Department of Homeland Security May 14, 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard proposes to establish a special local regulation on the waters of Bahia de Ponce in Ponce, Puerto Rico during the Cruce a Nado Internacional de la Bahia de Ponce Puerto Rico, a swimming event. The event is scheduled to take place on Sunday, September 1, 2013. Approximately 100 swimmers are anticipated to participate in the event, and no spectator vessels are anticipated to be present. The special local regulation is necessary to provide for the safety of life on the navigable waters of the United States during the event. The special local regulation establishes a swim area, where all persons and vessels, except those participating in the race or vessels patrolling the swim area, will be prohibited from entering, transiting through, anchoring in, or remaining within the area unless authorized by the Captain of the Port San Juan or a designated representative.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) of the Department of Homeland Security will be submitting the following information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act: Andean Trade Preferences Act. This is a proposed extension of an information collection that was previously approved. CBP is proposing that this information collection be extended with no change to the burden hours. This document is published to obtain comments from the public and affected agencies. This information collection was previously published in the Federal Register (78 FR 15031) on March 8, 2013, allowing for a 60-day comment period. This notice allows for an additional 30 days for public comments. This process is conducted in accordance with 5 CFR 1320.10.

The Coast Guard proposes a permanent regulated navigation area (RNA), enforcement of which would take place only during times when a tsunami warning is issued for the Hawaiian Islands by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Tsunami warnings require the evacuation of a large number of vessels from their respective harbors. Following the evacuation, these vessels must remain offshore until the emergency situation has passed and the harbors have been deemed safe for re- entry. Past tsunami warnings have created potentially dangerous offshore traffic congestion between commercial and recreational vessel traffic. Because of this, designated vessel traffic staging areas are necessary for a safe and orderly evacuation of Southern Oahu ports.