[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 36 (Friday, February 22, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12260-12264]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-04030]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
33 CFR Part 165
[Docket No. USCG-2012-0876]
RIN 1625-AA11
Regulated Navigation Area--Weymouth Fore River, Fore River Bridge
Construction, Weymouth and Quincy, MA
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is proposing to establish a regulated
navigation area (RNA) on the navigable waters of Weymouth Fore River
under and surrounding the Fore River Bridge (Mile 3.5) between Weymouth
and Quincy, MA until December 31, 2017. This proposed rule would allow
the Coast Guard to enforce speed and wake restrictions and prohibit all
vessel traffic through the RNA during bridge replacement operations,
both planned and unforeseen, that could pose an imminent hazard to
persons and vessels operating in the area. This rule is necessary to
provide for the safety of life in the regulated area during the
construction of the Fore River Bridge.
DATES: Comments and related material must be received by the Coast
Guard on or before April 23, 2013.
[[Page 12261]]
Requests for public meetings must be received by the Coast Guard on
or before March 15, 2013.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by docket number USCG-
2012-0876 using any one of the following methods:
(1) Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:[sol][sol]www.regulations.gov.
(2) Fax: 202-493-2251.
(3) Mail: Docket Management Facility (M-30), U.S. Department of
Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
(4) Hand delivery: Same as mail address above, between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone
number is 202-366-9329.
To avoid duplication, please use only one of these four methods.
See the ``Public Participation and Request for Comments'' portion of
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below for instructions on
submitting comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this proposed
rule, call or email Mr. Mark Cutter, Coast Guard Sector Boston
Waterways Management Division, telephone 617-223-4000, email
[email protected]; or Lieutenant Isaac M. Slavitt, Waterways
Management Division, U.S. Coast Guard First District, (617) 223-8385.
If you have questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket,
call Renee V. Wright, Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone
202-366-9826.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Acronyms
COTP Captain of the Port
DHS Department of Homeland Security
FR Federal Register
NPRM Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
RNA Regulated navigation area
A. Public Participation and Request for Comments
We encourage you to participate in this rulemaking by submitting
comments and related materials. All comments received will be posted
without change to http:[sol][sol]www.regulations.gov and will include
any personal information you have provided.
1. Submitting Comments
If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for this
rulemaking (USCG-2012-0876), indicate the specific section of this
document to which each comment applies, and provide a reason for each
suggestion or recommendation. You may submit your comments and material
online (via http:[sol][sol]www.regulations.gov) or by fax, mail, or
hand delivery, but please use only one of these means. If you submit a
comment online via www.regulations.gov, it will be considered received
by the Coast Guard when you successfully transmit the comment. If you
fax, hand deliver, or mail your comment, it will be considered as
having been received by the Coast Guard when it is received at the
Docket Management Facility. We recommend that you include your name and
a mailing address, an email address, or a telephone number in the body
of your document so that we can contact you if we have questions
regarding your submission.
To submit your comment online, go to
http:[sol][sol]www.regulations.gov, type the docket number (USCG-2012-
0876) in the ``SEARCH'' box and click ``SEARCH.'' Click on ``Submit a
Comment'' on the line associated with this rulemaking.
If you submit your comments 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 comments by mail and would
like to know that they reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped,
self-addressed postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments and
material received during the comment period and may change the rule
based on your comments.
2. Viewing comments and documents
To view comments, as well as documents mentioned in this preamble
as being available in the docket, go to
http:[sol][sol]www.regulations.gov, type the docket number ``USCG-2012-
0876'' in the ``SEARCH'' box and click ``Search.'' Click and Open
Docket Folder on the line associated with this rulemaking. You may also
visit the Docket Management Facility in Room W12-140 on the ground
floor of the Department of Transportation West Building, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.,
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. We have an agreement
with the Department of Transportation to use the Docket Management
Facility.
3. Privacy Act
Anyone can search the electronic form of comments received into any
of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or
signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association,
business, labor union, etc.). You may review a Privacy Act notice
regarding our public dockets in the January 17, 2008, issue of the
Federal Register (73 FR 3316).
4. Public meeting
We do not now plan to hold a public meeting. But you may submit a
request for one on or before March 15, 2013 using one of the methods
specified under ADDRESSES. Please explain why you believe a public
meeting would be beneficial. If we determine that one would aid this
rulemaking, we will hold one at a time and place announced by a later
notice in the Federal Register.
