Load lines: Unmanned dry cargo river barges on Lake Michigan routes; exemption from Great Lakes load line requirements,

[Federal Register: December 28, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 248)]

[Proposed Rules]

[Page 71411-71412]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr28de98-17]

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Coast Guard

46 CFR Part 45

[USCG-1998-4623]

RIN 2115-AF38

Limited Service Domestic Voyage Load Lines for River Barges on Lake Michigan

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DOT.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking; extension of comment period.

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is extending the comment period for the notice of proposed rulemaking on Limited Service Domestic Voyage Load Lines for River Barges on Lake Michigan to March 4, 1999, to allow additional time for public comment.

DATES: Comments must reach the Docket Management Facility on or before March 4, 1999.

ADDRESSES: You may mail comments to the Docket Management Facility, (USCG-1998-4623), U.S. Department of Transportation, room PL-401, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington DC 20590-0001, or deliver them to room PL-401, located on the Plaza Level of the Nassif Building at the same address between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The telephone number is 202-366-9329.

The Docket Management Facility maintains the public docket for this rulemaking. Comments will become part of this docket and will be available for inspection or copying at room PL-401, located on the Plaza Level of the Nassif Building at the same address between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. You

[[Page 71412]]

may also access this docket on the Internet at http://dms.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions on this proposed rule, contact Mr. Thomas Jordan, Office of Marine Safety and Environmental Protection (G-MSE-2), U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, Room 1308, telephone 202-267-0142. For questions on viewing or submitting material to the docket, contact Dorothy Walker, Chief, Dockets, Department of Transportation, telephone 202-366-9329.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Request for Comments

The Coast Guard encourages you to participate in this rulemaking by submitting written data, views, or arguments. If you submit comments, you should include your name and address, identify this notice (USCG- 1998-4623) and the specific section or question in this document to which your comments apply, and give the reason for each comment. Please submit all comments and attachments in an unbound format, no larger than 8\1/2\ by 11 inches, suitable for copying and electronic filing to the DOT Docket Management Facility at the address under ADDRESSES. If you want acknowledgment of receipt of your comments, you should enclose a stamped, self-addressed postcard or envelope.

The Coast Guard will consider all comments received during the comment period.

The Coast Guard may schedule a public meeting depending on input received in response to this notice. You may request a public meeting by submitting a request to the address under ADDRESSES. The request should include the reasons why a meeting would be beneficial. If we determine that a public meeting should be held, we will hold the meeting at a time and place announced by a later notice in the Federal Register.

Background and Purpose

On November 2, 1998, the Coast Guard published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register (63 FR 58679). The NPRM proposes exempting certain unmanned dry cargo river barges from the normal Great Lakes load line requirements to operate on Lake Michigan. Instead, these river barges would need to obtain a limited domestic service load line for two specific routes (between Chicago, Illinois and Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and between Chicago and Muskegon, Michigan). This proposed rule would allow direct river barge transport of certain non-hazardous cargoes from inland river ports to Milwaukee and Muskegon while maintaining a relatively low cost-per-ton-mile rate for river barge transportation.

In response to the NPRM, a multi-industry group associated with the river barge transport of bulk ore along the southern shore of Lake Michigan to Burns Harbor, Indiana contacted the Coast Guard. The group recently met to review the proposed regulations and was concerned that there will not be enough time to develop and submit a consolidated response to the docket before the NPRM comment period closes on January 4, 1999. As a result, the group has requested an extension of the comment period. The Coast Guard accepts this as a reasonable request. We are extending the NPRM comment period to March 4, 1999.

Dated: December 21, 1998. Howard L. Hime, Acting, Director for Standards.

[FR Doc. 98-34200Filed12-24-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910-15-U