[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 232 (Monday, December 5, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 74346-74347]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-26368]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers

33 CFR Part 334

[COE-2022-0007]


Potomac River at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren 
Division, Dahlgren, Virginia; Danger Zone

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

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Corps of Engineers is proposing to amend its regulations 
for an existing danger zone in the waters of the Potomac River near 
Dahlgren, Virginia. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division 
(NSWCDD) operates research, development, testing, and evaluation ranges 
on the Potomac River using the danger zones as defined in the existing 
regulation. The NSWCDD range operations center controls Navy operations 
on the Potomac River Test Range. The purpose of this amendment is to 
expand the middle danger zone for ongoing infrared sensor testing for 
detection of airborne chemical or biological agent simulants, directed 
energy testing, and for operating manned or unmanned watercraft. This 
amendment will extend the legal authority to engage civilian watercraft 
for safe transit instructions in the Potomac River within the expanded 
middle danger zone.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before January 4, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number COE-
2022-0007, by any of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov . Follow 
the instructions for submitting comments.
    Email: [email protected]. Include the docket number, 
COE-2022-0007 in the subject line of the message.
    Mail: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CECW-CO-R (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-2022-0007. 
All comments received will be included in the public docket without 
change and may be made available online at https://www.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 
email. The regulations.gov website 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 email directly 
to the Corps without going through regulations.gov, your email 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 also 
include your contact information with any compact disk 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 Division, Washington, DC at 202-761-4922.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 of Engineers is proposing to amend its regulations 
at 33 CFR part 334 to modify an existing danger zone in the Potomac 
River for the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) 
near Dahlgren, Virginia. In a memorandum dated April 27, 2022, the 
NSWCDD requested that the Corps modify section 334.230(a)(1)(ii) to 
expand the existing middle danger zone to ensure safe Navy operations 
on the Potomac River Test Range and to extend

[[Page 74347]]

the NSWCDD's legal authority to engage civilian watercraft for safe 
transit instructions in the Potomac River within the expanded middle 
danger zone. All vessels may transit the expanded middle danger zone 
area at the conclusion of hazardous operations without the permission 
of the Commander, NSWCDD and such agencies as they may designate.

Procedural Requirements

    a. Regulatory Planning and Review. This proposed rule is not a 
``significant regulatory action'' under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 
51735, October 4, 1993) and Executive Order 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 
21, 2011) and it was not submitted to the Office of Management and 
Budget for review.
    b. Regulatory Flexibility Act, as Amended by the Small Business 
Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. This 
rule has been reviewed under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (Pub. L. 
96-354). The Regulatory Flexibility Act generally requires an agency to 
prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule subject to 
notice-and-comment rulemaking requirements under the Administrative 
Procedure Act or any other statute unless the agency certifies that the 
rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial 
number of small entities (i.e., small businesses and small 
governments).
    This proposed rule has been reviewed under the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act. The Regulatory Flexibility Act generally requires an 
agency to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis for any rule 
subject to notice-and-comment rulemaking requirements under the 
Administrative Procedure Act or any other statute unless the agency 
certifies that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on 
a substantial number of small entities (i.e., small businesses and 
small governments). The expansion of the middle danger zone is 
necessary to protect public safety and satisfy the Navy's requirements 
for weapons training. Small entities can utilize navigable waters 
outside of the danger zone when the danger zone is activated. Small 
entities can use the navigable waters within the danger zone when it is 
inactive. Unless information is obtained to the contrary during the 
comment period, the Corps certifies that the proposed rule would have 
no significant economic impact on the public.
    c. Review under the National Environmental Policy Act. Due to the 
administrative nature of this action and because there is no 
significant intended change in the use of the area, the Corps expects 
that this regulation, if adopted, 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 will be prepared after the public notice period is closed 
and all comments have been received and considered.
    d. Unfunded Mandates Act. This proposed rule does not impose an 
enforceable duty among the private sector and, therefore, it is not a 
Federal private sector mandate and it is not subject to the 
requirements of either Section 202 or Section 205 of the Unfunded 
Mandates Act. We have also found under Section 203 of the Act, that 
small governments will not be significantly and uniquely affected by 
this rulemaking.
    e. Congressional Review Act. The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 
801 et seq., generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the 
agency promulgating the rule must submit a rule report, which includes 
a copy of the rule, to each House of the Congress and to the 
Comptroller General of the United States. The Corps will submit a 
report containing the final rule and other required information to the 
U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller 
General of the United States. A major rule cannot take effect until 60 
days after it is published in the Federal Register. This proposed rule 
is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 334

    Danger zones, Marine safety, Navigation (water), Restricted Areas, 
Waterways.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Corps proposes to 
amend 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).

0
2. Revise Sec.  334.230(a)(1)(ii) to read as follows:


Sec.  334.230   Potomac River.

    (a) * * *
    (1) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (ii) Middle zone. Beginning approximately 140 yards south of the 
Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial/Senator Thomas ``Mac'' Middleton 
Bridge, extending from the Virginia shore at latitude 38[deg]21'30.4'', 
longitude 77[deg]0'53.2'' along a line parallel to the Bridge to 
latitude 38[deg]21'45.6'', longitude 76[deg]59'0'' a point near the 
Maryland shore; thence to latitude 38[deg]20'5'', longitude 
76[deg]59'0''; thence to latitude 38[deg]19'06'', longitude 
76[deg]57'06'' which point is about 3,300 yards east-southeast of Light 
30; thence to Line of Fire Buoy O, about 1,150 yards southwest of Swan 
Point; thence to Line of Fire Buoy M, about 1,700 yards south of 
Potomac View; thence to Line of Fire Buoy K, about 1,400 yards 
southwesterly of the lower end of Cobb Island; thence to Buoy 14, 
abreast of St. Clements Island, thence southwest to a point near the 
northeast shore of Hollis Marsh at latitude 38[deg]10'00'', longitude 
76[deg]45'22.4''; thence northwest to Line of Fire Buoy J, about 3,000 
yards off Popes Creek, Virginia; thence to Line of Fire Buoy L, about 
3,600 yards off Church Point; thence to Line of Fire Buoy N, about 900 
yards off Colonial Beach; thence to Line of Fire Buoy P, about 1,000 
yards off Bluff Point; thence northwest to latitude 38[deg]17'54'', 
longitude 77[deg]01'02'', a point of the Virginia shore on property of 
the Naval Support Facility Dahlgren, a distance of about 4,080 yards; 
thence north along the Potomac shore of Naval Surface Warfare Center, 
Dahlgren to Baber Point; thence west along the Upper Machodoc Creek 
shore of Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren to Howland Point at 
latitude 38[deg]19'0.5'', longitude 77[deg]03'23''; and thence 
northeast to latitude 38[deg]19'18'', longitude 77[deg]02'29'', a point 
on the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren shore about 350 yards 
southeast of the base of the Navy recreational pier. Hazardous 
operations are normally conducted in this zone daily except Saturdays, 
Sundays, and national holidays. The datum for the coordinates for this 
zone is North American Datum of 1983 (NAD-1983).
* * * * *

Thomas P. Smith,
Chief, Operations and Regulatory Division.
[FR Doc. 2022-26368 Filed 12-2-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3720-58-P