Establishment of Three Danger Zones for the Naval Support Activity Annapolis, Annapolis, Maryland, in the Waters of Carr Creek and Whitehall Bay

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Published

December 5, 2022

Issuing agencies

Defense DepartmentEngineers Corps

Abstract

The Corps of Engineers is proposing to establish three danger zones in the waters of Carr Creek and Whitehall Bay in the vicinity of the Naval Support Activity Annapolis. The establishment of the proposed danger zone in Carr Creek is necessary to enable safe operation of the United States Naval Academy firing range and to reflect the routine and periodic usage of the firing range for training sailors, midshipmen, and law enforcement personnel. The establishment of the two proposed danger zones in Whitehall Bay is necessary to enable the safe operation of the United States Naval Academy firing range and to reflect irregular and infrequent usage of the range for training sailors, midshipmen, and law enforcement personnel. The firing range faces Carr Creek and, during times of operation, may present a danger to vessels located in the areas of the proposed danger zones.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 232 (Monday, December 5, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 232 (Monday, December 5, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 74348-74349]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-26367]

[[Page 74348]]

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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Department of the Army, Corps of Engineers

33 CFR Part 334

[COE-2022-0009]

Establishment of Three Danger Zones for the Naval Support
Activity Annapolis, Annapolis, Maryland, in the Waters of Carr Creek
and Whitehall Bay

AGENCY: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, DoD.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Corps of Engineers is proposing to establish three danger
zones in the waters of Carr Creek and Whitehall Bay in the vicinity of
the Naval Support Activity Annapolis. The establishment of the proposed
danger zone in Carr Creek is necessary to enable safe operation of the
United States Naval Academy firing range and to reflect the routine and
periodic usage of the firing range for training sailors, midshipmen,
and law enforcement personnel. The establishment of the two proposed
danger zones in Whitehall Bay is necessary to enable the safe operation
of the United States Naval Academy firing range and to reflect
irregular and infrequent usage of the range for training sailors,
midshipmen, and law enforcement personnel. The firing range faces Carr
Creek and, during times of operation, may present a danger to vessels
located in the areas of the proposed danger zones.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted on or before January 4, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number COE-
2022-0009, by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments.
Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#781c190e111c561a5617140b1716380d0b191b1d56190a150156151114"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6105001708054f034f0e0d120e0f2114120002044f00130c184f0c080d">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. Include the docket number,
COE-2022-0009, in the subject line of the message.
Mail: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Attn: CECW-CO-R (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-2022-0009.
All comments received will be included in the public docket without
change and may be made available on-line at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>,
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 <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a> or
email. The <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a> website 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 <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>, 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 also
include your contact information with any compact disk 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 <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. 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 Division, Washington, DC at 202-761-4922.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 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 of Engineers is proposing amendments to its
regulations at 33 CFR part 334 for the establishment of three danger
zones in the waters of Carr Creek and Whitehall Bay near Annapolis,
Maryland. In a memorandum dated June 10, 2022, the Naval Support
Activity Annapolis requested that the Corps establish these three
danger zones. The proposed danger zones are necessary to ensure the
safe operation of the United States Naval Academy firing range.
The proposed danger zone in Carr Creek is needed to enable the safe
operation of the United States Naval Academy firing range. The firing
range is used for training sailors, midshipmen, and law enforcement
personnel on an irregular daily schedule, including weekends. The
firing range faces Carr Creek and, during times of operation, may
present a danger to vessels located within the proposed danger zone.
When firing is in progress, a flashing red light and warning sign at
the boundary of the danger zone will warn persons, vessels, or other
watercraft of danger.
The two proposed danger zones in Whitehall Bay are also needed to
enable the safe operation of the United States Naval Academy firing
range. During operation of the firing range in a manner that affects
these proposed danger zones, persons, vessels, or other watercraft will
be notified of closure of these two danger zones by a Local Notice to
Mariners.

Procedural Requirements

a. Regulatory Planning and Review. This proposed rule is not a
``significant regulatory action'' under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR
51735, October 4, 1993) and Executive Order 13563 (76 FR 3821, January
21, 2011) and it was not submitted to the Office of Management and
Budget for review.
b. Regulatory Flexibility Act, as Amended by the Small Business
Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, 5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. This
proposed rule has been reviewed under the Regulatory Flexibility Act
(Pub. L. 96-354). The Regulatory Flexibility Act generally requires an
agency to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule subject
to notice-and-comment rulemaking requirements under the Administrative
Procedure Act or any other statute unless the agency certifies that the
rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities (i.e., small businesses and small
governments).
The Corps certifies under 5 U.S.C. 605(b) that this proposed rule
would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of
small entities. The proposed danger zones are necessary for the safe
operation of the United States Naval Academy firing range and the
safety of persons, vessels, or other watercraft in the vicinity of Carr
Creek and Whitehall Bay. When the firing range is in operational use,
small entities can utilize navigable waters outside of the three danger
zones. Small entities that need to transit the danger zones may do so
as long as the vessel

