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[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 180 (Wednesday, September 17, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 48826]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-24718]

[[Page 48826]]

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Navy

Notice of Availability of a Draft Plan for U.S. Navy Submarine 
Solid Waste Management for MARPOL Annex V Special Areas, an Addendum to 
the Report to Congress on U.S. Navy Ship Solid Waste Management Plan 
for MARPOL Annex V Special Areas of November 1996

SUMMARY: The Department of the Navy (DON) announces the availability of 
a document providing the proposed management plan for solid waste 
aboard Navy submarines. This document discusses the results of studies 
designed to determine the practicability of various options for solid 
waste management aboard submarines pursuant to the International 
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), Annex V 
Special Areas, as required by the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. 
As an addendum report to the U.S. Navy's November 1996 Report to 
Congress, ``U.S. Navy Ship Solid Waste Management Plan for MARPOL Annex 
V Special Areas,'' this document provides additional information on 
submarines that was not previously available.
    Copies of the U.S. Navy Submarine Solid Waste Management Plan for 
MARPOL Annex V Special Areas may be obtained from, and written comments 
on the Plan may be submitted to, Mr. Cartwright at the address provided 
below.

DATES: Written comments on the Plan will be considered if received by 
October 17, 1997.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David Cartwright NAVSEA 92TE, 
Assistant for Submarine Environmental and Occupational Safety Affairs, 
Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command, 2531 Jefferson Davis 
Highway, Arlington, VA 22242-5160 [(703) 602-8096 (Ext. 475)].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Navy Submarine Solid Waste 
Management Plan is being prepared pursuant to Section 1003(c)(2) of the 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994, Public Law 
103-160, codified at 33 U.S.C. 1902(2)-(4). That statute required the 
Secretary of the Navy to submit, by 30 November 1996, a plan for 
compliance by all ships owned or operated by the DON with the 
requirements of regulation 5 of Annex V of MARPOL. The Navy's 1996 
report stated that an addendum would be prepared for submaine solid 
waste management. MARPOL establishes rules pertaining to the discharge 
of shipboard solid waste from vessels operating in designated ``special 
areas'' of the world, of which three are currently in effect: the 
Baltic Sea, the North Sea and the Antarctic Region.
    The development of the U.S. Navy Submarine Solid Waste Management 
Plan has been coordinated with the public through meetings held in 
September, 1994, and March, 1997; with the Department of State, 
Department of Commerce, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Coast 
Guard, and other Federal agencies. A Notice of a Finding of No 
Significant Impact, resulting from an Environmental Assessment on the 
Plan, appears in this Federal Register.
    The Submarine Solid Waste Management Plan addresses six solid waste 
management options. The proposed action is: the discharge of non-
plastic, non-hazardous, negatively buoyant, compacted solid waste, 
other than grindable food wastes in special areas beyond 25 nautical 
miles (nm) from land, or between 12nm and 25nm only when the depth of 
water is greater than 6,000 feet; use of source reduction, non-plastic 
``wet bags,'' and compaction technology, which will enable submarines 
to retain all plastics for shore disposal by December 31, 2008; and 
processing food wastes through a garbage grinder and discharging the 
wastes greater than 3nm from land. Implementation of the proposed 
action satisfies MARPOL's ``reasonable and practicable'' standard for 
warships, but will require an amendment to the Act to Prevent Pollution 
from Ships to allow the discharge of compacted, negatively buoyant, 
non-plastic solid wastes by submarines in Special Areas.

    Dated: September 12, 1997.
Darse E. Crandall,
LCDR, JAGC, USN, Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 97-24718 Filed 9-16-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3810-FF-P
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