B. Basis and Purpose
Under the Ports and Waterways Safety Act, the Coast Guard has the
authority to establish RNAs in defined water areas that are hazardous
or in which hazardous conditions are determined to exist. See 33 U.S.C.
1231 and Department of Homeland Security Delegation No. 0170.1.
The purpose of this proposed rulemaking is to provide for safety on
the navigable waters in the regulated area.
C. Discussion of Proposed Rule
The Coast Guard's proposed rule would give the Captain of the Port
Boston (COTP) the authority to establish speed and wake restrictions
and to prohibit vessel traffic on this portion of the river for limited
periods when necessary for the safety of vessels and workers during
construction work in the channel. The Coast Guard would enforce a three
knot speed limit as well as a ``NO WAKE'' zone and be able to close the
designated area to all vessel traffic during any circumstance, planned
or unforeseen, that poses an imminent threat to waterway users or
construction operations in the area. Complete waterway closures would
be minimized to that period absolutely necessary and made with as much
advanced notice as possible. During closures, mariners could request
permission from the COTP to transit through the RNA.
The proposed rule was prompted by (but is not limited to) the
navigation safety situation created by construction of the new Fore
River Bridge (sometimes referred to as the Washington Street Bridge)
and removal of the temporary bridge. This bridge carries State Road 3A
over the Weymouth Fore River from Quincy to Weymouth MA. The present
temporary Fore River Bridge was built in 2003 and was designed to be a
15 year temporary bridge until a new bridge could be built. The old
Fore River Bridge that was built in 1936 was
[[Page 12262]]
found to be deteriorated beyond the point of restoration in the 1990's.
After the temporary bridge was built, the old Fore River Bridge was
removed. The new Fore River Bridge will be located in the approximate
location of the old Fore River Bridge. The present temporary bridge
will reach the end of its useable life span in 2018 and the
Massachusetts Department of Transportation (Mass-DOT) has contracted
J.F. White-Skanska Koch to construct a new vertical replacement bridge
and remove the temporary Bridge. J.F. White-Skanska Koch has begun
bridge construction and is scheduled to complete the new bridge and the
removal of the old bridge in 2017.
The Coast Guard has discussed this project with MASS-DOT and J.F.
White-Skanska Koch to determine whether the project can be completed
without channel closures and, if possible, what impact that would have
on the project timeline. Through these discussions, it became clear
that while the majority of construction activities during the span of
this project would not require waterway closures, there are certain
tasks that can only be completed in the channel and will require
closing the waterway.
Specifically, this includes the placement of the lift span. The
lift span is large and constructed of extremely heavy steel support
beams that will be built on land, then floated by barge to the site and
lifted and connected to the towers that support and operate it. The
temporary bridge, suspended 55 feet above the water, must also be
dismantled into small sections and lowered on to a barge below. These
two processes will be complex and present many safety hazards including
overhead crane operations, overhead cutting operations, potential
falling debris, and barges positioned in the channel with a restricted
ability to maneuver.
In an email to the U.S. Coast Guard dated September 14, 2012, J.F.
White-Skanska Koch outlined three phases of operations that require in-
channel work, two of which will require waterway closures. J.F. White-
Skanska Koch will notify the Coast Guard as far in advance as possible
if additional closures are needed.
The first proposed closure period will be for three days during the
winter of 2014-2015. The purpose of this closure is to float in the new
bridge lift span system by barge and install the lift span system on to
the two towers that support the lift span system. The barge will take
up the width of the channel, causing a closure of the channel. Once the
barge is in place and the installation of the lift span system begins
the barge cannot move out of the channel until the lift span has been
installed.
The second proposed closure period will be two separate periods for
four to six days each starting fall of 2015 and extending to winter of
2016. The purpose of this closure is to remove the steel support beams
of the two temporary existing bridge spans.
D. Regulatory Analyses
We developed this proposed rule after considering numerous statutes
and executive orders related to rulemaking. Below we summarize our
analyses based on 13 of these statutes or executive orders.
1. Regulatory Planning and Review
This proposed rule is not a significant regulatory action under
section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review,
as supplemented by Executive Order 13563, Improving Regulation and
Regulatory Review, and does not require an assessment of potential
costs and benefits under section 6(a)(3) of that Order. The Office of
Management and Budget has not reviewed it under that Order.
