[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 121 (Thursday, June 25, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30316-30317]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-14945]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

U.S. Coast Guard

[Docket No. USCG-2000-7833]


Final Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Vessel and 
Facility Response Plans for Oil: 2003 Removal Equipment Requirements 
and Alternative Technology Revisions

AGENCY: U.S. Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the availability of the Final 
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (FPEIS) for the rulemaking 
entitled Vessel and Facility Response Plans for Oil: 2003 Removal 
Equipment Requirements and Alternative Technology Revisions (Docket No. 
USCG-2001-8661). The FPEIS assesses the potential environmental impacts 
from an increase of oil removal capability requirements for tank 
vessels and marine transportation-related (MTR) facilities. We request 
your comments on the FPEIS.

DATES: Comments and related material must either be submitted to our 
online docket via http://www.regulations.gov on or before July 27, 2009 
or reach the Docket Management Facility by that date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard docket 
number USCG-2000-7833 using any of the following methods:
    (1) Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
    (2) Fax: 202-493-2251.
    (3) Mail: Docket Management Facility (M-30), U.S. Department of 
Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    (4) Hand delivery: Same as mail address above, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone 
number is 202-366-9329.
    To avoid duplication, please use only one of these four methods. 
See the ``Public Participation and Request for Comments'' portion of 
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below for instructions on 
submitting comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice, 
call or e-mail Gregory Kirkbride, U.S. Coast Guard, telephone 202-372-
1479, e-mail [email protected]. If you have questions on 
viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Renee V. Wright, 
Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-366-9826.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Participation and Request for Comments

    We encourage you to submit comments and related material on the 
FPEIS. All comments received will be posted, without change, to http://www.regulations.gov and will include any personal information you have 
provided.
    Submitting comments: If you submit a comment, please include the 
docket number (USCG-2000-7833) for this notice and provide a reason for 
each suggestion or recommendation. You may submit your comments and 
material online, or by fax, mail, or hand delivery, but please use only 
one of these means. We recommend that you include your name and a 
mailing address, an e-mail address, or a phone number in the body of 
your document so that we can contact you if we have questions regarding 
your submission.
    To submit your comment online, go to http://www.regulations.gov, 
select the Advance Docket Search option on the right side of the 
screen, insert ``USCG-2000-7833'' in the Docket ID box, press Enter, 
and then click on the balloon shape in the Actions column. If you 
submit your comments by mail or hand 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 the FPEIS: To view the comments and the 
FPEIS, go to http://www.regulations.gov, select the Advanced Docket 
Search option on the right side of the screen, insert ``USCG-2000-
7833'' in the Docket ID box, press Enter, and then click on the item in 
the Docket ID column. If you do not have access to the Internet, you 
may view the docket online by visiting the Docket Management Facility 
in Room W12-140 on the ground floor of the Department of Transportation 
West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590, 
between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal 
holidays. We have an agreement with the Department of Transportation to 
use the Docket Management Facility.
    Privacy Act: Anyone can search the electronic form of comments 
received into any of our dockets using 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 a 
Privacy Act system of records notice regarding our public dockets in 
the January 17, 2008, issue of the Federal Register (73 FR 3316).

Background and Purpose

    We have prepared a Final Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement (FPEIS) for the rulemaking entitled Vessel and Facility 
Response Plans for Oil: 2003 Removal Equipment Requirements and 
Alternative Technology Revisions (1625-AA26). See ``Viewing the 
comments and the FPEIS'' above. The FPEIS examines the reasonable 
alternatives and potential environmental impacts from an increase of 
oil removal capability requirements for tank vessels and marine 
transportation-related (MTR) facilities. The FPEIS recommends 
Alternative 5 as the preferred alternative for increasing oil removal 
capability. Alternative 5 would require spill removal plan holders to 
maintain on-water mechanical recovery capability at current levels, 
establish a dispersant application capability, and establish aerial 
tracking capability. We are requesting your comments on environmental 
concerns that you may have related to the FPEIS.
    The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) (Pub. L. 101-380) and 
Executive

[[Page 30317]]

