          reef preparation, placement,
                                          and management; coastal
                                          communities.
Industry and General Public............  Shipyards, salvage companies,
                                          recreational fishing and scuba
                                          diving interests,
                                          environmental interest groups.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a 
guide for readers regarding entities likely to be interested in this 
notice. This table lists the types of entities that EPA is now aware 
could potentially be interested in this notice. Other types of entities 
not listed in the table could also be interested.

B. How Can I Get Copies of This Document and Other Related Information?

    1. Guidance Document Electronic Access. To obtain a copy of the 
guidance document entitled National Guidance: Best Management Practices 
for Preparing Vessels Intended to Create Artificial Reefs, please 
access our Web site at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/oceans/habitat/artificialreefs.
    2. Federal Register Docket. EPA has established a public docket for 
this notice under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OW-2004-0003; FRL-XXXX-X. The 
public docket consists of the documents specifically referenced in this 
notice and other information related to this notice. The public docket 
does not include information claimed as Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute. Publicly available docket materials are available either 
electronically through www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Water 
Docket in the EPA Docket Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room B102, 1301 
Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public 
Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public 
Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the Water 
Docket is (202) 566-2426. To view these materials, we encourage you to 
call ahead to schedule an appointment. Every user is entitled to copy 
266 pages per day before incurring a charge. The docket may charge 15 
cents a page for each page over the 266-page limit plus an 
administrative fee of $25.00.
    3. Federal Register Electronic Access. You may access this Federal 
Register document electronically through the EPA Internet under the 
``Federal Register'' listings at: http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/.

II. Background

    Section 3516 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
Year 2004 (Act) requires that MARAD and EPA jointly develop guidance 
recommending environmental best management practices (BMPs) to be used 
in the preparation of vessels for use as artificial reefs. These BMPs 
are to serve as national guidance for the clean-up and preparation of 
obsolete and decommissioned military and commercial vessels for use as 
artificial reefs. In addition, the Act requires the Secretary of the 
Navy to ensure that the preparation of a vessel (that is stricken from 
the Naval Vessel Registry) for use as an artificial reef is conducted 
in accordance with these environmental best management practices and 
applicable environmental laws.
    The Act provides that the BMPs are to (A) Ensure that vessels 
prepared for use as artificial reefs ``will be environmentally sound in 
their use as artificial reefs,'' (B) ``promote consistent use of such 
practices nationwide,'' (C) ``provide a basis for estimating the costs 
associated with the preparation of vessels for use as artificial 
reefs,'' and (D) include measures that will ``enhance the utility of 
the Artificial Reefing Program of the Maritime Administration as an 
option for the disposal of obsolete vessels.''
    Options for managing obsolete and decommissioned military and 
commercial vessels include re-use of the vessel or parts of the vessel, 
recycling or scrapping, creating artificial reefs, and disposal on land 
or at sea. The guidance document made available today addresses one of 
these management options, artificial reef creation, with the intent of 
promoting a consistent, national approach.
    An interagency workgroup, chaired by EPA, was established to 
develop national environmentally-based best management practices for 
the preparation of vessels to be sunk with the intention of creating 
artificial reefs. The workgroup included representatives

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from the EPA, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, MARAD, U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the 
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
    On August 2, 2004, EPA published a notice of availability of the 
Draft National Guidance: Best Management Practices for Preparing 
Vessels Intended to Create Artificial Reefs for public comment. See 
section I.B. of today's notice for information about viewing these 
public comments and EPA's response to comments document.

III. Today's Action

    Today's notice announces the availability of the final BMP 
guidance. This final guidance reflects the input of the Federal 
workgroup and public comments received on the Draft National Guidance: 
Best Management Practices for Preparing Vessels Intended to Create 
Artificial Reefs (60 FR 46141). The guidance describes guidelines for 
the preparation of obsolete and decommissioned military and commercial 
vessels in a manner that is intended to help ensure that the marine 
environment will benefit from their use as an artificial reef. The 
guidance identifies materials or categories of materials of concern 
that may be present aboard vessels, indicates where these materials may 
be found, and briefly describes their potential adverse impacts if 
released into the marine environment. The materials of concern include: 
Fuels and oil, asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), paints, 
debris (e.g., vessel debris, floatables, introduced material), and 
other materials of environmental concern (e.g., mercury, refrigerants). 
For each material or category of material of concern identified, the 
guidance provides a general clean-up performance goal and information 
on methods for attaining those clean-up goals when preparing a vessel 
prior to sinking. Achieving the clean-up performance goals provided in 
this guidance, coupled with strategic reef site selection, will help 
maximize the environmental benefits of using vessels as artificial 
reefs.

    Dated: May 5, 2006.
Benjamin H. Grumbles,
Assistant Administrator for Water.
 [FR Doc. E6-7274 Filed 5-11-06; 8:45 am]
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