The Coast Guard determined that this rulemaking would not be a
significant regulatory action for the following reasons: Vessel traffic
would only be restricted from the RNA for limited durations and the RNA
covers only a small portion of the navigable waterways. Furthermore,
entry into this RNA during a closure may be authorized by the COTP
Boston or designated representative.
Advanced public notifications will also be made to local mariners
through appropriate means, which may include but are not limited to the
Local Notice to Mariners and Broadcast Notice to Mariners.
2. Impact on Small Entities
Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601-612), we have
considered whether this proposed rule would have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities. The term ``small
entities'' comprises small businesses, not-for-profit organizations
that are independently owned and operated and are not dominant in their
fields, and governmental jurisdictions with populations of less than
50,000.
The Coast Guard certifies under 5 U.S.C. 605(b) that this proposed
rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. This rule will affect the following entities,
some of which may be small entities: the owners or operators of vessels
intending to enter, transit, anchor or moor within the regulated areas
during a vessel restriction period.
The RNA will not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities for the following reasons: The RNA
will be of limited size and any waterway closures will be of short
duration, and entry into this RNA during a closure is possible if the
vessel has Coast Guard authorization. Additionally, before the
effective period of a waterway closure, notifications will be made to
local mariners through appropriate means.
If you think that your business, organization, or governmental
jurisdiction qualifies as a small entity and that this rule would have
a significant economic impact on it, please submit a comment (see
ADDRESSES) explaining why you think it qualifies and how and to what
degree this rule would economically affect it.
3. Assistance for Small Entities
Under section 213(a) of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-121), we want to assist small
entities in understanding this proposed rule so that they can better
evaluate its effects on them and participate in the rulemaking. If the
rule would affect your small business, organization, or governmental
jurisdiction and you have questions concerning its provisions or
options for compliance, please contact Mr. Mark Cutter, Coast Guard
Sector Boston Waterways Management Division, telephone 617-223-4000,
email [email protected]. The Coast Guard will not retaliate
against small entities that question or complain about this proposed
rule or any policy or action of the Coast Guard.
4. Collection of Information
This proposed rule would call for no new collection of information
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520.).
5. Federalism
A rule has implications for federalism under Executive Order 13132,
Federalism, if it has a substantial direct effect on State or local
governments and would either preempt State law or impose a substantial
direct cost of compliance on them. We have analyzed this proposed rule
under that Order and have determined that it does not have implications
for federalism.
6. Protest Activities
The Coast Guard respects the First Amendment rights of protesters.
Protesters are asked to contact the
[[Page 12263]]
person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to
coordinate protest activities so that your message can be received
without jeopardizing the safety or security of people, places or
vessels.
7. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (2 U.S.C. 1531-1538)
requires Federal agencies to assess the effects of their discretionary
regulatory actions. In particular, the Act addresses actions that may
result in the expenditure by a State, local, or tribal government, in
the aggregate, or by the private sector of $100,000,000 (adjusted for
inflation) or more in any one year. Though this proposed rule would not
result in such an expenditure, we do discuss the effects of this rule
elsewhere in this preamble.
8. Taking of Private Property
This proposed rule would not cause a taking of private property or
otherwise have taking implications under Executive Order 12630,
Governmental Actions and Interference with Constitutionally Protected
Property Rights.
9. Civil Justice Reform
This proposed rule meets applicable standards in sections 3(a) and
3(b)(2) of Executive Order 12988, Civil Justice Reform, to minimize
litigation, eliminate ambiguity, and reduce burden.
10. Protection of Children
We have analyzed this proposed rule under Executive Order 13045,
Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety
Risks. This rule is not an economically significant rule and would not
create an environmental risk to health or risk to safety that might
disproportionately affect children.
11. Indian Tribal Governments
This proposed rule does not have tribal implications under
Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination with Indian Tribal
Governments, because it would not have a substantial direct effect on
one or more Indian tribes, on the relationship between the Federal
Government and Indian tribes, or on the distribution of power and
responsibilities between the Federal Government and Indian tribes.
12. Energy Effects
This proposed rule is not a ``significant energy action'' under
Executive Order 13211, Actions Concerning Regulations That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use because it is
not a ``significant regulatory action'' under Executive Order 12866 and
is not likely to have a significant adverse effect on the supply,
distribution, or use of energy. The Administrator of the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs has not designated it as a
significant energy action. Therefore, it does not require a Statement
of Energy Effects under Executive Order 13211.