Order 12777 authorized the Coast Guard to issue regulations requiring 
owners and operators of tank vessels and MTR facilities to prepare and 
submit response plans, for approval, to the Coast Guard. OPA 90 also 
requires that owners and operators conduct their operations in 
accordance with those Coast Guard approved response plans.
    In 1993, the Coast Guard published interim tank vessel and MTR 
facility response plan regulations (58 FR 7424, February 5, 1993 and 58 
FR 7730 February 5, 1993, respectively). The Coast Guard finalized 
those regulations in 1996 (tank vessels, 61 FR 1052, January 12, 1996) 
(MTR facilities 61 FR 7890, February 29, 1996). These regulations 
contain minimum on-water oil removal equipment requirements that 
planholders transporting or transferring petroleum oil are required to 
meet when planning for an oil discharge. See 33 CFR part 155, subpart D 
for tank vessels; and 33 CFR 154, subpart F for MTR facilities. These 
regulations also state that the Coast Guard will periodically review 
oil removal equipment requirements to determine if increases in 
equipment and additional requirements for new response technologies are 
practicable. 33 CFR 154.1045(n) and 155.1050(p).
    On January 27, 1998, the Coast Guard published a notice requesting 
comments (63 FR 3861) regarding our intent to conduct a review of 
response plan oil removal equipment requirements. In the notice, we 
stated that the 1993 removal equipment requirements would remain in 
effect pending the results of that review, and that the removal 
equipment requirement increases, as originally scheduled, would not be 
implemented until the review was complete. On June 24, 1998, the Coast 
Guard published a Notice of Meetings (63 FR 34500) that announced three 
public workshops. The workshops were set up to solicit comments on 
potential changes to removal equipment requirements within the response 
plan regulations (33 CFR parts 153, 154 and 155) for mechanical 
recovery, dispersants, and other spill removal technologies. Based on 
comments in response to the notice of Request for Comments and the 
three workshops, the Coast Guard commissioned an in-depth assessment of 
advances in oil-spill response equipment since 1993 (USCG-1998-3350, 
comments on the notice; and USCG-1998-3350-0048, -0049, and -0050, 
summary reports of the public workshops). The Coast Guard completed the 
assessment in May 1999 (USCG-1998-3350-0074). Based on the 
recommendations contained in the assessment, the Coast Guard published 
a Notice of Decision (65 FR 710, January 6, 2000) that implemented a 25 
percent increase for on-water mechanical recovery equipment for 
response plans of MTR facilities and tank vessels, effective April 6, 
2000.
    In 2002, the Coast Guard published the Vessel and Facility Response 
Plans for Oil: 2003 Removal Requirements and Alternative Technology 
Revisions NPRM to evaluate the potential for additional increases in 
mechanical on-water recovery and new requirements for other response 
technologies (67 FR 63331, October 11, 2002). The NPRM described five 
regulatory alternatives (including a ``no action'' alternative) which 
emphasized mechanical and non-mechanical response assets. In addition 
to addressing different modes of oil-spill response, the alternatives 
included differing capabilities within each response mode. On November 
19, 2002, we published a notice of public meeting and extension of the 
comment period (67 FR 69697) for the NPRM. The meeting was held on 
December 18, 2002, at Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, DC, and 
the comment period closed on April 8, 2003.
    As part of the rulemaking effort, the Coast Guard published a 
Notice of Intent to prepare and circulate a Draft Programmatic 
Environmental Impact Statement (DPEIS) (65 FR 53335, September 1, 
2000). On June 1, 2005, the Coast Guard published the DPEIS (70 FR 
31487) to ensure that a broad range of environmental issues were 
adequately considered in the rulemaking. Both documents requested input 
from the public on environmental concerns related to the alternatives 
for increasing spill removal equipment requirements for an oil 
discharge. The information obtained from the public, in combination 
with Area Committee and Regional Response Team investigations, led to 
our determination that mechanical recovery, in-situ burning, and 
chemical dispersion met the criterion to increase the response plan 
equipment capability requirements, which could potentially reduce the 
amount of spilled oil reaching sensitive marine resources.
    The FPEIS describes the reasonable alternatives that were 
evaluated, the affected environment, and the environmental impacts 
associated with the alternatives on the resources analyzed. As a 
programmatic document, the FPEIS covers general issues in a broad, 
program-oriented analysis. The information contained in the FPEIS is 
required in order to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act.
    This notice is issued under authority of 5 U.S.C. 552(a).

    Dated: June 18, 2009.
J. G. Lantz,
Director of Commercial Regulations and Standards, U.S. Coast Guard.
[FR Doc. E9-14945 Filed 6-24-09; 8:45 am]
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