[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 150 (Thursday, August 5, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47453-47454]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-17827]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
[USCG-2001-10486]
Approval of Ballast Water Treatment Systems
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
[[Page 47454]]
ACTION: Notice with request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard seeks consultation with all interested and
affected parties in establishing a program to approve ballast water
treatment systems. The intent of this program is to ensure that ballast
water treatment systems approved for use on-board vessels will meet the
ballast water discharge standard the Coast Guard will be implementing
in the near future to prevent the introduction and spread of
nonindigenous species via ballast water discharges, as authorized by
the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act and the
National Invasive Species Act.
DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management
Facility on or before December 3, 2004.
ADDRESSES: To make sure your comments and related material are not
entered more than once in the docket, please submit them by only one of
the following means:
(1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility (USCG-2001-10486),
U.S. Department of Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street,
SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
(2) By delivery to room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif
Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone
number is (202) 366-9329.
(3) By fax to the Docket Management Facility at (202) 493-2251.
(4) Electronically through the Web site for the Docket Management
System at http://dms.dot.gov.
In choosing among these means, please give due regard to the recent
difficulties and delays associated with the delivery of mail through
the U.S. Postal Service to Federal facilities. Delivery methods 2-4 of
those listed above are the preferred methods because security measures
taken by the U.S. Postal Service and Coast Guard mail reception
facilities may seriously damage or render unreadable comments sent via
regular mail.
The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this
rulemaking. Comments and material received from the public, as well as
documents mentioned in this notice as being available in the docket,
will become part of this docket and will be available for inspection or
copying at room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400
Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday, except Federal holidays. You may also find this docket
at the following Web site address: http://dms.dot.gov.
Electronic forms of all comments received into any of our dockets
can be searched by the name of the individual submitting the comment
(or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association,
business, labor unit, etc) and is open to the public without
restriction. You may review the Department of Transportation's complete
Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on April 11,
2000 (65 FR 19477-78), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information concerning this
notice, call Mr. Bivan Patnaik, Project Manager, Environmental
Standards Division, U.S. Coast Guard, telephone (202) 267-0995 or via
e-mail bpatnaik@comdt.uscg.mil. If you have any questions on viewing or
submitting material to the docket, call Ms. Andrea M. Jenkins, Program
Manager, Docket Operations, Department of Transportation, telephone
(202) 366-0271.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Request for Comments
The Coast Guard encourages interested persons to submit written
data, views, or comments. Persons submitting comments should please
include their name and address and identify the docket number (USCG-
2001-10486). You may submit your comments and material by mail, hand
delivery, fax, or electronic means to the Docket Management Facility at
the address under ADDRESSES; but please submit your comments and
material by only one means. If you submit them by mail or hand
delivery, submit them in an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11
inches, suitable for copying and electronic filing. If you submit them
by mail and would like to know they were received, please enclose a
stamped, self-addressed postcard or envelope.
Background and Purpose
The Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of
1990, as reauthorized and amended by the National Invasive Species Act
of 1996, authorizes the Coast Guard to approve alternative ballast
water management methods in lieu of ballast water exchange to prevent
the introduction and spread of nonindigenous species (NIS) in U.S.
waters via ballast water discharge. The Coast Guard will use
information gathered from this notice to develop a comprehensive
approval program to ensure ballast water treatment systems meet the
ballast water discharge standard regulations, which we intend to
promulgate in the near future. Commenters should note that the approval
program will have to accommodate many different technologies as ballast
water treatment options, as well as different types of vessels, and the
costs associated with establishing this program. Commenters should also
consider that treated ballast water may be sampled for the life of the
treatment system as part of compliance measures to enforce ballast
water discharge standards. In addition, commenters should be aware that
the Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Technology
Verification Program (http://www.epa.gov/etv/), an independent
technology evaluation program could be used in conjunction with our
approval program. If commenters believe that an approval program is not
warranted, comments on alternative programs and their associated costs
would be beneficial.
The development of an approval program presents a complex challenge
for the Coast Guard. We currently approve some equipment as a result of
only land-based testing. The public should comment on if this is an
adequate approach for approving ballast water treatment systems or
should approval of these systems involve shipboard testing. The public
should comment on appropriate water quality conditions, whether or not
testing should include testing from both fresh water and salt water
sources, and other environmental conditions that treatment systems
should be subjected to as part of the approval program. The development
of this program will require close collaboration between government
agencies, the scientific community, water treatment experts, the
shipping industry, and a wide range of stakeholders.
Public Meetings
At this time, the Coast Guard is looking into holding a public
meeting, and the various types of venues for the meeting. You may
submit requests and/or comments for a public meeting to the Docket
Management Facility at the address under ADDRESSES explaining why one
would be beneficial. If we determine that one would aid the development
of this program, we will hold one at a time and place announced by a
later notice in the Federal Register.
Dated: July 29, 2004.
Joseph J. Angelo,
Director of Standards, Marine Safety, Security & Environmental
Protection.
[FR Doc. 04-17827 Filed 8-4-04; 8:45 am]
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