[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 234 (Thursday, December 7, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 85155-85157]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-26793]


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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers

33 CFR Part 334

[COE-2023-0010]


Danger Zone; Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Island of 
Oahu, Hawaii

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

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is proposing to amend the 
regulations for the existing danger zone at the U.S. Marine Corps 
Ulupau Crater Weapons Training Range in the vicinity of Kaneohe Bay, 
Hawaii. The U.S. Marine Corps requested a change to the hours that 
weapons firing may occur. These regulations are necessary to protect 
the public from potentially hazardous conditions which may exist as a 
result from use of the areas by the U.S. Marine Corps.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before January 8, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number COE-
2023-0010, 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-2023-0010, 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-2023-0010. 
All comments received will be included in the public docket without 
change and may be made available on-line 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 with 
your comment. If we

[[Page 85156]]

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 Community of Practice, 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 is proposing to amend the danger zone regulations 
at 33 CFR 334.1380 to change the hours that weapons firing may occur at 
the Ulupau Crater Weapons Training Range, Marine Corps Base Hawaii 
(MCBH), Kaneohe Bay, Island of Oahu, Hawaii.
    The danger zone represents a public safety buffer beyond the 
physical boundaries of the training range to further reduce the safety 
threat to the boating public. The geographical nature of the crater 
combined with the use of man-made measures makes the crater secure from 
unintended projectiles exiting its confines, although a very slight 
possibility exists that a projectile could ricochet or otherwise be 
inadvertently fired beyond the confines of the crater. Under current 
conditions, sensitive wildlife areas, including designated protected 
areas, are encompassed within the existing boundaries of the danger 
zone. Since munitions are not intentionally fired into waters 
surrounding Ulupau Crater and the probability of an unintended 
projectile exiting the crater is negligible, an extension in the time 
that weapons may be fired will not incrementally change, modify or 
otherwise adversely impact sensitive marine species and organisms that 
inhabit or are supported by the waters and protected areas occurring 
within the danger zone. Marine resources, including endangered species, 
migratory shorebirds, and other seabirds that occupy designated 
protected areas will remain adequately protected by the MCBH under 
obligations of pre-existing agreements. For similar reasons, submerged 
lands will not be directly or indirectly adversely affected by the 
expanded danger zone.
    The current regulations state that weapons firing at the Ulupau 
Crater Weapons Training Range may occur at any time between 6 a.m. and 
11 p.m., Monday through Sunday. In the proposed rule, the time period 
for weapons firing is extended three hours so that weapons may be fired 
at any time between 6 a.m. and 2 a.m., Monday through Sunday.

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. Review under the Regulatory Flexibility Act. This proposed 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). The danger zone is necessary to protect public safety 
during use of the weapons firing range. The danger zone regulation 
allows any vessel that needs to transit the danger zone to 
expeditiously transit through the danger zone whenever weapons firing 
is scheduled. The proposed amendment to this regulation would only 
change the hours when the danger zone is activated; it would not change 
the geographic extent of the existing danger zone. When the range is 
not in use, the danger zone will be open to normal maritime traffic and 
to all activities, include anchoring and loitering. When the danger 
zone is activated, small entities can utilize navigable waters outside 
of the danger zone. 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 intended 
change in the use of the area, the Corps expects that this regulation, 
if adopted, will not have a significant impact on 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 
received have been considered.
    d. Unfunded Mandates Act. This proposed rule does not contain a 
Federal mandate that may result in expenditures of $100 million or more 
for state, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or the 
private sector in any one year. Therefore, this proposed rule is not 
subject to the requirements of sections 202 and 205 of the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). The proposed rule contains no regulatory 
requirements that might significantly or uniquely affect small 
governments. Therefore, the proposed rule is not subject to the 
requirements of section 203 of UMRA.
    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, Navigation (water), Restricted areas, Waterways.

    For the reasons stated 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. Amend Sec.  334.1380, by revising the first sentence of paragraph 
(b)(1) to read as follows:

[[Page 85157]]

Sec.  334.1380  Marine Corps Base Hawaii (MCBH), Kaneohe Bay, Island of 
Oahu, Hawaii--Ulupau Crater Weapons Training Range; danger zone.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (1) Weapons firing at the Ulupau Crater Weapons Training Range may 
occur at any time between 6 a.m. and 2 a.m., Monday through Sunday. * * 
*
* * * * *

Thomas P. Smith,
Chief, Operations and Regulatory Division.
[FR Doc. 2023-26793 Filed 12-6-23; 8:45 am]
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