[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 204 (Monday, October 23, 2006)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 62075-62076]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-8849]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

33 CFR Part 165

[USCG-2006-25767; CGD09-06-123]


Safety Zones; U.S. Coast Guard Water Training Areas, Great Lakes

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of public meetings.

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SUMMARY: This document provides the times and locations of for the 
additional public meetings which will be held by the Coast Guard to 
discuss issues relating to the proposed permanent safety zones located 
in the Great Lakes to conduct live gunnery training exercises. These 
meetings will be open to the public and are in addition to the four 
currently scheduled public meetings.

DATES: The Coast Guard will hold five additional public meetings as 
follows: Monday, October 30, 2006 in Rochester, NY; Wednesday November 
1, Waukegan, IL (Milwaukee, WI / Chicago, IL area); Friday November 3, 
in Charlevoix, MI; Monday, November 6, in Erie, PA; and Wednesday, 
November 8, Sturgeon Bay, WI. If you are unable to attend, you may 
submit comments to the Docket Management Facility by November 13, 2006.

ADDRESSES: The Coast Guard will hold additional public meetings at the 
following addresses:
    1. Rochester, NY: Rochester Fast Ferry Terminal, 1000 N. River 
Street, Rochester, NY 14612, (877) 283-7327;
    2. Chicago, IL/ Milwaukee, WI: Genesee Theatre, 203 N. Genesee 
Street, Waukegan, IL 60085, (847) 782-2366;
    3. Charlevoix, MI: Charlevoix Public Library, 220 W. Clinton 
Street, Charlevoix, MI 49720, (231) 547-2651;
    4. Erie, PA: Port of Erie Cruise Boat Terminal, 1 Holland Street, 
Erie PA 16507, (814) 455-7557; and
    5. Sturgeon Bay, WI: Stoneharbor Resort, 107 North First Avenue, 
Sturgeon Bay, WI (877) 746-0700.
    You may submit your comments and related material by one of the 
following means:
    (1) By mail to the Docket Management Facility (USCG-2006-2567), 
U.S. Department of Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street, 
SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    (2) By delivery to room PL-401 on the Plaza level of the Nassif 
Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m. Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone 
number is 202-366-9329.
    (3) By fax to the Docket Management Facility at 202-493-2251.
    (4) Electronically through the Web site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for the 
rulemaking. Comments and material received from the public will become 
part of this docket and will be available for inspection or copying at 
room PL-401, located on the Plaza level of the Nassif Building at the 
same address between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays. You may electronically access the public docket by 
performing a ``Simple Search'' for docket number 25767 on the Internet 
at http://dms.dot.gov.
    Electronic forms of all comments received into any of our dockets 
can be searched by the name of the individual submitting the comment 
(or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, 
business, labor unit, etc.) and is open to the public without 
restriction. You may review the Department of Transportation's complete 
Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register published on April 11, 
2000 (65 FR 19477-78), or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information concerning 
this notice and the public meeting, contact Commander Gustav Wulfkuhle, 
Chief Enforcement Branch, Ninth Coast Guard District, Cleveland, Ohio 
at (216) 902-6091. If you have any questions on viewing or submitting 
material to the docket, call Renee V. Wright, Program

[[Page 62076]]

Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-493-0402.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Public Meetings

    The Coast Guard will hold five additional public meetings as 
follows: Monday, October 30, 2006 in Rochester, NY; Wednesday November 
1, Waukegan, IL (Milwaukee, WI/Chicago, IL area); Friday, November 3, 
in Charlevoix, MI; Monday, November 6, in Erie, PA; and Wednesday, 
November 8, in Sturgeon Bay, WI. These meetings will be held to take 
comments regarding the proposed Safety Zones; U.S. Coast Guard Water 
Training Areas, Great Lakes, published on August 1, 2006, in the 
Federal Register at 71 FR 43402.
    The Coast Guard encourages interested persons to submit written 
data, views, or comments. Persons submitting comments should please 
include their name and address and identify the docket number (USCG-
2006-25767). You may submit your comments and material by mail, hand 
delivery, fax or electronic means to the Docket Management Facility at 
the address under ADDRESSES.

