Coast Guard June 2013 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on the navigable waters of the Colorado River in Parker, Arizona for the Great Western Tube Float on June 8, 2013. This temporary safety zone is necessary to provide for the safety of the participants, crew, spectators, participating vessels, and other vessels and users of the waterway. Persons and vessels are prohibited from entering into, transiting through or anchoring within this safety zone unless authorized by the Captain of the Port or his designated representative.

The Coast Guard proposes to amend its existing ballast water management (BWM) reporting and recordkeeping requirements. The Coast Guard will require vessels with ballast tanks operating exclusively on voyages between ports or places within a single Captain of the Port (COTP) Zone to submit an annual report of their BWM practices. The Coast Guard also proposes to update the current ballast water report to include only data that is essential to understanding and analyzing BWM practices. The proposed rule will allow most vessels to submit ballast water reports after arrival to the port or place of destination.

The Coast Guard is establishing special local regulations during the ``Swim Across the Potomac'' swimming competition, to be held on the waters of the Potomac River on June 2, 2013. These special local regulations are necessary to provide for the safety of life on navigable waters during the event. This action is intended to temporarily restrict vessel traffic in a portion of the Potomac River during the event.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone around all inbound and outbound grain-shipment and grain-shipment assist vessels involved in commerce with the Columbia Grain facility on the Willamette River in Portland, OR, the United Grain Corporation facility on the Columbia River in Vancouver, WA, the Temco Irving facility on the Willamette River in Portland, OR, or the Temco Kalama facility on the Columbia River in Kalama, WA, or the Louis Dreyfus Commodities facility on the Willamette River in Portland, OR while they are located on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers and their tributaries. For grain- shipment vessels, this safety zone extends to waters 500 yards ahead of the vessel and 200 yards abeam and astern of the vessel. For grain- shipment assist vessels, this safety zone extends to waters 100 yards ahead of the vessel and 50 yards abeam and astern of the vessel. These safety zones are being established to ensure that protest activities related to a labor dispute do not create hazardous navigation conditions for any vessel or other river user in the vicinity of these safety zones.

The Coast Guard announces the availability of the 2013 program calendar for the on-water activities associated with the ``Louis Vuitton Cup, Red Bull Youth America's Cup and the 34th America's Cup'' regatta scheduled from July 4th to September 23rd, 2013 on the waters of San Francisco Bay adjacent to the City of San Francisco waterfront in the vicinity of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island.