19264 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 1, 1996 / Notices

Pennsylvana Ave. SE). It will begin with

an open house at 1:00 PM followed by

the scoping meeting at 2:00 PM. Navy

representatives will make a brief

presentation, then members of the

public will be asked to provide their

comments. It is important that federal,

state, and local agencies and interested

individuals take this opportunity to

identify environmental concerns that

should be addressed in the EIS. In the

interest of time, speakers will be asked

to limit comments to five minutes.

ADDRESSES: Agencies and the public are

encouraged to provide written

comments in addition to, or, in lieu of,

oral comments at the scoping meeting.

To be most helpful, comments should

clearly describe specific issues or topics

which the EIS should address. Written

comments must be postmarked by June

1, 1996, and should be mailed to

Commanding Officer, Engineering Field

Activity Chesapeake, Naval Facilities

Engineering Command, Washington

Navy Yard, Bldg. 212, 901 M Street SE,

Washington DC 20374–5018 (Attn: Mr.

Hank Riek), telephone (202) 685–3064,

facsimile (202) 685–3350. The scoping

meeting will be conducted in English,

and requests for language interpreters or

other special communications needs

should be made to Mr. Riek at least one

week prior to the meeting. The Navy

will make every reasonable effort to

accommodate these needs.

Dated: April 26, 1996.

M.A. Waters,

LCDR, JAGC, USN, Federal Register Liaison

Officer.

[FR Doc. 96–10746 Filed 4–30–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3810–FF–M

Notice of Availability of a Draft Plan for

U.S. Navy Compliance With

Regulations 5 of Annex V to the

MARPOL Convention, and of a Draft

Environmental Impact Statement

(DEIS) for Disposal of U.S. Navy

Shipboard Solid Waste, and Notice of

Public Hearing To Receive Comments

on the DEIS

SUMMARY: The Department of the Navy

(DON) announces the availability of two

documents pertaining to the

management of solid waste aboard Navy

ships. The first is a Draft Plan for

Compliance with Regulation 5 of Annex

V to the MARPOL Convention by

vessels owned or operated by the

Department of the Navy. The second

document is a Draft Environmental

Impact Statement (DEIS) for Disposal of

U.S. Navy Shipboard Solid Waste.

Copies of these documents can be

obtained by contacting Mr. Robert

Ostermueller, Planner in Charge,

Northern Division, Naval Facilities

Engineering Command, 10 Industrial

Highway, Mail Stop #82, Lester,

Pennsylvania 19113–2090, telephone

(610) 595–0759, fax (610) 595–0778.

Federal, state and local agencies, and

interested individuals, are encouraged

to submit comments regarding the draft

Plan and/or the DEIS. Written

comments may be submitted to Mr.

Ostermueller at the above address. The

Navy will also hold two public meetings

to receive oral or written comments on

either or both documents. The first

meeting will be held at 7:30 PM on

Tuesday May 28, 1996, at the Holiday

Inn, 625 First Street, Alexandria,

Virginia, 22314. The second meeting

will be held at 7:30 PM on Thursday,

May 30, 1996, at the Clift Hotel, 495

Geary Street, San Francisco, CA, 94120.

In the interest of available time, each

speaker will be asked to limit oral

comments to five minutes. Longer

comments should be summarized at the

public meeting or mailed to the address

indicated above.

DATES: Written comments on the Plan

and/or the DEIS will be considered if

received by Mr. Ostermueller at the

above address not later than June 17,

1996. Oral or written comments will

also be considered if presented at one of

the public meetings discussed above, to

be held on May 28 and 30, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

CDR Lane Willson, U.S. Navy,

Shipboard Solid Waste Project Manager,

Chief of Naval Operations (N45) 2211 S.

Clark Place, Arlington, VA 22244–5108,

(703) 602–8794.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

Special Area Compliance 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 requires 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 the International Convention for

the Prevention of Pollution from Ships

(MARPOL). Regulation 5 of Annex V

establishes rules pertaining to 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.

Essentially Regulation 5 of Annex V

prohibits all discharges of solid waste,

other than food waste, from ships in

‘‘in-effect’’ special areas.

