[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 180 (Wednesday, September 17, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 48826]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-24718]
[[Page 48826]]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Department of the Navy
Notice of Availability of a Draft Plan for U.S. Navy Submarine
Solid Waste Management for MARPOL Annex V Special Areas, an Addendum to
the Report to Congress on U.S. Navy Ship Solid Waste Management Plan
for MARPOL Annex V Special Areas of November 1996
SUMMARY: The Department of the Navy (DON) announces the availability of
a document providing the proposed management plan for solid waste
aboard Navy submarines. This document discusses the results of studies
designed to determine the practicability of various options for solid
waste management aboard submarines pursuant to the International
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), Annex V
Special Areas, as required by the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.
As an addendum report to the U.S. Navy's November 1996 Report to
Congress, ``U.S. Navy Ship Solid Waste Management Plan for MARPOL Annex
V Special Areas,'' this document provides additional information on
submarines that was not previously available.
Copies of the U.S. Navy Submarine Solid Waste Management Plan for
MARPOL Annex V Special Areas may be obtained from, and written comments
on the Plan may be submitted to, Mr. Cartwright at the address provided
below.
DATES: Written comments on the Plan will be considered if received by
October 17, 1997.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. David Cartwright NAVSEA 92TE,
Assistant for Submarine Environmental and Occupational Safety Affairs,
Department of the Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command, 2531 Jefferson Davis
Highway, Arlington, VA 22242-5160 [(703) 602-8096 (Ext. 475)].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Navy Submarine Solid Waste
Management 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 required 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 MARPOL. The Navy's 1996
report stated that an addendum would be prepared for submaine solid
waste management. MARPOL establishes rules pertaining to the 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.
The development of the U.S. Navy Submarine Solid Waste Management
Plan has been coordinated with the public through meetings held in
September, 1994, and March, 1997; with the Department of State,
Department of Commerce, Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Coast
Guard, and other Federal agencies. A Notice of a Finding of No
Significant Impact, resulting from an Environmental Assessment on the
Plan, appears in this Federal Register.
The Submarine Solid Waste Management Plan addresses six solid waste
management options. The proposed action is: the discharge of non-
plastic, non-hazardous, negatively buoyant, compacted solid waste,
other than grindable food wastes in special areas beyond 25 nautical
miles (nm) from land, or between 12nm and 25nm only when the depth of
water is greater than 6,000 feet; use of source reduction, non-plastic
``wet bags,'' and compaction technology, which will enable submarines
to retain all plastics for shore disposal by December 31, 2008; and
processing food wastes through a garbage grinder and discharging the
wastes greater than 3nm from land. Implementation of the proposed
action satisfies MARPOL's ``reasonable and practicable'' standard for
warships, but will require an amendment to the Act to Prevent Pollution
from Ships to allow the discharge of compacted, negatively buoyant,
non-plastic solid wastes by submarines in Special Areas.
Dated: September 12, 1997.
Darse E. Crandall,
LCDR, JAGC, USN, Federal Register Liaison Officer.
[FR Doc. 97-24718 Filed 9-16-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3810-FF-P
