Maritime Administration June 30, 2008 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Notice is hereby given that the U.S. Maritime Administration is issuing a Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Removal of Non-Retention Vessels from National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) Sites for Disposal. The Draft EA has been prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) (U.S.C. 4231 et seq.) in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA (40 CFR 1500-1508). The Maritime Administration invites comments on the Draft EA. The purpose of the Programmatic EA is to evaluate the potential environmental impacts from and alternatives to the Removal of Non- Retention Vessels from National Defense Reserve Fleet Sites for Disposal proposed by the Maritime Administration. The Maritime Administration is charged with disposing of obsolete ``non-retention'' U.S. government-owned merchant type vessels of 1,500 gross tons or more per Section 203 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949, as amended (40 U.S.C. 548 (2008)). Non-retention vessels are vessels that have been determined by the Maritime Administration to be of insufficient value for commercial or military operation by the Federal Government to merit further preservation. 46 U.S.C. 57102 (2008). The Maritime Administration's non-retention ships are located at three fleet anchorages in the James River, Virginia; Beaumont, Texas; and Suisun Bay, California. The Maritime Administration is proposing to tow obsolete vessels from these three fleet anchorages either to one of seven Maritime Administration-approved or provisionally approved recycling facilities across the United States, or to various locations (to be determined on a case-by-case basis) to be used as artificial reefs, or sold for reuse as limited by applicable law, or to be donated for use as memorials and museums, or to be used by the U.S. Navy in at-sea training exercises referred to as Sinking Exercises, or SINKEX, during which the Navy fires live munitions at the vessel to give trainees a better sense of the capabilities of Navy weaponry. Following the use of live fire, vessels are allowed to sink to the sea bottom.