13. Technical Standards
This proposed rule does not use technical standards. Therefore, we
did not consider the use of voluntary consensus standards.
14. Environment
We have analyzed this proposed rule under Department of Homeland
Security Management Directive 023-01 and Commandant Instruction
M16475.lD, which guide the Coast Guard in complying with the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (42 U.S.C. 4321-4370f), and
have made a preliminary determination that this action is one of a
category of actions that do not individually or cumulatively have a
significant effect on the human environment. This proposed rule
involves restricting vessel movement within a regulated navigation
area. This rule is categorically excluded from further review under
paragraph 34(g) of Figure 2-1 of the Commandant Instruction. A
preliminary environmental analysis checklist supporting this
determination is available in the docket where indicated under
ADDRESSES. We seek any comments or information that may lead to the
discovery of a significant environmental impact from this proposed
rule.
List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 165
Harbors, Marine safety, Navigation (water), Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Security measures, Waterways.
For the reasons discussed in the preamble, the Coast Guard proposes
to amend 33 CFR part 165 as follows:
PART 165--REGULATED NAVIGATION AREAS AND LIMITED ACCESS AREAS
0
1. The authority citation for part 165 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1231; 46 U.S.C. Chapter 701, 3306, 3703; 50
U.S.C. 191, 195; 33 CFR 1.05-1, 6.04-1, 6.04-6, and 160.5; Pub. L.
107-295, 116 Stat. 2064; Department of Homeland Security Delegation
No. 0170.1.
0
2. Add Sec. 165.T01-0876 to read as follows:
Sec. 165.T01-0876 Regulated Navigation Area--Weymouth Fore River,
Fore River Bridge Construction, Weymouth and Quincy, MA.
(a) Boundaries. The following is a regulated navigation area; all
navigable waters surrounding the Weymouth Fore River (Mile 3.5),
between Weymouth and Quincy, MA; from surface to bottom, within the
following points (NAD 83): from a line extending from
42[deg]14'46.392'' N, 070[deg]58'2.964'' W, thence along a line
120[deg]T to 42[deg]14'44.376'' N, 070[deg]57'52.992'' W, thence south
along the shoreline to 42[deg]14'35.052'' N, 070[deg]57'59.364'' W,
thence along a line 291[deg]T to 42[deg]14'38.58'' N,
070[deg]58'15.348'' W, thence north along the shoreline to the first
point.
(b) Effective Dates and Enforcement Periods. This rule is effective
and enforceable from July 1, 2013 through December 31, 2017. Periods of
enforcement will normally be publicized in advance via Local Notice to
Mariners or Broadcast Notice to Mariners.
(c) Regulations.
(1) The general regulations contained in 33 CFR 165.10, 165.11, and
165.13 apply.
(2) In accordance with the general regulations, entry into,
anchoring, or movement within the RNA, during periods of enforcement,
is prohibited unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Boston
(COTP) or the COTP's designated representative.
(3) During periods of enforcement, entry and movement within the
RNA is subject to a ``Slow-No Wake'' speed limit. Vessels may not
produce more than a minimum wake and may not attain speeds greater than
three knots unless a higher minimum speed is necessary to maintain
steerageway when traveling with a strong current. In no case may the
wake produced by the vessel be such that it creates a danger of injury
to persons, or damage to vessels or structures of any kind.
(4) During periods of enforcement, all persons and vessels must
comply with all orders and directions from the COTP or the COTP's
designated representative.
(5) During periods of enforcement, upon being hailed by a Coast
Guard vessel by siren, radio, flashing light or other means, the
operator of the vessel must proceed as directed.
(6) Vessel operators desiring to enter or operate within the
regulated area when it is closed shall contact the COTP or the
designated on-scene representative via VHF channel 16 or 617-223-3201
(Sector Boston command Center) to obtain permission.
[[Page 12264]]
(7) Notwithstanding anything contained in this section, the Rules
of the Road (33 CFR part 84--Subchapter E, inland navigational rules)
are still in effect and must be strictly adhered to at all times.
Dated: February 5, 2013.
D.B. Abel,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Commander, First Coast Guard District.
[FR Doc. 2013-04030 Filed 2-21-13; 8:45 am]
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