[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 137 (Thursday, July 17, 2014)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 41664-41665]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-16837]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers
33 CFR Part 334
St. Johns River, U.S. Coast Guard Station Mayport, Sector
Jacksonville, Florida; Restricted Area
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 (Corps) is proposing to amend
the existing regulations to establish a new restricted area in the
waters surrounding U.S. Coast Guard Sector Jacksonville facilities at
Station Mayport, Jacksonville, Florida (Station Mayport). Station
Mayport is situated on the south side of the St. Johns River which, as
the primary federal navigable channel entering the Port of
Jacksonville, is heavily transited by commercial and recreational
vessels. This United States Coast Guard (USCG) facility maintains a
high operational tempo for both routine and emergency operations. The
amendment to the existing regulations is necessary to enhance the
USCG's ability to counter postulated threats against their personnel,
equipment, cutters, and facilities by providing a stand-off buffer
encompassing the waters immediately contiguous to the Station Mayport.
The amendment will also serve to protect the general public from injury
or property damage during routine and emergency USCG operations and
provide an explosive safety arc buffer during periodic transfer of
ammunitions between units, including cutters.
DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before August 18, 2014.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number COE-
2014-0009, 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-2014-0009, 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-2014-0009.
All comments received will be included in the public docket without
change and may be made available on-line at http://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 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 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
[[Page 41665]]
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 Mr. Mark R. Evans, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Jacksonville District, Regulatory Division, at 904-232-2028.
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 regulations at 33 CFR
part 334 by establishing a new restricted area in the waters of the St.
Johns River adjacent to Station Mayport. The proposed amendment will
allow the Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Station Mayport to
restrict passage of persons, watercraft, and vessels in waters
contiguous to this Command, thereby providing greater security to the
personnel, equipment, cutters and facilities housed at the site.
Procedural Requirements
a. Review Under Executive Order 12866. The proposed rule is issued
with respect to a military function of the Department of Defense and
the provisions of Executive Order 12866 do not apply.
b. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The 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
comment period, the Corps expects that the proposed rule would have
practically no economic impact on the public, or result in 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 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
have been received and 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.
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
0
1. The authority citation for 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. Add Sec. 334.505 to read as follows:
Sec. 334.505 St. Johns River, U.S. Coast Guard Station Mayport,
Sector Jacksonville, Florida; restricted area.
(a) The area. The restricted area shall encompass all navigable
waters of the United States as defined at 33 CFR part 329, within the
area bounded by a line connecting the following coordinates: Commencing
from the shoreline at latitude 30[deg]23.315366' N, longitude
081[deg]26.056735' W; thence directly to latitude 30[deg]23.325775' N,
longitude 081[deg]26.071548' W; thence directly to latitude
30[deg]23.266063' N, longitude 081[deg]26.132775' W; thence to latitude
30[deg]23.215082' N, longitude 081[deg]26.1287404' W; thence proceed
directly to a point on the shoreline at latitude 30[deg]23.204522' N,
longitude 081[deg]26.111753' W thence following the mean high water
line to the point of beginning.
(b) The regulations. (1) The restricted area described in paragraph
(a) of this section is only open to U.S. Government vessels. U.S.
Government vessels include, but are not limited to, U.S. Coast Guard,
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, Department of Defense, National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, state and local law enforcement, emergency
services and vessels under contract with the U.S. Government. Warning
signs notifying individuals of the restricted area boundary and
prohibiting all unauthorized entry into the area will be posted along
the property boundary.
(2) All persons, vessels, and other craft are prohibited from
entering, transiting, drifting, dredging, or anchoring within the
restricted area described in paragraph (a) of this section without
prior approval from the Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Station
Mayport or his/her designated representative.
(3) Fishing, trawling, net-fishing, and other aquatic activities
are prohibited in the restricted area without prior approval from the
Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Station Mayport or his/her
designated representative.
(4) The restrictions described in paragraph (b) of this section are
in effect 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
(c) Enforcement. The regulations in this section shall be enforced
by the Commanding Officer, U.S. Coast Guard Station Mayport and/or such
persons or agencies as he/she may designate.
Dated: July 11, 2014.
James R. Hannon,
Chief, Operations and Regulatory, Directorate of Civil Works.
[FR Doc. 2014-16837 Filed 7-16-14; 8:45 am]
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