Document ID: USCG-2011-1024-0006
Agency: uscg
Document Type: Proposed Rule
Title: PR:  Vessel Traffic Service Updates: Establishment of Vessel Traffic Service Requirements for Port Arthur, Texas and Expansion of VTS Special Operating Area in Puget Sound (Federal Register Publication)
Posted Date: 2012-10-18T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 202 (Thursday, October 18, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 64076-64077]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-25239]

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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

33 CFR Part 161

[Docket No. USCG-2011-1024]
RIN 1625-AB81

Vessel Traffic Service Updates, Including Establishment of Vessel 
Traffic Service Requirements for Port Arthur, Texas and Expansion of 
VTS Special Operating Area in Puget Sound

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Proposed rule; correction.

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SUMMARY: This document contains a correction to the notice of proposed 
rulemaking published in the Federal Register on September 10, 2012 (77 
FR 55439), which proposes to revise and update the Vessel Traffic 
Service regulations in 33 CFR part 161.

DATES: Comments and related material must either be submitted to our 
online

[[Page 64077]]

docket via http://www.regulations.gov on or before December 10, 2012, 
or reach the Docket Management Facility by that date.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by docket number USCG-
2011-1024 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 in the notice of proposed 
rulemaking published in the Federal Register on September 10, 2012 (77 
FR 55439) for instructions on submitting comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lieutenant Commander Patricia 
Springer, CG-7413, U.S. Coast Guard, telephone 202-372-2576; email 
Patricia.J.Springer@uscg.mil. If you have questions on viewing or 
submitting material to the docket, call Ms. Renee V. Wright, Program 
Manager, Docket Operations, telephone 202-366-9826.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On September 10, 2012, the Coast Guard published a notice of 
proposed rulemaking (NPRM) (77 FR 55439) which proposes to revise 
certain Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) regulations in 33 CFR part 161. 
The proposed revisions include adding the Maritime Mobile Service 
Identifiers (MMSI) for Louisville and Los Angeles/Long Beach.
    In the Regulatory Analysis of the NPRM, we said that we do not 
expect these revisions to result in additional costs to the public or 
industry (77 FR 55441). After publication of that NPRM, however, the 
Coast Guard realized that revising Table 161.12(c) for the purpose of 
adding an MMSI number for VTS Louisville and Los Angeles/Long Beach 
would impose Automatic Identification System (AIS) equipment costs for 
owners and operators of the vessel type identified in Sec.  
164.46(a)(3) and that operate in either of these two VTS areas. That 
action was not intended, and is the subject of a separate rulemaking 
project.\1\
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    \1\ On December 16, 2008, the Coast Guard published a Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking entitled ``Vessel Requirements for Notices of 
Arrival and Departure, and Automatic Identification System.'' In 
this NPRM, the Coast Guard proposes to expand AIS applicability to 
all U.S. navigable waters. (73 FR 76295).
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Need for Correction

    Although the Coast Guard highly encourages the use of AIS in U.S. 
navigable waters, it was not the Coast Guard's intention, through this 
proposed rulemaking, to apply the AIS carriage requirements that are 
set forth in Sec.  164.46 to vessels operating within VTS Louisville 
and Los Angeles/Long Beach waters. Currently, under existing Part 161, 
Note 1 to Table 161.12(c), the AIS broadcast and carriage requirements 
set forth in Sec. Sec.  161.21 and 164.46 apply to each VTS location 
identified in Table 161.12(c) that are denoted with an MMSI number. 
Because the addition of VTS Louisville's and Los Angeles/Long Beach 
MMSI numbers to Table 161.12(c) would inadvertently impose AIS carriage 
requirements to certain categories of vessels operating in these VTS 
areas, the Coast Guard is making a conforming correction to Note 1 to 
Table 161.12(c) by adding, at the end of Note 1, the words ``except for 
Louisville and Los Angeles/Long Beach.''
    The following correction is issued based on authority under 33 
U.S.C. 1223, 1231; 46 U.S.C. 70114, 70119; Public Law 107-295, 116 
Stat. 2064; Department of Homeland Security Delegation No. 0170.1.

Correction

    The proposed regulatory text of the notice of proposed rulemaking 
entitled ``Vessel Traffic Service Updates, Including Establishment of 
Vessel Traffic Service Requirements for Port Arthur, TX and Expansion 
of VTS Special Operating Area in Puget Sound,'' published September 10, 
2012, is corrected as follows:

Sec.  161.12  [Corrected]

    In proposed rule FR Doc. 2012-22164 published on September 10, 2012 
(77 FR 55439), make the following correction: On page 55446, in the 
last sentence of Note 1 of Table 161.12(c), remove the period, and add, 
in its place, the words ``except for Louisville and Los Angeles/Long 
Beach.''

    Dated: October 9, 2012.
Kathryn A. Sinniger,
Chief, Office of Regulations and Administrative Law, U.S. Coast Guard.
[FR Doc. 2012-25239 Filed 10-17-12; 8:45 am]
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