[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 165 (Thursday, August 27, 2009)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 43639-43640]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-20295]



[[Page 43639]]

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers

33 CFR Part 334


Disestablishment of Restricted Area for Pascagoula Naval Station, 
Pascagoula, MS

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Navy (USN) requested that the U.S. Army Corps of 
Engineers (Corps) disestablish the restricted area at the former Naval 
Station Pascagoula in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The restricted area was 
established on November 9, 1992. The purpose of the restricted area was 
to reduce safety hazards and security risks and protect persons and 
property from dangers encountered in the area. As a result of the 2005 
Base Realignment and Closure Act, the Naval Station was closed on June 
1, 2007, and the property transferred to the State of Mississippi.

DATES: This rule is effective October 26, 2009 without further notice, 
unless the Corps receives adverse comment by September 28, 2009. If we 
receive such adverse comment, we will publish a timely withdrawal in 
the Federal Register informing the public that this rule will not take 
effect.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number COE-
2009-0036, by any of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
    E-mail: [email protected]. Include the docket number 
COE-2009-0036 in the subject line of the message.
    Mail: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CECW-CO (David B. Olson), 
441 G Street, NW., Washington, DC 20314-1000.
    Hand Delivery/Courier: Due to security requirements, we cannot 
receive comments by hand delivery or courier.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to docket number COE-2009-0036. 
All comments received will be included in the public docket without 
change and may be made available on-line at http://regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided, unless the commenter 
indicates that the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI, or otherwise protected, through regulations.gov or 
e-mail. The regulations.gov Web site is an anonymous access system, 
which means we will not know your identity or contact information 
unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-
mail directly to the Corps without going through regulations.gov, your 
e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of 
the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on 
the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, we recommend that 
you include your name and other contact information in the body of your 
comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If we cannot read your 
comment because of technical difficulties and cannot contact you for 
clarification, we may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic 
comments should avoid the use of any special characters, any form of 
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to www.regulations.gov. All documents in the 
docket are listed. Although listed in the index, some information is 
not publicly available, such as CBI or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as 
copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be 
publicly available only in hard copy form.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David Olson, Headquarters, 
Operations and Regulatory Community of Practice, Washington, DC at 202-
761-4922 or Mr. John B. McFadyen, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile 
District, at 251-690-3222.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: By letter dated June 25, 2009, the Director, 
USN Base Realignment and Closure Program Management Office Southeast 
requested the removal of the restricted area at USN Station Pascagoula. 
The request was made because the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure Act 
closed the installation and subsequently transferred the property to 
the State of Mississippi on June 1, 2007. In response to this request 
by the USN, and pursuant to its authorities in Section 7 of the Rivers 
and Harbors Act of 1917 (40 Stat 266; 33 U.S.C. 1) and Chapter XIX of 
the Army Appropriations Act of 1919 (40 Stat 892; 33 U.S.C. 3), the 
Corps is amending the regulations in 33 CFR part 334 by disestablishing 
the restricted area.
    The Corps is publishing this rule without prior proposal because we 
view this as a non-controversial amendment and anticipate no adverse 
comment. The Corps regulations governing restricted areas state that 
notice of proposed rulemaking and public procedures are not needed 
before publishing a final rule revoking a restricted area regulation 
(see 33 CFR 334.5(b)).
    In the ``Proposed Rules'' section of today's Federal Register, we 
are publishing a separate document that will serve as the proposal to 
disestablish this restricted area if adverse comments are filed. This 
rule will be effective on October 26, 2009 without further notice 
unless we receive adverse comment by September 28, 2009 . If we receive 
adverse comment, we will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal 
Register informing the public that the direct final rule will not take 
effect. We will address all public comments in a subsequent final rule 
based on the proposed rule. We will not institute a second comment 
period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so 
at this time.

Procedural Requirements

    a. Review Under Executive Order 12866. This rule is issued with 
respect to a military function of the Defense Department and the 
provisions of Executive Order 12866 do not apply.
    b. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act. This rule has been 
reviewed under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (Pub. L. 96-354) which 
requires the preparation of a regulatory flexibility analysis for any 
regulation that will have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities (i.e., small businesses and small 
governments). The Corps has determined that the removal of this 
restricted area and the addition of the new restricted area would have 
practically no economic impact on the public, or result in no 
anticipated navigational hazard or interference with existing waterway 
traffic. This will have no significant economic impact on small 
entities.
    c. Review Under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Corps 
expects that the final rule will not have a significant impact to the 
quality of the human environment and, therefore, preparation of an 
environmental impact statement will not be required. An environmental 
assessment has been prepared and it may be reviewed at the District 
office listed at the end of the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, above. 
If we receive adverse comment,

[[Page 43640]]

an environmental assessment will be prepared for the subsequent final 
rule.
    d. Unfunded Mandates Act . The final rule does not impose an 
enforceable duty among the private sector and, therefore, are not a 
Federal private sector mandate and are not subject to the requirements 
of Section 202 or 205 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (Pub. L. 104-
4, 109 Stat. 48, 2 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.). We have also found under 
Section 203 of the Act, that small governments will not be 
significantly or uniquely affected by this rulemaking.

List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 334

    Danger zones, Navigation (water), Restricted areas, Waterways.

0
For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Corps amends 33 CFR part 
334 as follows:

PART 334--DANGER ZONE AND RESTRICTED AREA REGULATIONS

0
1. The authority citation for 33 CFR part 334 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority:  40 Stat. 266 (33 U.S.C. 1) and 40 Stat. 892 (33 
U.S.C. 3).


Sec.  334.786  [Removed]

0
2. Remove Sec.  334.786.

    Dated: August 14, 2009.
Michael G. Ensch,
Chief, Operations, Directorate of Civil Works.
[FR Doc. E9-20295 Filed 8-26-09; 8:45 am]
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