[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 83 (Friday, April 29, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24022-24023]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-10347]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA--New England Region I-EPA-R01-OW-2011-0364; FRL-9299-6]


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 
Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and Provincetown, 
collectively termed the Outer Cape Cod for the purpose of this notice.

DATES: Comments must be submitted by May 31, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R01-
OW-2011-0364, 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-
2011-0364. 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 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 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 
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 the Outer Cape Cod area.
    The Outer Cape Cod No Discharge Area will encompass the tidal 
waters for Chatham, Orleans, Eastham, Wellfleet, Truro, and 
Provincetown, and from mean high water out to the State/Federal 
boundary. Within Nauset Harbor, the NDA covers all tidal waters and all 
embayments including: Nauset Bay, Salt Pond, Salt Pond Bay, Woods Cove, 
Rachel Cove, and Mill Pond.
    The proposed No Discharge Area for the Outer Cape Cod:

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    Waterbody/general area        From longitude       From latitude         To longitude         To latitude
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The westernmost landward       69[deg]59'0'' W      41[deg]39'26'' N     69[deg]59'0'' W      41[deg]37'20'' N
 boundary of the NDA starting
 on the south side of Chatham
 is an imaginary line drawn
 between the western part of
 the outlet of Stage Harbor
 and the northern tip of
 Monomoy Island (All state
 waters east of Monomoy
 Island are included in this
 NDA).
The southwestern boundary      70[deg]0'36'' W      41[deg]32'30'' N     70[deg]0'11'' W      41[deg]29'15'' N
 then continues from the
 southern tip of Monomoy
 Island through two
 navigational aids to the
 state/federal waters
 boundary.
The landward boundary of the   69[deg]56'36'' W     41[deg]39'40'' N     69[deg]56'6'' W      41[deg]40'56'' N
 NDA follows the mean high
 water line from Chatham to
 Provincetown except at an
 imaginary line drawn
 between: (This imaginary
 line is across the mouth of
 Pleasant Bay, which is
 already an NDA).

[[Page 24023]]

 
The westernmost boundary on    70[deg]10'0'' W      42[deg]7'59'' N      70[deg]10'0'' W      42[deg]4'47'' N
 the northern side of Cape
 Cod is an imaginary line
 drawn from three miles off
 shore to the mean high water
 line in Provincetown (This
 imaginary line is contiguous
 with the Cape Cod Bay NDA).
The eastern edge of the
 boundary is contiguous with
 the state/federal line also
 known as the Submerged Lands
 Act boundary line and
 Territorial Sea boundary.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The boundaries were chosen based on easy line-of-sight locations 
and generally represent all navigational waters.
    There is only one harbor within the proposed Outer Cape Cod NDA, 
which is Nauset Harbor. Small skiffs owned by the residents of the area 
are the primary users of Nauset Harbor. Other vessels that would use 
the harbor would most likely come from Provincetown Harbor, Pleasant 
Bay, or Chatham Harbor, all of which are currently NDAs and have 
pumpout facilities for these boaters. Massachusetts has certified that 
there is one landside pumpout facility at Goose Hummock Marine in 
Orleans within the proposed area available to the boating public. The 
location, contact information, hours of operation, and water depth are 
provided at the end of this petition.
    Massachusetts has provided documentation indicating that the total 
vessel population is estimated to be 519 in the proposed area. It is 
estimated that 91 of the total vessel population may have a Marine 
Sanitation Device (MSD) of some type.
    The majority of coastline of the proposed area is the Cape Cod 
National Seashore, a 43,500 acre park established by Congress in 1961 
to, ``preserve the nationally significant and special cultural and 
natural features, distinctive patterns of human activity, and ambience 
that characterize the Outer Cape, along with the associated scenic, 
cultural, historic, scientific, and recreational values'', and to, 
``provide opportunities for current and future generations to 
experience, enjoy, and understand these features and values.''
    The various beaches, marshes, and harbors and their recreational 
opportunities attract thousands of visitors to Cape Cod every year. On 
the eastern shore of Cape Cod, from Chatham to Provincetown there are 
24 bathing beaches covering over thirty miles of coastline.
    The area contains known habitat for soft shelled clam, surf clam, 
sea scallop, quahog, ocean quahog, and blue mussel; all important 
recreational and commercial species.

                               Pumpout Facility Within Proposed No Discharge Area
                                                [Outer Cape Cod]
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                                                                                                Mean low water
              Name                     Location          Contact info.           Hours               depth
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Goose Hummock Marine, Nauset      13 Old County Rd,   508-255-2620 VHF    On call...........  3 ft.
 Harbor.                           Orleans, MA.        16.
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    Dated: April 20, 2011.
Ira W. Leighton,
Acting Regional Administrator, New England Region.
[FR Doc. 2011-10347 Filed 4-28-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P