Coast Guard – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Coast Guard is providing the following information on dynamic positioning training certification programs.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the SR 156/Benjamin Harrison Memorial Bridge across the James River, mile 65.0, at Hopewell, VA. The deviation is necessary to facilitate bridge maintenance and repairs. This deviation allows the bridge to remain in the closed-to-navigation position.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the US40-322 (Albany Avenue) Bridge across the NJICW (Inside Thorofare), mile 70.0, at Atlantic City, NJ. The deviation is necessary to facilitate the 2016 6th Annual Atlantic City Triathlon. This deviation allows the bridge to remain in the closed-to- navigation position.

The Coast Guard proposes to establish special local regulations for certain waters of the Little Annemessex River and Somers Cove. This action is necessary to provide for the safety of life on these navigable waters located in Somerset County at Crisfield, MD, during an open water swim competition on September 17, 2016. This proposed rulemaking would prohibit persons and vessels from being in the regulated area unless authorized by the Captain of the Port Maryland-National Capital Region or Coast Guard Patrol Commander. We invite your comments on this proposed rulemaking.

This notice requests individuals interested in serving on the Area Maritime Security Committee (AMSC), Eastern Great Lakes, and the four regional sub-committees: Northeast Ohio Region, Northwestern Pennsylvania Region, Western New York Region, and Eastern New York Region submit their applications for membership to the Captain of the Port, Buffalo. The Committee assists the Captain of the Port, Buffalo, in developing, reviewing, and updating the Area Maritime Security Plan for their area of responsibility.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone on the navigable waters of Pleasure Beach, Bridgeport, CT for Pleasure Beach Bridge. This temporary safety zone is necessary to provide for the safety of life on navigable waters. This regulation prohibits entry into, transit through, mooring or anchoring within the safety zone unless authorized by Captain of the Port (COTP), Sector Long Island Sound.

The Coast Guard is establishing temporary security zones in the waters of the Delaware River, Schuylkill River, and Darby Creek, in Philadelphia, PA. These temporary zones are intended to restrict vessels from portions of the Delaware River, Schuylkill River, and Darby Creek during the Democratic National Convention from July 25, 2016, to July 29, 2016. During the enforcement period, no unauthorized vessels or people will be permitted to enter or move within the security zone without permission from the Captain of the Port or his designated representative. This security zone is necessary to provide security for the Democratic National Convention.

The Coast Guard is issuing a final rule for certain design and approval standards for fire protection, detection, extinguishing equipment, and materials on inspected and uninspected vessels, outer continental shelf facilities, deepwater ports, and mobile offshore drilling units. This rule harmonizes Coast Guard approval processes for fire detection and alarm systems, and revises Coast Guard regulations for other types of equipment, materials, and components, such as spanner wrenches, non-metallic pipes, and sprinkler systems. This rule ensures Coast Guard regulations remain current and addresses advances in technology.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone in the waters of the Hudson River in the vicinity of Edgewater, NJ. This zone is intended to restrict vessels from a portion of the Hudson River due to the presence of a dielectric oil leak from a submerged power cable, and the hazards associated with the cable repair vessels. This temporary safety zone is necessary to protect people and vessels from the hazards associated with this event. Entry of vessels or persons into this zone is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port New York.

The Coast Guard is correcting a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register on June 20, 2016 (81 FR 40004). The document issued safety regulations governing the inspection, standards, and safety management systems of towing vessels. In that document there are errors in three regulations that refer to the date July 20, 2016. This rule corrects those errors.

The Coast Guard is establishing a temporary safety zone for navigable waters within a 700-yard radius on the surface and 1400-yard radius underwater of the Navy underwater detonation operations in the waters of Apra Outer Harbor, Guam. The Coast Guard believes this safety zone regulation is necessary to protect all persons and vessel that would otherwise transit or be within the affected areas from possible safety hazards associated with underwater detonation operations. Entry of vessels or persons into these zones is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Captain of the Port Guam.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the Captree State Parkway Bridge across the State Boat Channel, mile 30.7 at Captree Island, New York. This deviation is necessary to allow the bridge owner to perform painting and steel repairs.

