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[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 4, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 20330-20331]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-8115]

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers

33 CFR Part 334

Disestablishment of Restricted Area; Rhode Island Sound off 
Newport, RI

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Navy requested that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 
(Corps) disestablish the naval restricted area located in the waters of 
Rhode Island Sound, 4 nautical miles due south of Lands End in Newport, 
Rhode Island. The restricted area was established on August 31, 1987. 
The purpose of the restricted area was to establish a practice 
minefield and conduct mine detection and mine sweeping exercises. As a 
result of the discontinued use of this area by Naval Station Newport, 
the Navy has requested the restricted area be disestablished.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before May 4, 2012.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number COE-
2012-0001, by any of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions for submitting comments.
    Email: david.b.olson@usace.army.mil. Include the docket number COE-
2012-0001 in the subject line of the message.
    Mail: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CECW-CO (David B. Olson), 
441 G Street NW., Washington, DC 20314-1000.
    Hand Delivery/Courier: Due to security requirements, we cannot 
receive comments by hand delivery or courier.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to docket number COE-2012-0001. 
All comments received will be included in the public docket without 
change and may be made available on-line at http://regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided, unless the commenter 
indicates that the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI, or otherwise protected, through regulations.gov or 
email. The regulations.gov Web site is an anonymous access system, 
which means we will not know your identity or contact information 
unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an email 
directly to the Corps without going through regulations.gov, your email 
address will

[[Page 20331]]

be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, we recommend that you include your name 
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any 
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If we cannot read your comment because of 
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, we may 
not be able to consider your comment. Electronic comments should avoid 
the use of any special characters, any form of encryption, and be free 
of any defects or viruses.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received, go to www.regulations.gov. All documents in the 
docket are listed. Although listed in the index, some information is 
not publicly available, such as CBI or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as 
copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be 
publicly available only in hard copy form.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Mr. David Olson, Headquarters, 
Operations and Regulatory Community of Practice, Washington, DC at 202-
761-4922 or Ms. Angela C. Repella, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New 
England District, at 978-318-8639.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Executive Summary

    The purpose of this regulatory action is to disestablish a 
restricted area that is no longer needed by Naval Station Newport, 
because use of the practice minefield and conducting mine detection and 
mine sweeping exercises in that area has been discontinued.
    The Corps authority to disestablish this restricted area is Section 
7 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1917 (40 Stat. 266; 33 U.S.C. 1) and 
Chapter XIX of the Army Appropriations Act of 1919 (40 Stat. 892; 33 
U.S.C. 3).

Background

    By letter received on May 5, 2011, the Commander of Naval Station 
Newport has requested the removal of the restricted area in Rhode 
Island Sound, 4 nautical miles due south of Lands End in Newport, Rhode 
Island. The request was made due to the discontinued use of the 
restricted area. In response to this request by the U.S. Navy, and 
pursuant to its authorities in Section 7 of the Rivers and Harbors Act 
of 1917 (40 Stat. 266; 33 U.S.C. 1) and Chapter XIX of the Army 
Appropriations Act of 1919 (40 Stat. 892; 33 U.S.C. 3), the Corps is 
proposing to amend the regulations in 33 CFR Part 334 by removing 
334.78 to disestablish the restricted area.

Procedural Requirements

    a. Review Under Executive Order 12866. This proposed rule is issued 
with respect to a military function of the Defense Department and the 
provisions of Executive Order 12866 do not apply.
    b. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act. This proposed rule 
has been reviewed under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (Pub. L. 96-354) 
which requires the preparation of a regulatory flexibility analysis for 
any regulation that will have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities (i.e., small businesses and small 
governments). Unless information is obtained to the contrary during the 
public notice comment period, the Corps expects that the amendment of 
this restricted area would have practically no economic impact on the 
public, no anticipated navigational hazard, or interference with 
existing waterway traffic. This proposed rule if adopted, will have no 
significant economic impact on small entities.
    c. Review Under the National Environmental Policy Act. Due to the 
administrative nature of this action, the Corps expects that this 
regulation, if adopted, will not have a significant impact to the 
quality of the human environment and, therefore, preparation of an 
environmental impact statement will not be required. An environmental 
assessment will be prepared after the public notice period is closed 
and all comments have been received and considered. After it is 
prepared, it may be reviewed at the District office listed at the end 
of the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section, above.
    d. Unfunded Mandates Act. The proposed rule does not impose an 
enforceable duty among the private sector and, therefore, is not a 
Federal private sector mandate, and is not subject to the requirements 
of Section 202 or 205 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (Pub. L. 104-
4, 109 Stat. 48, 2 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.). We have also found under 
Section 203 of the Act, that small governments will not be 
significantly or uniquely affected by this rulemaking.

List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 334

    Danger zones, Navigation (water), Restricted areas, Waterways.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Corps proposes to 
amend 33 CFR part 334 as follows:

PART 334--DANGER ZONE AND RESTRICTED AREA REGULATIONS

    1. The authority citation for 33 CFR part 334 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 40 Stat. 266 (33 U.S.C. 1) and 40 Stat. 892 (33 
U.S.C. 3).

Sec.  334.78  [Removed]

    2. Remove Sec.  334.78.

    Dated: March 29, 2012.
Richard C. Lockwood,
Chief, Operations and Regulatory, Directorate of Civil Works.
[FR Doc. 2012-8115 Filed 4-3-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3720-58-P
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