33 CFR Part 151 - VESSELS CARRYING OIL, NOXIOUS LIQUID SUBSTANCES, GARBAGE, MUNICIPAL OR COMMERCIAL WASTE, AND BALLAST WATER

This final rule amends the Coast Guard's ballast water management reporting and recordkeeping requirements. Upon the effective date of this rule, the Coast Guard will require vessels with ballast tanks operating exclusively on voyages between ports or places within a single Captain of the Port Zone to submit an annual report of their ballast water management practices. This rule also simplifies and streamlines the ballast water report form. Finally, this rule will allow most vessels to submit ballast water reports after arrival at a port or place of destination, instead of requiring submission of such reports prior to arrival. This rule will reduce the administrative burden on the regulated population, while still providing the Coast Guard with the information necessary to analyze and understand ballast water management practices.

This final rule makes non-substantive technical, organizational, and conforming amendments to existing regulations throughout Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations. These changes provide the public with more accurate and current regulatory information, but they do not change the impact on the public of any Coast Guard regulation.

In this final rule the Coast Guard is updating our regulations to harmonize U.S. regulations with international conventions regarding oil pollution. We are amending the regulations covering Title 33: Navigation and Navigable Waters to align with recent amendments to Annex I of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978, which were adopted by the International Maritime Organization's Marine Environment Protection Committee during its 52nd, 54th, 55th, and 59th sessions. This final rule also amends sections of the Vessel Response Plan regulations to include the Safety of Life at Sea Material Safety Data Sheets as an equivalent hazardous communications standard.

Consistent with statutory requirements and provisions, the Coast Guard is expanding the applicability of notice of arrival (NOA) and automatic identification system (AIS) requirements to include more commercial vessels. This final rule amends the applicability of notice of arrival requirements to include additional vessels, sets forth a mandatory method for electronic submission of NOAs, and modifies related reporting content, timeframes, and procedures. This final rule also extends the applicability of AIS requirements beyond Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) areas to all U.S. navigable waters, and requires that additional commercial vessels install and use AIS, consistent with statutory requirements, and in limited cases, the Secretary's discretionary authority. These changes will improve navigation safety, enhance our ability to identify and track vessels, and heighten our overall maritime domain awareness (MDA), thus helping us address threats to maritime transportation safety and security.

The Coast Guard announces that it has received approval from the Office of Management and Budget for an information collection request associated with the January 2014 final rule on the discharge of bulk dry cargo residue on the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes. With this approval, all provisions of the final rule are now fully in effect and can be enforced. The final rule promotes the Coast Guard's maritime safety and stewardship missions.

The Coast Guard published a final rule in the Federal Register on July 7, 2014, that made non-substantive corrections throughout Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations. One of the amendatory instructions, which was intended to update a mailing stop number, contained a reference to the wrong paragraph in a section. This rule corrects that error.

This final rule makes non-substantive changes throughout Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The purpose of this final rule is to make conforming amendments and technical corrections to Coast Guard navigation and navigable waters regulations. These changes will have no substantive effect on the regulated public.

The Coast Guard is finalizing its existing interim rule regulating the operation of U.S. and foreign vessels carrying bulk dry cargo such as limestone, iron ore, and coal on the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes, and the operation of U.S. bulk dry cargo vessels anywhere on the Great Lakes. Specifically, the Coast Guard is publishing new requirements for the discharge of bulk dry cargo residue (DCR) on the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes. The rule will continue to allow non-hazardous and non-toxic discharges of bulk DCR in limited areas of the Great Lakes. However, vessel owners and operators will need to minimize DCR discharges using methods they will be required to document in DCR management plans. The rule will prohibit limestone and clean stone DCR discharges in some waters where they are now permitted. The final rule promotes the Coast Guard's maritime safety and stewardship missions.

On September 30, 2013, the Coast Guard amended regulations on response plans for nontank vessels. The amendment triggered information collection requirements affecting an existing OMB-approved information collection requirement on vessel and facility response plans. This notice announces that the collection of information has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and can now be enforced. The OMB control number is 1625-0066.

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Coast Guard, is promulgating this nontank vessel response plan final rule to further protect the Nation from the threat of oil spills in U.S. waters. This final rule requires owners or operators of nontank vessels to prepare and submit oil spill response plans. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act defines nontank vessels as self-propelled vessels of 400 gross tons or greater that operate on the navigable waters of the United States, carry oil of any kind as fuel for main propulsion, and are not tank vessels. This final rule specifies the content of a response plan and addresses, among other issues, the requirement to plan for responding to a worst case discharge and a substantial threat of such a discharge. Additionally, this final rule updates the international Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan requirements that apply to certain nontank vessels and tank vessels. Finally, this final rule requires vessel owners or operators to submit their vessel response plan control number as part of already required notice of arrival information. This rulemaking supports the Coast Guard's strategic goals of protection of natural resources and maritime mobility.

The Coast Guard announces the availability of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) assessing the potential environmental impacts associated with a proposed final rule to regulate discharges of dry cargo residue (DCR) in the Great Lakes. The Coast Guard requests public comment on the FEIS.

