[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 128 (Thursday, July 8, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 36145-36147]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-14575]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[Docket No. USCG-2021-0233]


Request for Information on Coast Guard Programs, Regulations, and 
Policies for Addressing Climate Change

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Request for information.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Coast Guard seeks input from the public on specific 
Coast Guard programs, regulations, policies, and procedures that the 
Coast Guard should consider changing to combat and respond to climate 
change. This information will help the Coast Guard effectively achieve 
its missions in a manner that advances the Administration's urgent 
priorities of climate change mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. We 
further seek this input to ensure that we are implementing programs, 
policies, and activities that address (1) the cumulative effects of 
environmental damage, above all from climate change and (2) the 
disproportionately high, adverse climate-related impacts on 
disadvantaged communities, while also promoting a safe, secure, and 
resilient marine transportation system that facilitates commerce and 
secures national security interests.

DATES: Comments must be submitted to the online docket via https://www.regulations.gov on or before October 6, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by docket number USCG-
2021-0233 using the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov. See the ``Public Participation and Request for 
Comments'' portion of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section for further 
instructions on submitting comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information about this document 
call or email Mr. Tim Brown, Coast Guard; telephone 202-372-2358, email 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Public Participation and Comments

    We encourage you to submit comments (or related material) 
responding to this request for information. We will consider all 
submissions and may adjust agency policy based on your input. If you 
submit a comment, please include the docket number for this notice, 
indicate the specific section of this document to which each comment 
applies, and provide a reason for each suggestion or recommendation.
    Methods for submitting comments. We encourage you to submit 
comments through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at https://www.regulations.gov. To do so, go to https://www.regulations.gov, type 
USCG-2021-0233 in the search box and click ``Search.'' Next, look for 
this document in the Search Results column, and click on it. Then click 
on the Comment option. If your material cannot be submitted using 
https://www.regulations.gov, contact the person in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section of this document for alternate 
instructions. Public comments will be in our online docket at https://www.regulations.gov and can be viewed by following that website's 
instructions provided on its Frequently Asked Questions page. We review 
all material received, but we may choose not to post off-topic, 
inappropriate, or duplicate comments that we receive.
    Personal information. We accept anonymous submissions. Comments we 
post to https://www.regulations.gov will include any personal 
information you have provided. For more about privacy and submissions 
in response to this document, see DHS's eRulemaking System of Records 
notice (85 FR 14226, March 11, 2020).

II. Background

    The Coast Guard is issuing this request for information in response 
to Executive Orders 13990 and 14008, which have established the 
protection of public health and the environment, the mitigation of 
climate change, and the advancement of environmental justice as policy 
priorities for this Administration. Executive Order 13990, Protecting 
Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science To Tackle the 
Climate Crisis,\1\ states that the Administration's policy is to listen 
to science; to ensure access to clean air and water; to limit exposure 
to dangerous chemicals and pesticides; to hold polluters accountable, 
including those that disproportionately harm communities of color and 
low-income communities; to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; to bolster 
resilience to the impacts of climate change; to restore and expand our 
national treasures and monuments; and to prioritize both environmental 
justice and the creation of the well-paying union jobs necessary to 
deliver on these goals. The Order directs agencies to seek input from 
the public and stakeholders, including State, local, Tribal, and 
territorial officials, scientists, labor unions, environmental 
advocates, and environmental justice organizations.
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    \1\ 86 FR 7037 (published Jan. 25, 2021).
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    The Order directs agencies immediately to review all regulations, 
orders, guidance documents, policies, or any other similar agency 
actions undertaken between January 20, 2017, and January 20, 2021, that 
are inconsistent with the listed policy priorities. In addition, 
agencies are directed to contemplate and consider whether to take any 
additional agency actions, within their authority, to fully enforce the 
listed policy priorities.
    Executive Order 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and 
Abroad,2 further places the climate crisis at the center of 
U.S. foreign policy and national security by deploying the full 
capacity of its agencies to combat the climate crisis, by implementing 
a Government-wide approach that reduces climate pollution in every 
sector of the economy; by increasing resilience to the impacts of 
climate change; by protecting public health; by conserving our lands, 
waters, and biodiversity; by delivering environmental justice; and by 
spurring

