2014-19385. United States Navy Restricted Area, Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, USN, Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, Mississippi

AGENCY:

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.

ACTION:

Notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comments.

SUMMARY:

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is proposing to establish a restricted area around the Huntington Ingalls Incorporated/Ingalls Shipbuilding and Dry Dock (HII) facility located in Pascagoula Mississippi, because of the sensitive nature of the on-going and potential future activities at that facility. The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Gulf Coast, located in Pascagoula, Mississippi is responsible for United States Navy shipbuilding activities at the HII facility, USA located in Pascagoula, Mississippi. The proposed restricted area will be used for on-going construction when vessels are placed in the water. The proposed restricted area is essential to protect persons and property from the dangers associated with the operation and safeguard the area from accidents, sabotage and other subversive acts.

DATES:

Written comments must be submitted on or before September 17, 2014.

ADDRESS:

You may submit comments, identified by docket number COE-2014-0008, by any of the following methods:

Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

Email: [e-mail]. Include the docket number COE-2014-0008 in the subject line of the message.

Mail: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CECW-CO (David B. Olson), 441 G Street NW., Washington, DC 20314-1000.

Hand Delivery/Courier: Due to security requirements, we cannot receive comments by hand delivery or courier.

Instructions: Direct your comments to docket number COE-2014-0008. All comments received will be included in the public docket without change and may be made available on-line at http://regulations.gov,, including any personal information provided, unless the commenter indicates that the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to be CBI, or otherwise protected, through regulations.gov or email. The regulations.gov Web site is an anonymous access system, which means we will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an email directly to the Corps without going through regulations.gov, your email address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, we recommend that you include your name and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If we cannot read your comment because of technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, we may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic comments should avoid the use of any special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to www.regulations.gov. All documents in the docket are listed. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, such as CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. David Olson, Headquarters, Operations and Regulatory Community of Practice, Washington, DC at 202-761-4922 or Mr. Philip A. Hegji, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Mobile District, at 251-690-3222.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

The Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, Gulf Coast, located in Pascagoula, Mississippi is responsible for United States Navy shipbuilding activities at HII located in Pascagoula, Mississippi. In accordance with Department of Defense and Department of the Navy guidance, the SUPERVISOR is responsible for the antiterrorism efforts and force protection of Department of the Navy assets under his or her charge.

In response to a request by the United States Navy, and pursuant to its authorities in Section 7 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1917 (40 Stat 266; 33 U.S.C. 1) and Chapter XIX of the Army Appropriations Act of 1919 (40 Stat 892; 33 U.S.C. 3), the Corps is proposing to amend the regulations in 33 CFR Part 334 by establishing a new restricted area.

Procedural Requirements

a. Review Under Executive Order 12866. This proposed rule is issued with respect to a military function of the Defense Department and the provisions of Executive Order 12866 do not apply.

b. Review Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act. This proposed rule has been reviewed under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (Public Law 96-354) which requires the preparation of a regulatory flexibility analysis for any regulation that will have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities (i.e., small businesses and small governments). Unless information is obtained to the contrary during the public notice comment period, the Corps expects that the economic impact of the proposed restricted area would have practically no impact on the public, any anticipated navigational hazard or interference with existing waterway traffic. This proposed rule, if adopted, will have no significant economic impact on small entities.

c. Review Under the National Environmental Policy Act. The Corps expects that the proposed rule will not have a significant impact to the quality of the human environment and, therefore, preparation of an environmental impact statement will not be required. An environmental assessment will be prepared after the public notice period is closed and all comments have been received and considered. After it is prepared, it may be reviewed at the District office listed at the end of the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, above.

d. Unfunded Mandates Act . The proposed rule does not impose an enforceable duty among the private sector and, therefore, is not a Federal private sector mandate and is not subject to the requirements of Section 202 or 205 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (Public Laws 104-4, 109 Stat. 48, 2 U.S.C. 1501 et seq.). We have also found, under Section 203 of the Act, that small governments will not be significantly or uniquely affected by this rulemaking.

List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 334

• Danger Zones
• Navigation (water)
• Restricted Areas
• Waterways

For the reasons set out in the preamble, the Corps proposes to amend 33 CFR Part 334 as follows:

PART 334—DANGER ZONE AND RESTRICTED AREA REGULATIONS

1. The authority citation for 33 CFR part 334 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 40 Stat. 266 (33 U.S.C. 1) and 40 Stat. 892 (33 U.S.C. 3).

2. Add § 334.781 to read as follows:

§ 334.781

Huntington Ingalls Incorporated/Ingalls Shipbuilding and Dry Dock (HII)/Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair (SUPSHIP), Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, Mississippi; Naval Restricted Area.

(a) The area. The datum for all coordinates is in NAD83 in accordance with § 334.6. The restricted area shall encompass all navigable waters of the United States, as defined at part 329 of this chapter, contiguous to the area identified as HII and the mean high water level within an area contained in an “L” shaped area bounded by the shore on the west and north ends of the area and bounded by buoys on the east and south sides of the area starting at: Latitude N 30°21.13′ longitude W 88°34.09′, thence to latitude N 30°21.08′ longitude W 88°34.09′, thence to latitude N 30°21.03′ longitude W 88°34.09′, thence to latitude N 30°20.98′ longitude W 88°34′.09′, thence to latitude N 30°20.93′ longitude W 88°34.09′, thence to latitude N 30°20.89, longitude W 88°34.09′, thence to latitude N 30°20.83′ longitude W 88°34.09′, thence to latitude N 30°20.78′ longitude W 88°34.09′, thence to latitude N 30°20.73′ longitude W 88°34.09′, thence to latitude N 30°20.68′ longitude W 88°34.09′, thence to latitude N 30°20.63′ longitude W 88°34.09′, thence to latitude N 30°20.63′ longitude W 88°34.18′, thence to latitude N 30°20.63′ longitude W 88°34.25′, thence to latitude N 30°20.63′ longitude W 88°34.33′, thence to latitude N 30°20.63′ longitude W 88°34.40′, thence to latitude N 30°20.59′ longitude W 88°34.46′, thence to latitude N 30°20.59′ longitude W 88°34.51′, thence to latitude N 30°20.59′ longitude W 88°34.57′, thence to latitude N 30°20.59′ longitude W 88°34.63′, thence to latitude N 30°20.59′ longitude W 88°34.70′, thence to latitude N 30°20.63′ longitude W 88°34.75′, thence to latitude N 30°20.63′ longitude W 88°34.82′, thence to latitude N 30°20.63′ longitude W 88°34.87′, thence to latitude N 30°20.70′ longitude W 88°34.87′.

(b) The regulations. (1) All persons, swimmers, vessels and other craft, except those vessels under the supervision or contract to local military or Naval authority, vessels of the United States Coast Guard, and local or state law enforcement vessels, are prohibited from entering the restricted area without permission from the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, USN, Gulf Coast or his/her authorized representative.

(2) The restricted area is in effect twenty-four hours per day and seven days a week (24/7).

(3) Should warranted access into the restricted navigation area be needed, all entities are to contact the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, USN, Gulf Coast, Pascagoula, Mississippi, or his/her authorized representative on Marine Communication Channel 16.

(c) Enforcement. The regulation in this section shall be enforced by the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair, USN, Gulf Coast and/or such agencies or persons as he/she may designate.

Dated: August 11, 2014.

James R. Hannon,

Chief, Operations and Regulatory, Directorate of Civil Works.