Coast Guard April 11, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard proposes to establish regulated navigation areas around a recently constructed deepwater port facility in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean near the entrance to Boston Harbor and to establish safety and security zones around liquefied natural gas carriers (LNGCs) calling on these deepwater port facilities. The purpose of these regulated navigation areas is to protect vessels and mariners from the potential safety hazards associated with deepwater port operations, and to protect the LNGCs and deepwater port infrastructure from security threats or other subversive acts. All vessels, with the exception of LNGCs and deepwater port support vessels, would be prohibited from anchoring or otherwise deploying equipment that could become entangled in submerged infrastructure within 1000 meters of the submerged turret loading (STL) buoys associated with the deepwater port, and would be prohibited from entering waters within 500 meters of the deepwater port STL buoys or the LNGCs using them. Additionally, this proposed rule would make minor amendments to the existing LNG security regulations for the Boston Captain of the Port (COTP) Zone to reflect multi-agency enforcement of those regulations.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the U.S. Coast Guard intends to submit Information Collection Requests (ICRs) and Analyses to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requesting an extension of their approval for the following collections of information: (1) 1625-0067, Claims Under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and (2) 1625-0068, State Access to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for Removal Costs Under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Before submitting these ICRs to OMB, the Coast Guard is inviting comments as described below.