This rule makes non-substantive changes throughout Title 33 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The purpose of this rule is to make conforming amendments and technical corrections to Coast Guard navigation and navigable waters regulations. These changes will have no substantive effect on the regulated public. This rule is provided to coincide with the annual recodification of Title 33 on July 1, 2013.

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 publishing an interim rule with request for comments to conform regulations to the adopted MARPOL Annex V amendments which entered into force on January 1, 2013. The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) Annex V (Garbage) amendments prohibiting the discharge of garbage from vessels unless expressly allowed were adopted by the International Maritime Organization's Marine Environmental Protection Committee in July 2011 and implemented domestically through the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. Under this rule, the only allowed discharges will be certain food wastes, cargo residues, cleaning agents and additives in wash waters, and animal carcasses.

On June 13, 2012, the Coast Guard published in the Federal Register an announcement of effective date that announced an information collection approval for the Standards for Living Organisms in Ships' Ballast Water Discharged in U.S. Waters (BWDS) Final Rule (77 FR 35268). The rulemaking triggered new information collection requirements affecting vessel owners and their potential requests for an extension of the compliance date if they cannot practicably comply with the compliance date otherwise applicable to their vessels. The June 13, 2012, document announced that the request to revise the existing collection of information to add the new request for an extension provision was approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and may now be enforced. The OMB control number is 1625-0069. The approval for this collection of information expires on May 31, 2015. In the June 13, 2012, document, the Coast Guard inadvertently failed to indicate that we received public submissions to the BWDS Final Rule (77 FR 17254). The Coast Guard is now publishing a document to advise the public that we received four public submissions to this collection of information. As the four public submissions were not collection of information-related, we did not revise our collection of information estimates. You may view copies of the public submissions and the Coast Guard responses to them in the BWDS docket online by going to http://www.regulations.gov, inserting USCG-2001-10486 in the “Keyword” box, and then clicking “Search.” A corrected information collection request package has been submitted to OMB for their review. The current 1625-0069 approval by OMB is still effective. If OMB decides to amend the current 1625-0069 approval, a copy of that decision will be placed in the docket.

The Coast Guard proposes replacing its existing interim rule with a new rule to regulate the operation of U.S. and foreign vessels carrying bulk dry cargo such as limestone, iron ore, and coal on the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes, and the operation of U.S. bulk dry cargo vessels anywhere on the Great Lakes. Specifically, the Coast Guard proposes new requirements for the discharge of bulk dry cargo residue (DCR) on the U.S. waters of the Great Lakes. The Coast Guard also announces the availability of the tiered Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) prepared in support of this proposal. The proposed rule would continue to allow non-hazardous and non-toxic discharges of bulk DCR in limited areas of the Great Lakes. However, vessel owners and operators would need to minimize DCR discharges using methods they would be required to document in DCR management plans. The proposed rule would prohibit limestone and clean stone DCR discharges in some waters where they are now permitted. The proposed rule promotes the Coast Guard's strategic goals of maritime mobility and safety and protection of natural resources.

The Coast Guard is extending the comment period for the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “MARPOL Annex I Amendments,” published on April 9, 2012, for 60 days. We have decided to extend the comment period at the request of industry because we omitted from the docket the accompanying Regulatory Analysis, which informs the proposal.

On March 23, 2012, the Coast Guard published in the Federal Register a Final Rule entitled “Standards for Living Organisms in Ships' Ballast Water Discharged in U.S. Waters”. The rulemaking triggered new information collection requirements affecting vessel owners and their potential requests for an extension of the compliance date if they cannot practicably comply with the compliance date otherwise applicable to their vessels. This document announces that the request to revise the existing collection of information to add the new request for an extension provision has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and may now be enforced. The OMB control number is 1625-0069.

The Coast Guard is correcting a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register of March 23, 2012 (77 FR 17254), entitled “Standards for Living Organisms in Ships' Ballast Water Discharged in U.S. Waters.” Six technical errors were inadvertently published in the final rule that require correction, two in the preamble and four in the regulatory text. The corrections are necessary for readability and accuracy.

In this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), we are proposing to update our regulations to harmonize U.S. regulations with international conventions regarding oil pollution and safety of life at sea. The Coast Guard proposes to amend our regulations covering Navigation and Navigable Waters to align with recent amendments to Annex I of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978, which were adopted by the Marine Environment Protection Committee during its 52nd, 54th, 56th, and 59th sessions. In addition, we are proposing to incorporate guidance from the Maritime Safety Committee, based on updates to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974, into our regulations covering shipping. Finally, we are seeking public comment on an alternative to add a requirement that some new U.S. non-oceangoing vessels be equipped with an oily bilge water storage tank.

By this final rule, the Coast Guard amends the list of special areas in effect under Annex V of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973, as modified by the Protocol of 1978, as amended, to include the Wider Caribbean Region special area. The current list of special areas in effect is outdated because it does not include this special area, which went into effect May 1, 2011. This rule will correct the list of special areas in effect to provide accurate information to the public.