Department of the Navy 2017 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to section (102)(2)(c) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969, and the regulations implemented by the Council on Environmental Quality (40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) parts 1500-1508), the Department of the Navy (DoN) announces its intent to prepare a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to the July 2016 Final EIS for Land-Water Interface (LWI) and Service Pier Extension (SPE), Naval Base (NAVBASE) Kitsap Bangor, Washington. The Final EIS for LWI and SPE resulted in a Record of Decision (ROD) that was signed on September 8, 2016 for the LWI project only. The SPE proposed action is to extend the existing Service Pier and construct associated support facilities. The purpose is to provide additional berthing capacity and improve associated support facilities for existing homeported and visiting submarines at NAVBASE Kitsap Bangor. The SPE project is needed to provide alternative opportunities for berthing to mitigate restrictions at NAVBASE Kitsap Bremerton, Washington, on navigating SEAWOLF Class submarines through Rich Passage under certain tidal conditions and to improve long-term operational effectiveness for the three SEAWOLF Class submarines on NAVBASE Kitsap. The Supplemental EIS will address the SPE project only and will evaluate resources based upon changes in design and new information relevant to environmental concerns per 40 CFR 1502.9. The DoN will evaluate this new, relevant information and incorporate that information into revised analyses where appropriate. The analysis will address, among others, changes to the Alternative 2 design and new regulatory guidance and requirements.

The Department of the Navy (DoN) announces the availability of the Records of Decision (RODs) by the DoN and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement for Land Acquisition and Airspace Establishment to Support Large-Scale Marine Air Ground Task Force Live-Fire and Maneuver Training at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California. The Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Energy, Installations and Environment) signed the DoN ROD on February 10, 2017. The BLM California Desert District Manager signed the BLM ROD on February 9, 2017.

The Department of the Navy hereby gives notice of its intent to grant to JFD Limited a revocable, non-assignable, exclusive license to practice in the United States, the Government-owned invention described in U.S. Patent No. 6,868,360, entitled ``SMALL HEAD-MOUNTED COMPASS SYSTEM WITH OPTICAL DISPLAY'', issued March 15, 2005, Navy Case No. 84,835.

The Department of the Navy hereby gives notice of its intent to grant to Superior Armor Systems, Inc. a revocable, nonassignable, exclusive license to practice in all fields of use, the Government- owned invention described in U.S. Patent Application No. 12/312,150 A1: Body Armor of Ceramic Ball Embedded Polymer and any continuations, divisionals or re-issues thereof.

The Department of Defense has submitted to OMB for clearance, the following proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

The inventions listed below are assigned to the United States Government, as represented by the Secretary of the Navy and are available for domestic and foreign licensing by the Department of the Navy. The following patents are available for licensing: Patent No. 9,536,620 (Navy Case No. 200321): METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IMPROVING THE RADIATION TOLERANCE OF FLOATING GATE MEMORIES// and Patent No. 9,535,562 (Navy Case No. 101979): COGNITIVE LOAD REDUCTION AND FIELD OF VIEW ENHANCING STANDARDIZED GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI) OVERLAY GENERATING SYSTEM OR SYSTEMS THAT INCLUDE ELEMENTS THAT CORRELATE VARIOUS DEVICE, EVENT, OR OPERATION INPUTS WITH COMMON GUI OVERLAY GENERATION MODULES AND GROUP RELATED GUI ELEMENTS ACROSS OVERLAYS ALONG WITH ASSOCIATED METHODS.

The Department of the Navy (DoN) is amending its certifications and exemptions under the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (72 COLREGS), to reflect that the Deputy Assistant Judge Advocate General (DAJAG) (Admiralty and Maritime Law) has determined that USS OMAHA (LCS 12) is a vessel of the Navy which, due to its special construction and purpose, cannot fully comply with certain provisions of the 72 COLREGS without interfering with its special function as a naval ship. The intended effect of this rule is to warn mariners in waters where 72 COLREGS apply.

The Department of the Navy (DoN), after carefully considering the environmental consequences of the proposed action, announces its decision to implement a project for the conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater within the Lower Santa Margarita River (SMR) Basin. The DoN has selected the preferred alternative as identified in the 2016 Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)/Environmental Impact Report (EIR). This alternative consists of construction and operation of new facilities for adaptive management of surface water and groundwater resources that would be achieved through the enhanced diversion of SMR surface waters to groundwater recharge ponds and the active use of groundwater aquifers for water storage. The proposed action would resolve the water rights disputes between the United States (on behalf of the Marine Corps) and Fallbrook Public Utility District (FPUD) and satisfy the United States District Court for the Southern District of California order to find a ``physical solution'' to the ongoing litigation in United States v. Fallbrook Public Utility District, et al. The Proposed Action would also efficiently meet the long-term water demands of Marine Corps Installations (MCI) West-MCB Camp Pendleton and FPUD, reduce FPUD's dependence on imported water, maintain watershed resources, and improve water supply reliability by managing the yield of the Lower SMR Basin. The DoN and Reclamation are the designated co-lead agencies for review of this project under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and FPUD is the designated lead agency for review of this project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in the preparation of the joint EIS/ EIR. This ROD documents why the DoN has chosen to implement the preferred alternative as described in the 2016 Final EIS/EIR. The ROD includes descriptions and discussions of the anticipated environmental impacts of the proposed action as well as all practical means to avoid or minimize environmental impacts from the selected alternative. It also includes descriptions and discussions of all related actions and their anticipated impacts.