[[Page 74349]]

operator obtains permission from the Superintendent, U.S. Naval Academy
or their designated representatives. This determination is based on the
proposed rule governing the danger zones, including the ability for
vessel operators to obtain permission from the Superintendent, U.S.
Naval Academy or their designated representatives to transit the danger
zones. Unless information is obtained to the contrary during the
comment period, the Corps expects that the economic impact of the
proposed danger zones would have practically no impact on the public,
any anticipated navigational hazard or interference with existing
waterway traffic. After considering the economic impacts of this danger
zone regulation on small entities, I certify that this proposed rule
would not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small
entities.
c. Review under the National Environmental Policy Act. Due to the
administrative nature of this action and because there is no
significant intended change in the use of the area, the Corps expects
that this regulation, if adopted, 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.
d. Unfunded Mandates Act. This proposed rule does not impose an
enforceable duty among the private sector and, therefore, it is not a
federal private sector mandate and it is not subject to the
requirements of either section 202 or section 205 of the Unfunded
Mandates Act. We have also found under section 203 of the Act, that
small governments will not be significantly and uniquely affected by
this rulemaking.
e. Congressional Review Act. The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C.
801 et seq., generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the
agency promulgating the rule must submit a rule report, which includes
a copy of the rule, to each House of Congress and to the Comptroller
General of the United States. The Corps will submit a report containing
the final rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate, the
U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the
United States. A major rule cannot take effect until 60 days after it
is published in the Federal Register. This proposed rule is not a
``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 334

Danger zones, Marine safety, 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

0
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).

0
2. Add Sec. 334.148 to read as follows:

Sec. 334.148 Carr Creek and Whitehall Bay, in vicinity of Naval
Support Activity Annapolis, U.S. Naval Academy firing range danger
zones.

(a) The areas--(1) Danger zone #1. All navigable waters of Carr
Creek, as defined at part 329 of this chapter, north of the line drawn
southeasterly from latitude 38[deg]59'3'' N, longitude -76[deg]27'35''
W to latitude 38[deg]58'53'' N longitude -76[deg]27'15'' W across the
mouth of Carr Creek.
(2) Danger zone #2. Navigable waters of Whitehall Bay, as defined
at part 329 of this chapter, within the area bounded by a line
connecting the following coordinates: latitude 38[deg]58'53'' N,
longitude -76[deg]26'57'' W; thence to latitude 38[deg]58'37'' N,
longitude -76[deg]26'10'' W; thence to latitude 38[deg]58'16'' N,
longitude -76[deg]26'28'' W; thence to latitude 38[deg]58'45'' N,
longitude -76[deg]27'4'' W; and thence along the shoreline to the point
of origin.
(3) Danger zone #3. Navigable waters of Whitehall Bay, as defined
at part 329 of this chapter, within the area bounded by a line
connecting the following coordinates: latitude 38[deg]58'28'' N,
longitude -76[deg]26'17'' W; thence to latitude 38[deg]58'14'' N,
longitude -76[deg]25'53'' W; thence to latitude 38[deg]58'0'' N,
longitude -76[deg]26'9'' W; thence to latitude 38[deg]58'16'' N,
longitude -76[deg]26'28'' W; thence to the point of origin.
(4) Datum. The datum for the coordinates in paragraphs (a)(1)
through (3) of this section is North American Datum 1983 (NAD-83).
(b) The regulations--(1) Danger zone #1. (i) When firing is in
progress, all persons, vessels, or other watercraft are prohibited from
entering, transiting, drifting, dredging, or anchoring within the
danger zone without the permission of the Superintendent, U.S. Naval
Academy or their designated representatives.
(ii) When firing is in progress, a flashing red light and warning
sign at the boundary of the danger zone will warn persons, vessels, or
other watercraft of danger.
(2) Danger zones #2 and #3. (i) Prior to and during periods when
firing is in progress, shore observers will be on duty, and/or the
range will be patrolled by naval surface craft to warn persons,
vessels, or other watercraft likely to be endangered. All persons,
vessels, or other watercraft so warned shall vacate the applicable
danger zone and are prohibited from entering, transiting, drifting,
mooring, anchoring, and/or conducting any activity within that danger
zone until the conclusion of firing practice without the permission of
the Superintendent, U.S. Naval Academy or their designated
representatives.
(ii) No firing will occur during hours of darkness or low
visibility that would impede viewing of persons, vessels, or other
watercraft by shore observers.
(iii) The Superintendent, U.S. Naval Academy is responsible for
furnishing in advance the firing schedule for danger zones 2 and 3 to
Commander, Fifth Coast Guard District, for publication in a Local
Notice to Mariners.
(c) Enforcement. The regulations in this section shall be enforced
by the Superintendent, U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland and such
agencies as they may designate.

Thomas P. Smith,
Chief, Operations and Regulatory Division.
[FR Doc. 2022-26367 Filed 12-2-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3720-58-P

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