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As the saying goes
a little added to a little makes a lot. I've not spent any time with the
report in many years but do recall that particle accumulation occurs
to the point of noticeable depth changes in and
around shipping lanes, detectable by sonar.
Regards,
Mark
Coscarelli
For
additional background see the following 1999 NOAA publication. . .
.
NOAA Technical Memorandum ERL GLERL-114
"Proceedings of the
Workshop The Environmental Implications of Cargo Sweeping in the Great
Lakes"
which can be downloaded by pasting the following into your web
browser:
ftp://ftp.glerl.noaa.gov/publications/tech_reports/glerl-114/tm-114.pdf
Dave
Reid
Steven Pollack wrote:
Does this seem bad to anyone else? Sweeping salt, cement, and
iron ore into the lake? I plan to comment on this.
Steven
"The historical practice of bulk dry cargo vessels on the Great
Lakes is to wash non-hazardous and non-toxic cargo residues (``dry
cargo residue'' or ``cargo sweepings'') overboard. These non-hazardous
non-toxic discharges eliminate unsafe conditions onboard the vessel,
without requiring alternatives that could involve time delays or added
cost. Current environmental statutes, if strictly enforced, would
prohibit these incidental discharges.
However, under an ``interim enforcement policy'' (IEP) first
adopted by the Coast Guard's Ninth District in 1993, incidental
discharges of dry cargo residue are permitted in defined portions of the
Great Lakes. Congress has authorized continuation of the IEP until
Septembe r 30, 2008, unless the Coast Guard acts sooner to replace the
IEP with new regulations. Dry cargo residue on the Great Lakes generally
includes, but is not limited to, limestone and other clean stone, iron
ore such as taconite, coal and salt, and cement." "Alex J.
Sagady & Associates" <ajs@sagady.com> wrote: Coast
Guard EIS on discharge of "dry cargo residue" from
freighters to the
Great Lakes.....
[Federal Register: March 9, 2006 (Volume 71,
Number 46)]
[Notices]
[Page 12209-12211]
From the Federal
Register Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09mr06-89]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT
OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Coast Guard
[USCG-2004-19621]
Dry Cargo
Residue Discharges in the Great Lakes; Preparation of
Environmental
Impact Statement
AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.
ACTION: Notice of
intent; notice of availability; request for
comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY:
The Coast Guard announces its intent to prepare an
environmental
impact statement (EIS) in connection with the development
of proposed
new regulations on the incidental discharge of dry cargo
residue in
the Great Lakes. Publication of this notice begins a public
scoping
process that will help determine the scope of issues to be
addressed
in the EIS and identify the significant environmental issues
related
to this EIS (40 CFR 1506.6). This notice also solicits public
participation in the scoping process, and announces the availability
of
a study on current dry cargo residue discharge practices in the
Great
Lakes.
DATES: Comments and related materi al must reach
the Docket Management
Facility on or before July 31,
2006.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Coast Guard
docket
number USCG-2004-19621 to the Docket Management Facility at the
U.S.
Department of Transportation.
[[Page
12210]]
Address docket submissions for USCG-2004-19621 to: Docket
Management Facility, U.S. Department of Transportation, 400 Seventh
Street SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
The Docket Management
Facility accepts hand-delivered submissions,
and makes docket contents
available for public inspection and copying
at this address, in room
PL-401, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday
through Friday, except
Federal holidays. The Facility's telephone is
202-366-9329, its fax is
202-493-2251, and its Web site for electronic
submissions or for
electronic access to docket contents is
http://dms.dot.gov.
FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have questions regarding this
notice,
contact LCDR Mary Sohlberg, U.S. Coast Guard, fax 202-267-4690
or
e-mail msohlberg@comdt.uscg.mil. If
you have questions on viewing or
submitting material to the docket,
call Renee V. Wright, Program
Manager, Docket Operations, telephone
202-493-0402.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Request for
Comments
We request public comments or other relevant information
on
environmental issues related to all aspects of incidental dry cargo
residue discharges on the Great Lakes. You can submit comments to the
Docket Management Facility during the public comment period (see
DATES). We will consider all comments and material received during the
comment period.
Submissions should include:
? Docket number
USCG-2004-19621.
? Your name and address.
? Your reasons for making
each comment or for bringing
information to our attention.
Submit
commen ts or material using only one of the following methods:
?
Electronic submission to DMS, http://dms.dot.gov.
? Fax, mail, or hand
delivery to the Docket Management
Facility (see ADDRESSES). Faxed or
hand delivered submissions must be
unbound, no larger than 8\1/2\ by
11 inches, and suitable for copying
and electronic scanning. If you
mail your submission and want to know
when it reaches the Facility,
include a stamped, self-addressed
postcard or envelope.
Regardless
of the method used for submitting comments or material,
all
submissions will be posted, without change, to the DMS Web site
(http://dms.dot.gov), and will include any
personal information
you provide. Therefore, submitting this
information makes it public. You
may wish to read the Privacy Act
notice that is available on the DMS
Web site, or the Department of
Transportation Privacy Act Statement
that a ppeared in the Federal
Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477).
You may view docket
submissions at the Docket Management Facility
(see ADDRESSES), or
electronically on the DMS Web site.
Background
The Coast
Guard has previously published Federal Register documents
concerning
regulation of incidental dry cargo residue on the Great
Lakes: 69 FR
1994 (January 13, 2004), 69 FR 57711 (September 27, 2004),
69 FR 77147
(December 27, 2004; corrected at 70 FR 1400, January 7, 2005).