The Compliance Plan must be

submitted in consultation with the

Secretary of State, the Secretary of

Commerce, the Secretary of

Transportation and the Administrator of

the Environmental Protection Agency.

The statute also requires the

opportunity for public participation in

the Plan’s development, and for public

comment on the Plan.

Pursuant to the statutory mandate to

provide opportunity for public

participation in the development of the

plan, DON announced commencement

of the Plan’s development in the

Federal Register of July 21, 1994 (59

Fed. Reg. 37223). That announcement

identified three solid waste management

alternatives that would be considered:

on-board destruction through

incineration or some form of advanced

waste destruction technology; storage

aboard ship for later offload ashore; and

on-board processing and discharge at

sea of waste products. The

announcement solicited public

comment on the Compliance Plan,

specifically requesting comment on the

scope of alternatives to be considered,

on the studies considered necessary, on

measures of merit by which to evaluate

the alternatives, and on suggested

technologies or strategies for

compliance. Written comments from the

public were invited. The July 21, 1994,

Federal Register notice also announced

a September 20, 1994 public meeting, at

which the Navy presented information

on and received public comment

concerning preparation of the

Compliance Plan. In November 1995

and again in February 1996 the Navy

met with representatives of federal and

state environmental agencies, industry

and environmental interest groups in

order to obtain their views regarding the

Plan. These efforts, this notice’s request

for comments on the Plan, and the

opportunity for public involvement in

the DEIS development, described below,

provide the public with the opportunity

to participate in development of the

Compliance Plan.

The draft Plan concludes that it is not

technologically feasible, within the

foreseeable future, for certain Navy

vessels to comply fully with the special

area discharge limitations of Regulation

5 of Annex V, while at the same time

maintaining the required level of

operational capability. Full compliance

would require all naval vessels

operating in ‘‘in-effect’’ special areas to

adopt either the onboard destruction or

the storage and retrograde approach to

shipboard solid waste management. The

draft Plan demonstrates that, given the

current state of demonstrated shipboard

solid waste management technology,

adoption of either approach would

materially interfere with the operations
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 1, 1996 / Notices 19265

and operational capability of certain

U.S. Navy warships operating in ‘‘ineffect’’ special areas.

The draft Plan identifies as the Navy’s

preferred alternative a combination of

waste management approaches for the

Fleet, depending upon the design,

construction, manning and operating

profiles of the various ship types. Navy

vessels smaller than frigates, such as

fleet ocean tugs, rescue and salvage

vessels, mine countermeasure ships and

coastal patrol craft, have relatively small

crews and typically remain at sea in ‘‘ineffect’’ special areas for only a few days

at a time. Given these circumstances it

is feasible for these vessels, employing

compaction technology, to retain solid

waste on board for shore disposal. For

these vessels, therefore, the Navy’s

preferred alternative for special area

compliance is storage and retrograde of

solid waste.

The draft plan indicates that ocean

going surface vessels of frigate size and

larger are technologically unable to

comply with the special area discharge

limitations of Regulation 5 of Annex V

while maintaining required levels of

operational capability. U.S. Navy

frigates are vessels approximately 450

feet in length and with a displacement

of roughly 4,100 tons. The Navy’s

preferred special area compliance

alternative for these vessels is a

combination of management practices.

Plastic and hazardous waste would be

stored aboard for recycling or disposal

ashore. The remaining solid waste

streams, consisting of paper, cardboard

metal and glass, would be processed

using shipboard equipment and

discharged overboard. Paper, cardboard

and food waste would be processed in

a pulper, creating a slurry of those

wastes in seawater, which would be

discharged overboard. Metal and glass

would be processed in a shredder,

which would tear or break metal cans

and glass containers into small pieces.

The processed waste would then be

bagged in burlap and discharged

overboard.

The Compliance Plan does not

address submarines; further research

and development is needed to resolve

the particular solid waste challenges

unique to submarines. In the meantime,

submarines will continue to minimize

waste generated at sea through intensive

source reduction efforts at the pier.

