Department of Homeland Security March 20, 2007 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Commander, First Coast Guard District, has issued a temporary deviation from the regulation governing the operation of the AK Railroad Bridge across Arthur Kill at mile 11.6, between Staten Island, New York and Elizabeth, New Jersey. This temporary deviation requires the AK Railroad Bridge to remain in the open position at all times, except that the draw would close for the passage of trains for two daily one-hour closure periods on a fixed schedule with a one hour adjustment whenever high water occurs during or up to one hour after the applicable closure period. In addition, a number of unscheduled requests for one hour closure periods may be granted by the Coast Guard within one to three hours of receipt of the request. The purpose of this deviation is to test a temporary change to the drawbridge operation schedule to help determine the most equitable and safe solution to facilitate the present and anticipated needs of navigation and rail traffic.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the U.S. Coast Guard, published a final rule on January 25, 2007 that establishes requirements for merchant mariners and workers who need unescorted access to secure areas of maritime facilities and vessels. These individuals must successfully complete a security threat assessment conducted by TSA and hold a Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) in order to enter secure areas without escort. As required by statute, all TWIC applicants must pay a user fee to cover TSA's costs to enroll applicants, complete security threat assessments, and issue biometric credentials. With this notice, we announce the user fees as follows: The total standard fee for a TWIC applicant is $137.25 and the reduced fee for applicants who have completed a prior comparable threat assessment is $105.25.