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[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 190 (Monday, October 3, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57612-57613]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-19662]

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[USCG-2005-22499]

Integrated Anti-Swimmer System; Draft Programmatic Environmental 
Assessment

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard announces the availability of the Draft 
Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA) of the Integrated Anti-
Swimmer System (IAS). The Coast Guard is proposing to deploy and 
operate the IAS for temporary periods at various U.S. ports throughout 
the U.S. Maritime Domain, when necessary. The purpose of the Proposed 
Action is to increase the Coast Guard's ability to detect, track, 
classify, and interdict, if necessary, potential underwater threats and 
as a result, protect personnel, ships, and property from sabotage and/
or other subversive acts. Potential threats targeted by the IAS include 
combat divers and unmanned vehicles. The IAS will be co-located with, 
and used by, the Coast Guard's newly established Maritime Safety and 
Security Teams (MSSTs). The IAS is proposed to be used at a range 
necessary to maintain situational awareness and allow the MSSTs 
sufficient time to react and counter a detected threat. Extensive 
research and analysis of alternatives has led to the conclusion that an 
active sonar system is the only currently available technology that 
affords this capability.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management 
Facility on or before November 17, 2005.

ADDRESSES: To make sure that your comments and related material are not 
entered more than once in the docket, please submit them by only one of 
the following means:
    (1) Electronically through the Web Site for the Docket Management 
System at http://dms.dot.gov.
    (2) By mail to the Docket Management Facility, (USCG-2005-22499), 
U.S. Department of Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., 
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    (3) By fax to the Docket Management Facility at 202-493-2251.
    (4) 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.
    The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this 
notice. Comments and material received from the public, as well as the 
draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), will become part of 
this docket and will be available for inspection or copying at 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. You may also find this docket, including the 
PEA, on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice, 
the proposed project, or the associated PEA, call Mr. Kenneth McDaniel 
at (202) 267-1505 or by e-mail at [email protected]. If you have 
questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Andrea 
M. Jenkins, Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-366-0271.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

    We encourage you to submit comments and related material on the 
draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA). If you do so, please 
include your name and address, identify the docket number for this 
notice (USCG-2005-22499) and give the reasons for each comment. 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; but please submit your comments and material by only one 
means. If you submit them by mail or hand delivery, submit them in an 
unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for 
copying and electronic filing. If you submit them by mail and would 
like to know they reached the Facility, please enclose a stamped, self-
addressed postcard or envelope. We will consider all comments and 
material received during the comment period.

Proposed Action

    Domestic port safety and security has long been a core Coast Guard 
mission. However, in the wake of the terrorist attacks committed on 
September 11, 2001, emerging threats to the U.S. homeland have prompted 
an increased Coast Guard focus on protecting domestic ports and the 
U.S. Maritime Transportation System from terrorist threats.
    As part of the U.S. response to these threats, the Coast Guard has 
undertaken

[[Page 57613]]

a PEA to examine alternatives and assess the significance of the 
impacts on the quality of the human environment for the decision to 
deploy and operate IASs at various U.S. ports throughout the U.S. 
Maritime Domain, when necessary.

Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment

    We have prepared a draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment 
(PEA). The draft PEA identifies and examines the reasonable 
alternatives and assesses their potential environmental impact.
    Our preferred alternative is to use the IAS to protect personnel, 
ships, and property from sabotage or other subversive acts. The IAS 
consists of five primary components: A land-based sonar, a portable 
(vessel mounted) sonar, a data processor, a vehicle guidance system, 
and an underwater loud hailer. Use of the IAS would be limited to 
existing harbor infrastructure and adjacent waters. The IAS is not 
designed or intended for use offshore.
    The system would be used for specific and finite periods of time to 
protect specific assets. During these times, the sonar would be 
operated and monitored continuously. The loud hailer would be used only 
if an actual threat was identified.
    Recently, the Coast Guard completed environmental assessments (EAs) 
that address the impact of IAS deployment and operation in Galveston 
Bay, TX and San Pedro Bay, CA. The result of these EAs was a finding of 
no significant impact. The Coast Guard also engaged in informal 
consultation with the National Marine Fisheries Service pursuant to the 
section 7 of the Endangered Species Act, which resulted in a 
determination that deployment and operation of the IAS in Galveston 
Bay, TX and San Pedro Bay, CA is not likely to adversely affect 
threatened or endangered species or critical habitat, nor is it likely 
to result in the take of marine mammals in those bays. Similarly, there 
was no evidence to suggest that IAS deployment and operation would 
adversely affect essential fish habitat or have an impact on coastal 
uses and resources.
    We are requesting your comments on environmental concerns you may 
have related to the PEA. This includes suggesting analyses and 
methodologies for use in the PEA or possible sources of data or 
information not included in the PEA. Your comments will be considered 
in preparing the final PEA.

    Dated: September 23, 2005.
Kevin G. Quigley,
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Chief, Office of Defense Operations.
[FR Doc. 05-19662 Filed 9-30-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-15-U
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