Department of Homeland Security June 7, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has forwarded the new Information Collection Request (ICR) abstracted below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). The ICR describes the nature of the information collection and its expected burden. The collection involves the submission of a survey by surface transportation stakeholders regarding resource challenges, including the availability of Federal funding, associated with securing surface transportation assets.

The United States Coast Guard will conduct an open meeting in Washington, DC in preparation for the upcoming sixty-ninth session of IMO Council to be held at the IMO Headquarters, United Kingdom, June 25-27, 2019.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone for navigable waters within a 100-yard radius of all vessels and equipment involved in diving and debris removal operations within the Cape May Canal in Cape May, New Jersey. The safety zone is needed to protect personnel, vessels, and the marine environment from potential hazards created by dive operations and debris removal near the railroad bridge in the Cape May Canal. Entry of vessels or persons into this zone is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port Delaware Bay or his designated representative.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on the navigable waters of the Upper Mississippi River from mile marker (MM) 109.9 to MM 184 in St. Louis, MO. This action is necessary to provide for the safety of persons and vessels, on these navigable waters as a result of increasing flow and high water conditions on the river. Entry of vessels or persons into this zone is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port Sector Upper Mississippi River or a designated representative.

Comments are requested on proposed flood hazard determinations, which may include additions or modifications of any Base Flood Elevation (BFE), base flood depth, Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) boundary or zone designation, or regulatory floodway on the Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs), and where applicable, in the supporting Flood Insurance Study (FIS) reports for the communities listed in the table below. The purpose of this notice is to seek general information and comment regarding the preliminary FIRM, and where applicable, the FIS report that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has provided to the affected communities. The FIRM and FIS report are the basis of the floodplain management measures that the community is required either to adopt or to show evidence of having in effect in order to qualify or remain qualified for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). In addition, the FIRM and FIS report, once effective, will be used by insurance agents and others to calculate appropriate flood insurance premium rates for new buildings and the contents of those buildings.

The Coast Guard is revising its merchant mariner credentialing regulations to remove obsolete portions of the radar observer requirements and harmonize the radar observer endorsement with the merchant mariner credential. These revisions will reduce an unnecessary financial burden on mariners required to hold a radar observer endorsement. This rule will affect mariners who have served on radar- equipped vessels, in a position that routinely uses radar for 1 year in the previous 5 years for navigation and collision avoidance purposes, and mariners who have taught a Coast Guard-approved or accepted radar course at least twice within the past 5 years. These mariners will no longer be required to complete a Coast Guard-approved or accepted radar refresher or recertification course in order to renew their radar observer endorsements. We are retaining the existing requirements for mariners seeking an original radar observer endorsement and for mariners who do not have 1 year of routine relevant sea service on board radar-equipped vessels in the previous 5 years or have not taught a Coast Guard-approved or accepted radar course at least twice within the past 5 years. This final rule adopts, with modification, the notice of proposed rulemaking published on June 11, 2018.