Coast Guard February 23, 2016 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard is making a correction to the operating schedule that governs the New Bedford-Fairhaven Rt-6 Bridge, mile 0.0, across the Acushnet River, between New Bedford and Fairhaven, MA. On July 1, 2013, a technical amendment was published that updated the name of the bridge, however, the requested correction was drafted incorrectly and three subparagraphs were inadvertently removed from the section.

The Coast Guard announces that it has withdrawn the October 30, 2013, proposed policy letter concerning the carriage of shale gas extraction waste water (SGEWW) in bulk via barge. The policy letter proposed a new standardized process and specified conditions under which a barge owner could request and be granted a Certificate of Inspection endorsement or letter allowing the barge to transport SGEWW in bulk. That proposed policy is withdrawn and no new policy is proposed at this time. Barge owners may continue to request case-by-case approval to transport SGEWW under current regulations by providing recent detailed chemical composition, environmental analyses, and other information for each individual tank barge load. The Coast Guard will consider instituting a standardized process for transporting SGEWW in bulk after it has assessed whether current regulations are inadequate to handle requests for transport of SGEWW in bulk and environmental impacts that may be associated with SGEWW transport by barge.