[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 4, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 20330-20331]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-8115]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers
33 CFR Part 334
Disestablishment of Restricted Area; Rhode Island Sound off
Newport, RI
AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The U.S. Navy requested that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
(Corps) disestablish the naval restricted area located in the waters of
Rhode Island Sound, 4 nautical miles due south of Lands End in Newport,
Rhode Island. The restricted area was established on August 31, 1987.
The purpose of the restricted area was to establish a practice
minefield and conduct mine detection and mine sweeping exercises. As a
result of the discontinued use of this area by Naval Station Newport,
the Navy has requested the restricted area be disestablished.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before May 4, 2012.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number COE-
2012-0001, by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
Email: [email protected]. Include the docket number COE-
2012-0001 in the subject line of the message.
Mail: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CECW-CO (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-2012-0001.
All comments received will be included in the public docket without
change and may be made available on-line at http://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 Web site 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
[[Page 20331]]
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 with any
disk or CD-ROM 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 Community of Practice, Washington, DC at 202-
761-4922 or Ms. Angela C. Repella, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New
England District, at 978-318-8639.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Executive Summary
The purpose of this regulatory action is to disestablish a
restricted area that is no longer needed by Naval Station Newport,
because use of the practice minefield and conducting mine detection and
mine sweeping exercises in that area has been discontinued.
The Corps authority to disestablish this restricted area is 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).
Background
By letter received on May 5, 2011, the Commander of Naval Station
Newport has requested the removal of the restricted area in Rhode
Island Sound, 4 nautical miles due south of Lands End in Newport, Rhode
Island. The request was made due to the discontinued use of the
restricted area. In response to this request by the U.S. Navy, and
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 regulations in 33 CFR Part 334 by removing
334.78 to disestablish the restricted area.
Procedural Requirements
a. Review Under Executive Order 12866. This proposed rule is issued
with respect to a military function of the Defense Department and the
provisions of Executive Order 12866 do not apply.
b. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act. This proposed rule
has been reviewed under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (Pub. L. 96-354)
which requires the preparation of a regulatory flexibility analysis for
any regulation that will have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities (i.e., small businesses and small
governments). Unless information is obtained to the contrary during the
public notice comment period, the Corps expects that the amendment of
this restricted area would have practically no economic impact on the
public, no anticipated navigational hazard, or interference with
existing waterway traffic. This proposed rule if adopted, will have no
significant economic impact on small entities.
c. Review Under the National Environmental Policy Act. Due to the
administrative nature of this action, 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. After it is
prepared, it may be reviewed at the District office listed at the end
of the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section, above.
d. Unfunded Mandates Act. The proposed rule does not impose an
enforceable duty among the private sector and, therefore, is not a
Federal private sector mandate, and is not subject to the requirements
of Section 202 or 205 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (Pub. L. 104-
4, 109 Stat. 48, 2 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.). We have also found under
Section 203 of the Act, that small governments will not be
significantly or uniquely affected by this rulemaking.
List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 334
Danger zones, 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
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).
Sec. 334.78 [Removed]
2. Remove Sec. 334.78.
Dated: March 29, 2012.
Richard C. Lockwood,
Chief, Operations and Regulatory, Directorate of Civil Works.
[FR Doc. 2012-8115 Filed 4-3-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3720-58-P