[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 174 (Tuesday, September 8, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55468-55469]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-19730]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

United States Coast Guard

[Docket No. USCG-2020-0188]


Recertification of Cook Inlet Regional Citizens' Advisory Council

AGENCY: Coast Guard, Homeland Security (DHS).

ACTION: Notice of recertification.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the recertification of the Cook 
Inlet Regional Citizens' Advisory Council (CIRCAC) as an alternative 
voluntary advisory group for Cook Inlet, Alaska. This certification 
allows the CIRCAC to monitor the activities of terminal facilities and 
crude oil tankers under the Cook Inlet Program established by the Oil 
Terminal and Oil Tanker Environmental Oversight and Monitoring Act of 
1990.

DATES: This recertification is effective for the period from September 
1, 2020, through August 31, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about this document, 
call or email LT Lauren Bloch, Seventeenth Coast Guard District (dpi), 
by phone at (907) 463-2812 or email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background and Purpose

    The Coast Guard published guidelines on December 31, 1992 (57 FR 
62600), to assist groups seeking recertification under the Oil Terminal 
and Oil Tanker Environmental Oversight and Monitoring Act of 1990 (33 
U.S.C. 2732) (the Act). The Coast Guard issued a policy statement on 
July 7, 1993 (58 FR 36504), to clarify the factors that the Coast Guard 
would be considering in making its determination as to whether advisory 
groups should be certified in accordance with the Act, and the 
procedures which the Coast Guard would follow in meeting its 
certification responsibilities under the Act. Most recently, on 
September 16, 2002 (67 FR 58440), the Coast Guard changed its policy on 
recertification procedures for regional citizen's advisory council by 
requiring applicants to provide comprehensive information every three 
years. For the two years in between, applicants only submit information 
describing substantive changes to the information provided at the last 
triennial recertification. This is the year in the triennial cycle in 
which CIRCAC provided comprehensive information on its application for 
recertification. The Coast Guard solicited public comments on CIRCAC 
recertification through a Notice; Request for comments published on 
June 11, 2020, titled ``Application for Recertification of Cook Inlet 
Regional Citizens' Advisory Council'' (85 FR 35658).

Discussion of Comments

    On June 11, 2020, the Coast Guard published a Notice; Request for 
comments titled ``Application for Recertification of Cook Inlet 
Regional Citizens' Advisory Council'' in the Federal Register (85 FR 
35658). We received 39 comments, all in support of the CIRCAC 
recertification. No public meeting was requested. The comments 
consistently cited CIRCAC's broad representation of the respective 
communities' interest, appropriate actions to keep the public informed, 
improvements to both spill response preparation and spill prevention, 
and oil spill industry monitoring efforts that

[[Page 55469]]

combat complacency--as intended by the Act.

Recertification

    By letter dated August 28, 2020, the Commander, Seventeenth Coast 
Guard District, certified that the CIRCAC qualifies as an alternative 
voluntary advisory group under 33 U.S.C. 2732(o). The triennial review 
is valid until August 31, 2023. The annual recertification will 
terminate on August 31, 2021.

    Dated: August 28, 2020.
Matthew T. Bell, Jr.,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Commander, Seventeenth Coast Guard 
District.
[FR Doc. 2020-19730 Filed 9-4-20; 8:45 am]
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