[[Page 36146]]

well-paying jobs and economic growth, especially through innovation, 
commercialization, and deployment of clean energy technologies and 
infrastructure. The Order states that successfully meeting these 
challenges will require the Federal Government to pursue a coordinated 
approach from planning to implementation, coupled with substantive 
engagement by stakeholders, including State, local, and Tribal 
governments.
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    \2\ 86 FR 7619 (published Feb. 1, 2021).
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    This request for information is also consistent with Executive 
Order 13563, Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review,\3\ which calls 
for a regulatory system that is based on the best available science and 
protects public health, welfare, safety, and our environment while 
promoting economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, and job 
creation. The Executive Order directs agencies to consider how best to 
promote retrospective analysis of rules that may be outmoded, 
ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome, and to modify, 
streamline, expand, or repeal them in accordance with what has been 
learned. Executive Order 13563 is affirmed in the President's 
Memorandum of January 20, 2021, Modernizing Regulatory Review. The 
Coast Guard seeks this input recognizing the importance of reevaluating 
programs to reduce unnecessary barriers to effectiveness, adapt to new 
technologies, and ensure mission resiliency when combating and 
responding to climate change.
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    \3\ 76 FR 3821 (published Jan. 21, 2011).
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III. Coast Guard Missions and Authorities

    The Coast Guard seeks input on how best to use the Coast Guard's 
statutory authorities to implement these orders and to reduce the risks 
associated with climate change. Many of the Coast Guard's missions are 
identified in brief at 6 U.S.C. 468. All of these missions contribute 
to the facilitation of safe, secure, and environmentally responsible 
commerce through our stewardship of the marine transportation system. 
These missions include marine safety; search and rescue; aids to 
navigation; living marine resources (fisheries law enforcement); marine 
environmental protection; ice operations; ports, waterways and coastal 
security; drug interdiction; migrant interdiction; defense readiness; 
and other law enforcement.
    These authorities are connected, of course, with the risks 
associated with climate change. The Coast Guard also has important 
responsibilities in acquiring scientific information, including 
information involving the effects of climate change, and in issuing 
regulations. While the Coast Guard holds a wide range of regulatory and 
operational authorities to fulfill these missions, the Coast Guard 
frequently shares responsibility for these missions with other 
agencies.\4\ In some cases the Coast Guard has the authority to revise 
regulations, guidelines, policies, or processes to address particular 
problems in particular ways; in other cases the Coast Guard may be 
unable to act without the assistance of another agency, or may be 
unable to act at all. Commenters are therefore encouraged to focus 
comments on matters within the Coast Guard's authorities, to the extent 
known to the commenter.
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    \4\ A general list of Coast Guard authorities can be found 
online at https://www.uscg.mil/readings/Article/1548177/authorities/
#:~:text=The%20Coast%20Guard%20may%20board,suppression%20of%20violati
ons%20of%20U.S.
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Location of Coast Guard Regulations

    Coast Guard regulations fall within three general categories in the 
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)--navigation and navigable waters, 
shipping, and transportation. Below are the three corresponding titles 
in the CFR (and the parts in those titles) where you will find our 
regulations:
     33 CFR Chapter I (parts 1 through 199),
     46 CFR Chapters I (parts 1 through 199) and III (parts 400 
through 499), and
     49 CFR Chapter IV (parts 400 through 499).
    You can view these regulations on https://www.govinfo.gov/ or 
https://www.ecfr.gov.
    In the CFR, you will find bracketed references to rules published 
in the Federal Register (for example, xx FR xxxx, date). The Federal 
Register publications differ from the CFR in that that, through the 
preamble language, we fully explain our reasoning for establishing the 
regulations in that CFR part or section and our estimates of the costs 
and benefits of those regulations. Rules published since at least 1990 
will be available in the Federal Register library on https://www.govinfo.gov/.
    Our rulemaking documents published in the Federal Register also 
include a number that identifies our online docket. On https://www.regulations.gov, using that docket number, you should be able to 
find supporting and related material we provided for that rule, 
including a cost-benefit analysis. In our dockets, you will also find 
notices of proposed rulemaking and submissions from interested persons 
who commented on our initial proposal for the regulations that appear 
in the final rule. The preamble of the final rule contains our 
responses to those comments.

Location of Coast Guard Guidance Documents

    You can find Coast Guard guidance documents online via https://www.uscg.mil/guidance. Guidance documents include Navigation and Vessel 
Inspection Circulars (NVICs), policy letters, bulletins, handbooks, and 
other items meant to inform the public. On this site, guidance 
documents are categorized by the Coast Guard office that issued and 
maintains the documents.