Although it would be consistent with

the MARPOL Convention, which

requires reasonable and practicable

compliance efforts of warships, the

Navy’s preferred alternative for frigate

size and larger vessels would not be

consistent with a future requirement of

the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships

(APPS), 33 U.S.C. 1901 et seq. Section

1902(c)(1) of APPS requires Navy

surface vessels to comply with

MARPOL special area requirements by

31 December 2000. To avoid

inconsistency with U.S. law after the

year 2000, and in accordance with

Section 1902(c) (3) and (4), the Navy is

recommending a legislative amendment

to APPS that will allow discharge after

the date of non-plastic, non-floating

pulped and shredded material in special

areas of certain naval vessels. This

authorization would extend only to

those vessels that the Secretary of the

Navy determines are prevented by their

uniquely military design, construction,

manning or operating requirements from

being capable of meeting the Regulation

5 of Annex V discharge standards. The

proposed legislation would prohibit the

discharge of pulped material within 3

nautical miles of the nearest land, and

would prohibit the discharge of

shredded material within 12 nautical

miles of the nearest land.

The Draft Environmental Impact

Statement (DEIS) on Disposal of U.S.

Navy Shipboard Solid Waste was

developed pursuant to Executive Order

12114 (Environmental Effects Abroad of

Major Federal Actions), and Section

102(2)(C) of the National Environmental

Policy Act of 1969, as implemented by

the Council on Environmental Quality

regulations (40 CFR 1500–1508). A

Notice of Intent to prepare the

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)

was provided in the Federal Register on

October 12, 1995 (60 FR 53171). The

notice reiterated the solid waste

disposal alternatives that would be

considered, and announced public

scoping meetings. These meetings were

held in Alexandria, VA, and in San

Francisco, CA, in October 1995.

The DEIS addresses the

environmental consequences of each of

the alternative means of shipboard solid

waste management, and identifies the

same preferred alternative as does the

Compliance Plan. The DEIS has been

provided to Congress in conjunction

with the Navy’s APPS legislative

proposal, discussed above. Hence, the

DEIS serves also as a Legislative

Environmental Impact Statement (LEIS)

to assist in Congressional consideration

of the legislative proposal. If enacted,

the amendment to APPS would

authorize, but not require, the Navy to

implement its currently identified

preferred alternative as the Navy’s final

plan for special area compliance.

As indicated above, comment on the

draft Compliance Plan and on the DEIS

is required not later than June 17, 1996.

The Navy will consider all comments

and anticipates promulgating a final

Compliance Plan and Final EIS in late

summer or early fall, 1996.

Dated: April 26, 1996.

M.A. Waters,

LCDR, JAGC, USN Federal Register Liaison

Officer.

[FR Doc. 96–10745 Filed 4–30–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3810–FF–M

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Notice of Proposed Information

Collection Requests

AGENCY: Department of Education.

ACTION: Submission for OMB review;

comment request.

SUMMARY: The Director, Information

Resources Group, invites comments on

the proposed information collection

requests as required by the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to

submit comments on or before May 31,

1996.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be addressed to the Office of

Information and Regulatory Affairs,

Attention: Wendy Taylor, Desk Officer,

Department of Education, Office of

Management and Budget, 725 17th

Street, NW., Room 10235, New

Executive Office Building, Washington,

DC 20503. Requests for copies of the

proposed information collection

requests should be addressed to Patrick

J. Sherrill, Department of Education, 600

Independence Avenue, S.W., Room

5624, Regional Office Building 3,

Washington, DC 20202–4651.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Patrick J. Sherrill (202) 708–8196.

Individuals who use a

telecommunications device for the deaf

(TDD) may call the Federal Information

Relay Service (FIRS) at 1–800–877–8339

between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern time,

Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section

3506 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of

1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35) requires

that the Office of Management and

Budget (OMB) provide interested

Federal agencies and the public an early

opportunity to comment on information

collection requests. OMB may amend or

waive the requirement for public

consultation to the extent that public

participation in the approval process

would defeat the purpose of the

information collection, violate State or

Federal law, or substantially interfere

with any agency’s ability to perform its

statutory obligations. The Director of the

Information Resources Group publishes

this notice containing proposed