Document ID: USCG-2014-0063-0025
Agency: uscg
Document Type: Proposed Rule
Title: Requirements for MODUs and Other Vessels Conducting Outer Continental Shelf Activities With Dynamic Positioning Systems
Posted Date: 2015-02-06T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 25 (Friday, February 6, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 6679-6680]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02415]

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

33 CFR Parts 140, 143, and 146

46 CFR Parts 61 and 62

[USCG-2014-0063]
RIN 1625-AC16

Requirements for MODUs and Other Vessels Conducting Outer 
Continental Shelf Activities With Dynamic Positioning Systems--Comment 
Period Extension

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is extending for 90 days the comment period 
for the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) entitled ``Requirements 
for MODUs and Other Vessels Conducting Outer Continental Shelf 
Activities With Dynamic Positioning Systems'' published on November 28, 
2014. This extension is necessary to allow sufficient time for the 
Coast Guard to hold a public meeting and receive any subsequent public 
comments on the NPRM.

DATES: Comments and related material must either be submitted to our 
online docket via http://www.regulations.gov on or before May 27, 2015 
or reach the Docket Management Facility by that date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by docket number USCG-
2014-0481 using any one of the following methods:
    (1) Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.
    (2) Fax: 202-493-2251.
    (3) Mail: Docket Management Facility (M-30), U.S. Department of 
Transportation, West Building Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    (4) Hand delivery: Same as mail address above, between 9 a.m. and 5 
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone 
number is 202-366-9329.
    To avoid duplication, please use only one of these four methods. 
See the ``Public Participation and Request for Comments'' portion of 
the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section below for instructions on 
submitting comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions on this notice, 
call or email LT Stephanie Waller, Human Element and Ship Design 
Division, Commandant (CG-ENG-1), Coast Guard; telephone 202-372-1374, 
email Stephanie.E.Waller@uscg.mil, or fax 202-372-8380. If you have 
questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Ms. 
Cheryl Collins, Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-366-
9826.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Public Participation and Request for Comments

    We encourage you to participate in this rulemaking by submitting 
comments and related materials. All comments received will be posted 
without change to http://www.regulations.gov and will include any 
personal information you have provided.

A. Submitting Comments

    If you submit a comment, please include the docket number for this 
rulemaking (USCG-2014-0063), indicate the specific section of this 
document to which each comment applies, and provide a reason for each 
suggestion or recommendation. You may submit your comments and material 
online or by fax, mail, or hand delivery, but please use only one of 
these means. We recommend that you include your name and a mailing 
address, an email address, or a phone number in the body of your 
document so that we can contact you if we have questions regarding your 
submission.
    To submit your comment online, go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
insert ``USCG-2014-0063'' in the ``Search'' box. Click on ``Submit a 
Comment'' in the ``Actions'' column. If you submit your comments 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 comments by mail and would like to know that 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 and may change this notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) 
based on your comments.

B. Viewing Comments and Documents

    To view comments, as well as documents mentioned in this preamble 
as being available in the docket, go to http://www.regulations.gov and 
insert ``USCG-2014-0063'' in the ``Search'' box. Click ``Search.'' 
Click the ``Open Docket Folder'' in the ``Actions'' column. If you do 
not have access to the Internet, you may view the docket online by 
visiting the Docket Management Facility in Room W12-140 on the ground 
floor of the Department of Transportation West Building, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., 
Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. We have an agreement 
with the Department of Transportation to use the Docket Management 
Facility.

C. Privacy Act

    Anyone can search the electronic form of comments received into any 
of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or 
signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, 
business, labor union, etc.). You may review a Privacy Act notice 
regarding our public dockets in the January 17, 2008 issue of the 
Federal Register (73 FR 3316).

II. Background and Purpose

    The Coast Guard published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in 
the Federal Register on November 28, 2014 entitled, ``Requirements for 
MODUs and Other Vessels Conducting Outer Continental Shelf Activities 
With Dynamic Positioning Systems'' (79 FR 70943). The proposed rule 
would establish minimum design, operation, training, and manning 
standards for mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs) and other vessels 
using dynamic positioning systems to engage in Outer Continental Shelf 
activities. Establishing these minimum standards is necessary to 
improve the safety of people and property involved in such operations, 
and the protection of the environment in which they operate. The rule 
would decrease the risk of a loss of position by a dynamically-
positioned MODU or other vessel that could result in a fire, explosion, 
or subsea spill, and support the Coast Guard's strategic goals of 
maritime safety and protection of natural resources.
    In the NPRM, we stated our intention to hold a public meeting, and 
to publish a notice to announce the location and date of that meeting 
(79 FR 70944). In order to allow sufficient time for the Coast Guard to 
hold such a meeting and receive any subsequent public comments on the 
NPRM, we are

[[Page 6680]]

extending the end of the public comment period from February 26, 2015 
to May 27, 2015.

III. Authority

    This notice is issued under the authority of 5 U.S.C. 552(a).

    Dated: February 3, 2015.
J.G. Lantz,
Director of Commercial Regulations and Standards, U.S. Coast Guard.
[FR Doc. 2015-02415 Filed 2-5-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110-04-P