IV. Request for Information

    The Coast Guard seeks public comments and suggestions on actions we 
can take, within our statutory authority, to combat and respond to 
climate change. As noted above, our mission areas encompass maritime 
operations, safety, security, environmental stewardship, and 
facilitation of the maritime commerce that contributes so crucially to 
a vibrant U.S. economy.
    The actions we might take could include revising current 
regulations, guidelines, policies, or processes that unjustifiably 
impede or fail to support the development and use of technologies and 
best practices to combat or respond to climate change in the marine 
transportation system. We might also orient our efforts to acquire and 
disseminate information about the effects of climate change in 
particular ways (for example, through use of data.gov).
    When considering your comments and suggestions, we ask that you 
keep in mind our missions to ensure a safe, secure, and resilient 
marine transportation system that facilitates commerce and secures 
national security interests. Commenters should consider the below 
principles as they answer and respond to the questions in this notice.
     Commenters should identify, with specificity, the program, 
regulation, or policy at issue, providing the Code of Federal 
Regulation (CFR) citation where appropriate.
     Commentators should identify, with specificity, small or 
large reforms that might be justified in light of the risks posed by 
climate change, whether those reforms involve preparedness, mitigation, 
adaptation, resilience, or other steps to reduce suffering.
     Commenters should provide, in as much detail as possible, 
an explanation why a program, regulation, or policy should be modified, 
streamlined, expanded, or repealed, as well as

[[Page 36147]]

specific suggestions of ways the agency can better achieve its 
statutory and regulatory objectives in light of the executive orders 
cited.
     Commenters should provide specific data that document the 
costs, burdens, and benefits of existing requirements or programs or 
proposed changes to them, to the extent they are available.
    The following questions might help guide your comments and 
suggestions. Given the Coast Guard's current missions and statutory 
authority:
    1. Do you have suggestions for changes to our current programs, 
regulations, or policies that would combat climate change or bolster 
resilience to the impacts of climate change or adapt to its impacts, 
such as sea level rise?
    2. What do you think the primary implications of climate change are 
for our mission areas?
    3. How will climate change affect Coast Guard programs, missions, 
regulations, and policies in the future?
    4. How might the Coast Guard orient or re-orient its efforts to 
acquire information about the effects of climate change, and how might 
it best disseminate that information?
    5. How do you think the Coast Guard can advance the objectives of 
environmental justice?
    6. Are you aware of any new or emerging technologies appropriate 
for use in maritime facilities or other industry assets that we should 
consider when exploring alternatives to address climate change?
    7. Which Coast Guard mission areas do you think are most likely to 
be affected by climate change? How would they be affected?
    8. What do you think are the most crucial challenges we will face 
to address climate change in our programs, missions, regulations, and 
policies?
    9. Do our existing regulations unjustifiably impede or fail to 
support the development and use of technologies or best practices that 
would help us address climate change?
    10. Are our regulations restrictive on the use of alternative fuels 
that produce fewer harmful emissions? If so, how? What, specifically, 
might we do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?
    11. Do our current polices, such as NVICs or other guidance 
documents, impede or fail to support the development and use of 
technologies or best practices to address climate change? If so, how?
    12. Is the process of requesting a determination of equivalency to 
use an alternative approach to regulatory requirements that might 
address climate change burdensome?
    13. What regulatory, policy, or other incentives could the Coast 
Guard provide to encourage development and use of technologies or best 
practices in the marine transportation system to combat and respond to 
climate change?
    14. Are there current Coast Guard regulations, guidance, policies, 
or processes that contribute to climate change? If so, please explain 
which ones and how.
    15. What sources of existing data or studies can Coast Guard use to 
evaluate the economic impact--positive or negative--from reducing the 
environmental footprint of USCG programs, regulations, or policies with 
regards to climate change?
    16. What do you expect would be the positive or negative 
environmental results of the Coast Guard addressing climate change in 
the maritime domain, particularly in sensitive areas such as the Arctic 
and U.S. coastal zones?
    17. Are there Coast Guard programs, regulations, or policies that 
do not bolster resilience to the impacts of climate change, 
particularly for those disproportionately impacted by climate change, 
and, if so, what are they? How can those programs, regulations, or 
policies be modified, expanded, streamlined, or repealed to bolster 
resilience to the impacts of climate change?
    18. Do you have any suggestions for any changes to the Coast 
Guard's Arctic strategy or any Coast Guard Arctic programs, such as ice 
breaking, mapping, and charting missions that might bolster the Coast 
Guard's ability to combat and respond to climate change?
    In addition to these general questions, the Coast Guard seeks any 
other input on the programs and missions described above that allows 
the Coast Guard, within our statutory authorities, to combat or respond 
to the climate crisis and adapt to its impacts on the maritime domain. 
This request for information is used solely for information gathering 
purposes and the responses to this RFI do not bind the Coast Guard to 
any further actions related to the response.

    Dated: June 25, 2021.
J.W. Mauger,
Rear Admiral, US Coast Guard, Assistant Commandant for Prevention 
Policy.
[FR Doc. 2021-14575 Filed 7-7-21; 8:45 am]
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