The
historical practice of bulk dry cargo vessels on the Great
Lakes is to
wash non-hazardous and non-toxic cargo residues (``dry
cargo residue''
or ``cargo sweepings'') overboard. These non-hazardous
non-toxic
discharges eliminate unsafe conditions onboard the vessel,
without
requiring alternatives that could involve time delays or added
cost.
Current environmental statutes, if strictly enforced, would
prohibit
these incidental discharges. However, und er an ``interim
enforcement
policy'' (IEP) first adopted by the Coast Guard's Ninth
District in
1993, incidental discharges of dry cargo residue are
permitted in
defined portions of the Great Lakes. Congress has
authorized
continuation of the IEP until September 30, 2008, unless the
Coast
Guard acts sooner to replace the IEP with new regulations.
Dry cargo
residue on the Great Lakes generally includes, but is not
limited to,
limestone and other clean stone, iron ore such as taconite,
coal and
salt, and cement. The IEP applies only to such cargo residues,
and
does not alter the strict prohibition of any discharge of oily
waste,
untreated sewage, plastics, dunnage, or other things commonly
understood to be ``garbage,'' from vessels on the Great Lakes. Nor
does
the IEP permit the discharge of any substance known to be toxic
or
hazardous, such as nickel, copper, zinc, or lead. The IEP permits
incidental dry cargo residue discharge s only in areas that are
relatively far from shore, and that meet depth restrictions and other
restrictions near special protection areas.
Our December 27, 2004
Federal Register document (69 FR 77147;
corrected at 70 FR 1400,
January 7, 2005) announced that we would
conduct a study of current
dry cargo residue discharge practices in the
Great Lakes, and
requested information from the public that could help
us conduct that
study. The study is now complete and is available for
public review
either electronically or at the Docket Management
Facility (see
ADDRESSES and Request for Comments).
Proposed Action and
Alternatives
The proposed action is to adopt the IEP as the basis
for permanent
regulations, adding new requirements for standardized
record-keeping by
vessels that discharge dry cargo residue. The
discharges that require
logging, the format for log entries, the
retention time of the logs,
and the physical location of the log would
be specified. The
alternatives to the proposed action include:
?
Allowing the IEP to terminate on September 30, 2008, after
which the
Coast Guard would enforce all laws applicable to the
discharge of dry
cargo residues into the Great Lakes. For the purposes
of our
environmental review this represents the ``no-action'' alternative;
?
Adopting the IEP as the basis for permanent regulations,
without
significant change;
? Adopting the IEP as the basis for permanent
regulations,
possibly with significant changes (other than
record-keeping) designed
to reduce the environmental impact. Possible
changes would be specified
and could include adoption of best
management practices, quantity limits,
cargo type limits, or
additional restrictions on discharge locations;
? Developing a Coast
Guard permit system for vessels
discharging incidental dry cargo
residue; and
? Regulating shoreside facilities to control or eliminate
< BR>dry cargo spillage during vessel loading or
unloading.
Scoping Process
The scoping process (40 CFR
1501.7) is an early and open process
for determining the scope of
issues to be addressed in an EIS and for
identifying the significant
issues related to the proposed action. The
scoping process begins with
publication of this notice and ends when
the Coast Guard has completed
the following actions:
? Invites the participation of Federal, State,
and local
agencies, any affected Indian tribe, the applicant, and
other
interested persons;
? Determines the actions, alternatives,
and impacts
described in 40 CFR 1508.25;
? Identifies and
eliminates from detailed study those issues
that are not significant
or that are previously documented and can be
incorporated by
reference;
? Allocates responsibility for preparing EIS
components;
[[Page 12211]]
? Indicates any related
environmental assessments or
environment al impact statements that are
not part of the EIS;
? Identifies other relevant environmental review
and
consultation requirements;
? Indicates the relationship between
timing of the
environmental review and other aspects of the
application process; and
? At its discretion, exercises the options
provided in 40
CFR 1501.7(b).
The Coast Guard will publish a
Federal Register Notice to announce
a public meeting and will include
the time, location, and venue for the
meeting as part of the scoping
process under NEPA for this action. The
Coast Guard intends to
announce these details after gauging the level
of public interest in
response to the current notice. Once the scoping
process is complete,
the Coast Guard will prepare a draft EIS, and we
will publish a
Federal Register notice announcing its public
availability. If you
wish to be mailed or e-mailed the public meeting
notice or the draft
EIS notice of availability, please con tact the
person named in FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT. We will provide the
public with an
opportunity to review and comment on the draft EIS.
After the Coast
Guard considers those comments, we will prepare the
final EIS and
similarly announce its availability and issue a Record of
Decision 30
days later.
Dated: March 6, 2006.
Howard L. Hime,
Acting
Director of Standards, Assistant Commandant for Prevention.
[FR Doc.
06-2258 Filed 3-6-06; 4:25 pm]
BILLING CODE
4910-15-P
------------------------------------------
==========================================
Alex
J. Sagady & Associates http://www.sagady.com
Environmental
Enforcement, Permit/Technical Review, Public Policy,
Evidence Review
and Litigation Investigation on Air, Water and
Waste/Community
Environmental and Resource Protection
Prospectus at: http://www.sagady.com/sagady.pdf
657 Spartan Ave, East Lansing, MI 48823
(517) 332-6971; (51 7)
332-8987 (fax); ajs@sagady.com
==========================================
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Use
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--
David F. Reid, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist
Director, NOAA National Center for Research on Aquatic Invasive Species
Task Leader, GLERL Nonindigenous Species Program
Member, NOAA Invasive Species Program Management Team
U.S. Department of Commerce
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
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