[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 213 (Monday, November 4, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Page 67234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-27489]



[[Page 67234]]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

[USCG-2000-8079]


Setting the Environmental Agenda of the Coast Guard for Oil 
Pollution--Prevention, Preparedness, and Response--in the 21st Century

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for public comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the availability of the Risk 
Assessment it conducted to help set its environmental agenda for oil 
spill prevention, preparedness and response in the 21st century. We 
request your comments on the Assessment.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before February 3, 2003.

ADDRESSES: To make sure that 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-2000-8079), 
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.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this 
notice. Comments and material received from the public, as well as the 
draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), 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, including the 
PEA, on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice, 
or the associated risk assessment, call Commander David Lersch, U.S. 
Coast Guard, telephone (202) 267-0421. If you have questions on viewing 
or submitting material to the docket, call Dorothy Beard, Chief, 
Dockets, Department of Transportation, telephone 202-366-5149.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

    We encourage you to submit comments and related material on the 
Risk Assessment. If you do so, please include your name and address, 
identify the docket number for this notice (USCG-2000-8079) and give 
the reasons for each comment. 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 reached the Facility, 
please enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard or envelope. We will 
consider all comments and material received during the comment period.

Proposed Action

    The Coast Guard has completed the first phase of the risk 
assessment it initiated during the fall of 2000 to help set its 
environmental agenda for oil pollution prevention, preparedness and 
response in the 21st century. One element of this study was the results 
of the Public Meeting held at Coast Guard Headquarters on December 12, 
2000. We published a notice of this meeting and request for comments in 
the Federal Register on October 18, 2000 (65 FR 62408).
    This project contains several elements addressing concept 
development, risk characterization and issue identification. The first 
portion identifies the nature and frequency of spills from key sources 
and determines how the sources and causes may vary in the next decade. 
The second portion analyzes the impacts associated with each source 
category. Together these two portions produce a risk characterization 
by source category. The last section provides an assessment of the 
overall effectiveness of various prevention, preparedness and response 
measures in mitigating the threat posed by the various source 
categories.
    The Coast Guard is seeking public comment on the results of this 
study to help guide its planning for follow-on management analysis.
    The assessment is located online at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/mor/morgmor1new.htm.

    Dated: September 12, 2002.
Jeffrey P. High,
Acting Assistant Commandant for Marine Safety, Security, and 
Environmental Protection.
[FR Doc. 02-27489 Filed 11-1-02; 8:45 am]
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