[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 134 (Monday, July 14, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40838-40839]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-16298]
[[Page 40838]]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Maritime Administration
[Docket Number MARAD-2012-0015]
America's Marine Highway Draft Programmatic Environmental
Assessment and Public Comment Period
AGENCY: Maritime Administration, Department of Transportation.
ACTION: Notice of availability, request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Maritime Administration (MARAD) has prepared a draft
Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) in compliance with the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to evaluate potential
environmental impacts associated with the execution of the ``America's
Marine Highway'' Program. The draft PEA identifies and assesses
hypothetical scenarios associated with the operation of potential
Marine Highway services in five distinct regions throughout the
continental United States. Once finalized, the PEA will serve as a
guidance document from which future site specific NEPA analyses can be
initiated.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 13, 2014. MARAD
will consider comments filed after this date to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by DOT Docket Number
MARAD-2012-0015 by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
Search MARAD-2012-0015 and follow the instructions for submitting
comments.
Email Mr. Andrew Larimore at [email protected].
Include MARAD-2012-0015 in the subject line of the message.
Mail or Hand Delivery: Docket Management Facility, U.S.
Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., West
Building, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5
p.m., Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays.
Facsimile/Fax: (202) 493-2251.
Instructions: All submissions received must be written in English
and include the agency name and docket number. All comments received
will be posted without change to the docket at www.regulations.gov,
including any personal information provided. For detailed instructions
on submitting comments, see the section entitled Public Participation.
Note: If you mail or hand-deliver your comments, 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.
Docket: For access to the docket to read the PEA or comments
received, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time or to Room W12-
401 of the Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE.,
Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday,
except Federal Holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Yuska, Office of Environment,
(202) 366-0714 or via email at [email protected]. Persons who use a
telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal
Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 to contact the above
individual during business hours. The FIRS is available 24 hours a day,
seven days a week, to leave a message or question. You will receive a
reply during normal business hours. You may send mail to Mr. Yuska at
Department of Transportation, Maritime Administration, Office of
Environment, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Energy Independence and Security Act of
2007 (2007 Energy Act) directed the Secretary of Transportation to
establish a ``short sea'' transportation program, and to designate
short sea transportation routes and projects to be conducted under the
program, for the purpose of mitigating landside congestion. Pursuant to
the statutory mandate, in 2010, MARAD established the ``America's
Marine Highway'' Program (the Program), designating criteria,
eligibility requirements and information for applicants seeking to
establish America's Marine Highway (AMH) routes and projects. Projects
designated under the program must use U.S. documented vessels,
transport passengers or freight (in containers or trailers) and must
operate on a designated Marine Highway route. Section 405 of the Coast
Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2012 expanded the geographic
scope of the program to include routes between all U.S. ports,
including U.S. ports with no contiguous landside connection, as well as
routes between U.S. ports and ports in Canada located in the Great
Lakes Saint Lawrence Seaway System. The Act also added the purpose of
promoting the use of short sea transportation.
The Program itself does not develop or operate Marine Highway
services. Rather, the program provides a set of tools for use by ports,
state and local governments, and private industry to consider expansion
of AMH services. Where such designations are made, MARAD may encourage
development of particular AMH projects or services when funding is
available.
MARAD has prepared a programmatic environmental assessment (PEA) to
analyze the potential environmental impacts of performance of the AMH
program. As a programmatic document, the PEA does not analyze the
environmental impacts of specific AMH route or project designations or
the establishment of specific AMH services. Such analyses can only be
done in the context of specific proposals, with known ports,
infrastructure, natural environments, transportation volumes, etc.
MARAD envisions that additional environmental analyses of the federal
aspects of future project and service development along designated AMH
routes will be necessary. Those future analyses may use this PEA as a
starting point, to analyze the specific environmental impacts of each
particular proposal.
Public Participation
We encourage you to participate by submitting comments and related
materials. All comments received will be posted without change to
http://www.regulations.gov and will include any personal information
you have provided.
A. Submitting comments
All submissions must be written in English and include the agency
name and docket number for this rulemaking (MARAD-2012-0015), and
should provide support for each suggestion or recommendation. You may
submit your comments and material online via http://www.regulations.gov
or by email, fax, mail, or hand delivery, but please use only one of
these means for your submission. If you submit a comment online via
www.regulations.gov or email, it will be considered received by MARAD
when it posts to the www.regulations.gov Web site. (Please Note:
Comments submitted to www.regulations.gov or via email are not
immediately posted to the Web site. It may take several business days
before your comments will be posted on the electronic docket.) If you
fax, hand deliver, or mail your comment, it will be considered as
having been received by MARAD when it is received at the Docket
Management Facility. We recommend that you include your name
[[Page 40839]]
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://www.regulations.gov,
type the docket number (MARAD-2012-0015) 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.
B. Viewing Comments and Documents
To view comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov, type the docket
number ``MARAD-2012-0015'' in the ``SEARCH'' box and click ``Search.''
Click and Open the 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.
The draft PEA will be posted by MARAD to the electronic docket at
www.regulations.gov and may be accessed using the same search as
described above. You may also view the draft PEA by visiting MARAD's
Marine Highway Web page at http://www.marad.dot.gov/ships_shipping_landing_page/mhi_home/mhi_home.htm and clicking on ``Draft
Programmatic Environmental Assessment.''
Please note that even after the comment period has closed, MARAD
will continue to file relevant information in the Docket as it becomes
available. Accordingly, MARAD recommends that you periodically check
the Docket for new material.
C. Privacy Act
Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 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 the DOT
Privacy Act system of records notice for the Federal Docket Management
System (FDMS) in the Federal Register published on January 17, 2008,
(73 FR 3316) at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-785.pdf.
Authority: 49 CFR 1.92 and 1.93.
* * * * *
By Order of the Maritime Administrator.
Dated: July 8, 2014.
Thomas M. Hudson,
Secretary, Maritime Administration.
[FR Doc. 2014-16298 Filed 7-11-14; 8:45 am]
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