The Coast Guard will enforce Seattle's Seafair Fleet Week Moving Vessels security zones from 10 a.m. on August 2, 2016, through 6 p.m. on August 8, 2016. These security zones are necessary to help ensure the security of the vessels from sabotage or other subversive acts during Seafair Fleet Week Parade of Ships. The designated participating vessels are: HMCS SASKATOON (MM 709) and USCGC ACTIVE (WMEC 618). During the enforcement period, no person or vessel may enter or remain in the security zones without the permission of the Captain of the Port (COTP), Puget Sound or his designated representative. The COTP has granted general permission for vessels to enter the outer 400 yards of the security zones as long as those vessels within the outer 400 yards of the security zones operate at the minimum speed necessary to maintain course unless required to maintain speed by the navigation rules.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the Norfolk Southern Railroad vertical lift span bridge across the Black Warrior River, mile 267.8, at Eutaw, Greene County, Alabama. This deviation is necessary to install drive motors necessary for the continued safe operation of the bridge. This deviation allows the bridge to remain closed for two (2) three-hour periods daily, Monday through Thursday for three consecutive weeks.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs the Metro-North Bridge across the Mianus River, mile 1.0, at Greenwich, Connecticut. This deviation is necessary to allow the bridge owner to perform superstructure repairs and replace timber ties.

The Coast Guard proposes to amend the anchorage regulations for Delaware Bay and River. The Coast Guard conducted a review of the Delaware Bay and River anchorage grounds to support increased traffic and vessel size. The proposed changes to this regulation would eliminate unusable anchorage grounds and provide additional usable grounds to support current and future port demands and enhance the overall navigation safety of this critical component of the maritime transportation system. We invite your comments on this proposed rulemaking.

The Coast Guard is re-opening the comment period for its supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking (SNPRM), published in May 2014. The Coast Guard is proposing to amend the shape and reduce the size of the special anchorage in Marina del Rey Harbor, California. Additionally, we propose to clarify the language in the note section of the existing regulation. Because the date of the public meeting was not published in the Federal Register until after the meeting was held, the Coast Guard is providing an additional opportunity for public comment.

The Coast Guard has issued a temporary deviation from the operating schedule that governs four Multnomah County bridges: The Broadway Bridge, mile 11.7; Burnside Bridge, mile 12.4; Morrison Bridge, mile 12.8; and Hawthorne Bridge, mile 13.1; all crossing the Willamette River at Portland, OR. This deviation is necessary to accommodate the annual Portland Providence Bridge Pedal event. The deviation allows the bridges to remain in the closed-to-navigation position to allow safe roadway movement of event participants.

The Coast Guard announces that it has received approval from the Office of Management and Budget for an information collection request associated with the Cargo Securing Manuals interim rule we published in the Federal Register on May 9, 2016. In that rule, we stated the interim rule will impose new information collection requirements and that we would submit these new information collection requirements to OMB for its review and publish a document in the Federal Register announcing the results of OMB's review. OMB approved this new collection of information, entitled Cargo Securing Manuals, on June 23, 2016, and assigned it OMB control number 1625-0122.

This document provides notice of substantive rules issued by the Coast Guard that were made temporarily effective but expired before they could be published in the Federal Register. This notice lists temporary safety zones, security zones, special local regulations, drawbridge operation regulations and regulated navigation areas, all of limited duration and for which timely publication in the Federal Register was not possible.

The Coast Guard is modifying the operating schedule that governs the Metro-North WALK Bridge across the Norwalk River, mile 0.1, at Norwalk, Connecticut. The bridge owner submitted a request to require a greater advance notice for bridge openings and to increase time periods the bridge remains in the closed position during the weekday morning and evening rush hours. It is expected that this change to the regulations will create efficiency in drawbridge operations while continuing to meet the reasonable needs of navigation.

A working group of the Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee will meet to work on Task Statement 30, which asks the committee to evaluate utilizing military education, training, and assessment to satisfy national and STCW \1\ credential requirements. The working group will specifically consider a military-to-mariner training and program/course approval workshop for Officer in Charge Navigation Watch and Officer in Charge Engineering Watch. These meetings will be open to the public.

The Coast Guard proposes to permit tankers with automatic pilot systems that meet certain international standards to operate using those systems in waters subject to the shipping safety fairway or traffic separation scheme controls specified in our regulations. The proposed amendments would remove an unnecessary regulatory restriction, update the technical requirements for automatic pilot systems, and promote the Coast Guard's maritime safety and stewardship (environmental protection) missions by enhancing maritime safety.

The Coast Guard announces the availability of Navigation and Vessel Inspection Circular (NVIC) 03-16, Guidelines for Credentialing Officers of Towing Vessels. This NVIC provides guidance to mariners concerning regulations governing endorsements to Merchant Mariner Credentials for service on towing vessels.

This document provides notice of substantive rules issued by the Coast Guard that were made temporarily effective but expired before they could be published in the Federal Register. This notice lists temporary safety zones, security zones, special local regulations, drawbridge operation regulations and regulated navigation areas, all of limited duration and for which timely publication in the Federal Register was not possible.