[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 88 (Friday, May 7, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 25247-25249]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-10841]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-New England Region I--EPA-R01-OW-2010-0316; FRL-9147-1]


Massachusetts Marine Sanitation Device Standard--Receipt of 
Petition

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice--Receipt of Petition.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that a petition has been received from 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts requesting a determination by the 
Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that 
adequate facilities for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment of 
sewage from all vessels are reasonably available for the waters of 
Pleasant Bay/Chatham Harbor, MA.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by June 7, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R01-
OW-2010-0316, by one of the following methods: http://www.regulations.gov, Follow the on-line instructions for submitting 
comments.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: (617) 918-0538.
    Mail and hand delivery: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency--New 
England Region, Five Post Office Square, Suite 100, OEP06-1, Boston, MA 
02109-3912. Deliveries are only accepted during the Regional Office's 
normal hours of operation (8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
excluding legal holidays), and special arrangements should be made for 
deliveries of boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R01-OW-
2010-0316. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless 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 http://www.regulations.gov, or e-mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site 
is an ``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without 
going through http://www.regulations.gov your e-mail

[[Page 25248]]

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, EPA recommends 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 EPA cannot read your 
comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for 
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic 
files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of 
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copy-righted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency--New England Region, Five Post Office Square, Suite 
100, OEP06-01, Boston, MA 02109-3912. Such deliveries are only accepted 
during the Regional Office's normal hours of operation, and special 
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information. The 
Regional Office is open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
excluding legal holidays. The telephone number is (617) 918-1538.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ann Rodney, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency--New England Region, Five Post Office Square, Suite 
100, OEP06-01, Boston, MA 02109-3912. Telephone: (617) 918-1538, Fax 
number: (617) 918-0538; e-mail address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Notice is hereby given that a petition has 
been received from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts requesting a 
determination by the Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, pursuant to Section 312(f)(3) of Public Law 92-500 
as amended by Public Law 95-217 and Public Law 100-4, that adequate 
facilities for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment of sewage 
from all vessels are reasonably available for Pleasant Bay/Chatham 
Harbor, MA.
    The proposed boundary of the Pleasant Bay/Chatham Harbor NDA 
includes all of the 17 sub-embayments within the area with the 
following water boundaries:

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       Waterbody/general area                From latitude                From longitude                To latitude                  To longitude
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Bounded on the west by mainland      41[deg]42[min]19.43[sec] N    69[deg]55[min]44.76[sec] W   41[deg]42[min]13.31[sec] N   69[deg]55[min]45.11[sec] W
 Chatham, Harwich, Brewster and
 Orleans; bounded on the east by
 Nauset Beach (North Beach) and
 North Beach Island. A line drawn
 cross the mouth of the North inlet
 across from Minister's Point:
From West of a line across the       41[deg]40[min]41.51[sec] N    69[deg]56[min]3.47[sec] W    41[deg]39[min]56.52[sec] N   69[deg]56[min]30.48[sec] W
 mouth of the South Inlet:
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    The boundaries were chosen based on easy line-of-sight locations 
and generally represent all navigational waters. The area includes the 
municipal waters of Chatham, Harwich, Brewster and Orleans.
    Boating is one of the most popular recreational uses of Pleasant 
Bay/Chatham Harbor. There are three private marinas, four boating clubs 
and approximately 30 public landings/access points in the proposed 
area. Massachusetts has certified that there are three pumpout 
facilities within the proposed area available to the boating public. A 
list of the facilities, locations, contact information, hours of 
operation, and water depth is provided at the end of this petition.
    Massachusetts has provided documentation indicating that the total 
vessel population is estimated to be 2,160 in the proposed area. It is 
estimated that 124 of the total vessel population may have a Marine 
Sanitation Device (MSD) of some type. Over 90 percent of the boats in 
the proposed area are 25 feet and under.
    The proposed area is roughly 9,000 acres and is a state designated 
Area of Critical Environment Concern (ACEC). The islands of Pochet, 
Sampson, Hog, and Little Sipson are held in trust and subject to 
conservation restrictions and Strong Island is owned by the town of 
Chatham and the Chatham Conservation Foundation. Tern Island is owned 
by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The Nauset Barrier Beach is 
within the boundaries of the Cape Cod National Seashore. There are 36 
finfish species and an abundance of quahogs, softshell clams, razor 
clams and scallops. This area is a popular destination for boaters due 
to its natural environmental diversity and would benefit from a No 
Discharge Area.

                              Pumpout Facilities Within Proposed No Discharge Area
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                                           PLEASANT BAY/CHATHAM HARBOR
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              Name                    Location        Contact info.          Hours         Mean low water depth
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Harbormaster...................  Round Cove         508-430-7532 VHF   On demand........  N/A
                                  Harwich.           60.
Harbormaster...................  Ryder's Cove       508-945-1067 or    M-F 8 am-5 pm,     3 ft
                                  Chatham.           508-945-5185 VHF   Sat. 9 am-1 pm.
                                                     66.
Nauset Marine East.............  37 Barley Neck     508-255-3045 VHF   On demand........  3 ft
                                  Road, East         9.
                                  Orleans.
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[[Page 25249]]

    Dated: April 27, 2010.
H. Curtis Spalding,
Regional Administrator, New England Region.
[FR Doc. 2010-10841 Filed 5-6-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P