Regulatory History

    On August 1, 2006, the Coast Guard published a notice of proposed 
rulemaking (NPRM) (71 FR 43402) to establish permanent safety zones 
throughout the Great Lakes, which would restrict vessels from portions 
of the Great Lakes during live fire gun exercises that will be 
conducted by Coast Guard cutters and small boats. The initial comment 
period for this NPRM ended on August 31, 2006. In response to public 
requests, the Coast Guard re-opened the comment period on this NPRM. 
(71 FR 53629, September 12, 2006) Re-opening the comment period from 
September 12, 2006 to November 13, 2006, provides the public more time 
to submit comments and recommendations. On September 19, 2006, the 
Coast Guard published a brief document announcing the dates of public 
meetings. (71 FR 54792) On September 27, 2006 we published a document 
containing detailed information about the first set of meetings. (71 FR 
56420)
    On October 12, 2006, the Coast Guard announced that the addition of 
three more public meetings and again stated that more detailed 
information related to the meetings would be published at a later date. 
(71 FR 60094) This document provides detailed information regarding 
these additional meetings by providing the locations of the public 
meetings and the topics to be discussed. We are also announcing the 
addition of public meetings to be held in Erie, PA and Sturgeon Bay, 
WI.

Background and Purpose

    The thirty-four permanent safety zones proposed in the NPRM will be 
located throughout the Great Lakes in order to accommodate the training 
needs of 57 separate Coast Guard units. The proposed safety zones are 
all located more than three nautical miles from the shoreline. 
Establishing permanent training areas serves to notify the public and 
solicit its input on selection of the training locations.
    The proposed safety zones will be enforced only when training is 
conducted, and then only after notice by the Captain of the Port for 
the area in which the exercise will be held. The Captain of the Port 
will use all appropriate means to effect the widest publicity among the 
affected segments of the public, including publication in the Federal 
Register if practicable, in accordance with 33 CFR 65.7(a). Such means 
of notification may also include, but are not limited to, Broadcast 
Notice to Mariners or Local Notice to Mariners. The appropriate Captain 
of the Port will also issue a Broadcast Notice to Mariners and Local 
Notice to Mariners notifying the public when enforcement of a live fire 
exercise safety zone is suspended.
    Interested individuals are encouraged to attend the open house 
forums and public meetings, provide comments and ask questions about 
the weapons training areas. In the event that the Coast Guard decides 
to conduct a higher level of environmental analysis pursuant to the 
National Environmental Policy Act, input received from all nine public 
meetings in the Great Lakes area will serve as ``scoping,'' to 
determine the issues to be addressed in that analysis.

Meeting Times and Topics

    The meetings are expected to run from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. (local). 
We may end the meetings early if there are no additional comments or 
questions.
    Topics to be covered during the public meetings include the 
following:
    (1) Introduction of the proposed zones and the need to train on the 
Great Lakes;
    (2) How the Coast Guard determined the locations of the zones;
    (3) Scheduling and frequency of training in the zones;
    (4) Notification procedures;
    (5) Safety procedures;
    (6) Weapons and munitions; and
    (7) Environmental risk assessment overview.
    Before the start of the formal public meetings, from 4 p.m. to 5:30 
p.m. (local), the Coast Guard is hosting an open house so that the 
public can speak with Coast Guard personnel and obtain more information 
on the proposed zones.

Procedure

    Each open house and meeting is open to the public. Ideally, 
comments will provide specific information and facts related to the 
impact of the zone(s) on the commenter. Detailed and focused comments 
will enable the Coast Guard to address identified areas of concern in 
the rulemaking process. Please note that the meeting may close early if 
all business is finished. If you are unable to attend, you may submit 
comments to the Docket Management Facility at the address under 
ADDRESSES by November 13, 2006.

Information on Services for Individuals With Disabilities

    If you plan to attend any of the public meetings and require 
special assistance, such as sign language interpretation or other 
reasonable accommodations, please contact us as indicated in FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

    Dated: October 18, 2006.
John E. Crowley, Jr.,
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard, Commander, Ninth Coast Guard District.
[FR Doc. 06-8849 Filed 10-19-06; 3:10 pm]
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