E9-21975. Standards for Living Organisms in Ships' Ballast Water Discharged in U.S. Waters

AGENCY:

Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION:

Notice of public meetings.

SUMMARY:

The Coast Guard announces a series of public meetings to receive comments on a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) entitled “Standards for Living Organisms in Ships' Ballast Water Discharged in U.S. Waters” that published in the Federal Register on Friday, August 28, 2009.

DATES:

Public meetings will be held in the Seattle, WA (September 28, 2009), New Orleans, LA (September 30, 2009), Chicago, IL (October 2, 2009), Washington, DC (October 8, 2009), Oakland, CA (October 27, 2009), and New York, NY (October 29, 2009) areas to provide opportunities for oral comments. Written comments and related material may also be submitted to Coast Guard personnel specified at those meetings for inclusion in the official docket for this rulemaking. The comment period for the NPRM closes on November 27, 2009. All comments and related material submitted after the meeting must either be submitted to our online docket via http://www.regulations.gov on or before November 27, 2009 or reach the Docket Management Facility by that date.

ADDRESSES:

The public meetings will be held in the Seattle, WA (September 28, 2009), New Orleans, LA (September 30, 2009), Chicago, IL (October 2, 2009), Washington, DC (October 8, 2009), Oakland, CA (October 27, 2009), and New York, NY (October 29, 2009) areas. The specific locations and details will be announced in the Federal Register when they are finalized.

You may submit written comments identified by docket number USCG-2001-10486 before or after the meetings using any one of the following methods:

(1) Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov.

(2) Fax: [phone].

(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. Our online docket for this rulemaking is available on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov under docket number USCG-2001-10486.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

If you have questions on this proposed rulemaking, call or e-mail Mr. John Morris, Project Manager, Environmental Standards Division, U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, telephone [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. If you have questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket, call Ms. Renee V. Wright, Program Manager, Docket Operations, telephone [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background and Purpose

The Coast Guard published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register on Friday, August 28, 2009 (74 FR 44632), entitled “Standards for Living Organisms in Ships' Ballast Water Discharged in U.S. Waters.” In it, we stated our intention to hold public meetings, and to publish a notice with additional details regarding those public meetings as soon as the information was available. 74 FR 44632. This notice informs the public of the date for each public meeting, as well as the city in which those meetings will be held. Additional notice(s) will be published in the Federal Register as specific locations and details for these meetings are finalized. We plan to record these meetings and provide written transcripts of the oral comments made at the meetings and will place those transcripts in the docket for this rulemaking.

Information on Service for Individuals With Disabilities

For information on facilities or services for individuals with disabilities or to request special assistance at the public meetings, contact Mr. John Morris at the telephone number or e-mail address indicated under the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this notice.

Dated: September 4, 2009.

J.G. Lantz,

Director of Commercial Regulations and Standards, U.S. Coast Guard.