Voglio sapere a riguardo di…

jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with RULES

43916

Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 152 / Wednesday, August 11, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
and the Emergency Manual must be submitted to the Captain of the Port COTP of the zone in which the facility is located for examination before a facility may operate. Lastly, part 156
describes the requirements for transferring of oil or other hazardous materials on the navigable waters or contiguous zone of the United States to, from, or within each vessel with a capacity of 39.75 cubic meters 250
barrels or more.
The COTP evaluates whether the operations and safety procedures outlined in the manuals meet the requirements for applicable facilities in 33 CFR part 127 for LNG and LHG or parts 154 and 156 for the transfer operations of oil or hazardous material.
If the procedures in the manuals meet the requirements, then the COTP returns one copy of each manual, marked Examined by the Coast Guard.
As stated in the notice of proposed rulemaking NPRM titled Electronic Submission of Facility Operations and Emergency Manuals, published November 27, 2020 85 FR 75972, the purpose of this rulemaking is to allow facility operators to submit and maintain the Operations Manual and Emergency Manual in either print or electronic format. The comment submissions received on the NPRM
expressed general support for allowing electronic submissions and the proposed changes. Therefore, this final rule implements the changes proposed in the NPRM with clarifying edits, as explained in section III of this rule.
Although the previous regulations did not explicitly state that the manuals had to be printed, the previous regulatory requirement for the owner or operator to submit two copies and for the COTP to return one marked copy suggested the use of printed documents. The Coast Guard issued the two-copy requirement for LNG and LHG facilities in 1988 53
FR 3370, February 5, 1988 and for oil and hazardous materials facilities in 1996 61 FR 41458, August 8, 1996, when electronic mail and electronic storage were not common practice. This final rule removes the two-copy requirement and allows facility operators to submit one printed or electronic copy of each required manual to the COTP for examination. It also allows facilities to maintain either a printed or an electronic copy of the most recently examined manuals in the marine transfer area of the facility.
III. Discussion of Comments and Changes From the Proposed Rule The Coast Guard received four comment submissions during the NPRMs 60-day comment period that
VerDate Sep<11>2014

17:21 Aug 10, 2021

Jkt 253001

ended January 27, 2021. All four of the commenters supported the proposed change to allow electronic submission and communication regarding Facility Operations Manuals and Emergency Manuals.
Three of the commenters requested that we consider expanding the use of electronic submission, digital tools, and electronic storage to other documents required by regulation. Currently, electronic submission capability exists for the submission of Facility Security Plans for facilities regulated under 33
CFR part 105. The NPRM only proposed and requested comments on allowing electronic submission of Facility Operations Manuals and Emergency Manuals under parts 127 and 154. The Coast Guard is exploring the long-term feasibility of expanding this capability beyond the current requirements, but that is beyond the scope of this rulemaking.
One commenter concurred that all manuals and other written material could be sent electronically, but recommended keeping a printed version readily available and accessible for team members carrying out assignments at the facility. The Coast Guard wants to allow flexibility for facility operators to choose which format is appropriate based on the physical characteristics and operating procedures of their specific facility. While this commenter did not provide reasons why allowing electronic copies at the facility would be inadequate or unsafe, the Coast Guard wants to make it clear that there are existing electrical safety standards that apply to the electronic devices used to display electronic copies of the manuals. In response to this comment, and upon further deliberation, we realize that the text allowing electronic manuals in the marine transfer area could benefit from clarification to help the facilities safely adopt the electronic viewing option. This final rule adds an additional statement to the proposed regulatory text that electronic devices used to display electronic manuals must meet applicable electrical safety standards in the applicable CFR part.
Parts 127 and 154 have electrical safety standards for these facilities that are applicable to electronic devices used in a facility. By adding this regulatory text, we are clarifying that allowing electronic viewing and storage of the Facility Operations Manuals or Emergency Manuals does not circumvent those safety requirements.
The Coast Guard anticipates that some facilities will still have printed manuals at their operations stations; those facilities will not be required to maintain an electronic copy under this
PO 00000

Frm 00008

Fmt 4700

Sfmt 4700

final rule. We have taken this into account in our cost savings calculations by using data on how many facilities will use electronic and printed manuals.
We are making three changes to the regulatory text we proposed in the NPRM. First, as noted above, in paragraphs 127.309a, 127.1309a, and 154.300f, we add a statement that electronic devices used to display the electronic manuals must meet applicable safety standards in the part.
Second, we specify that the requirement for facilities to include identifying information on manual submissions must be revision-specific identifying information, to help the Coast Guard and the facility identify the most recently examined manual. In paragraphs 127.019c and d, 154.300a4 and e, 154.320e, and 154.325c, we changed the proposed text, identifying information generated by the facility, to revision-specific identifying information. With respect to the revision-specific identifying information, we are also removing the proposed text, generated by the facility. The Coast Guard does not intend to limit who can create the revision-specific identifying information. As we discuss in section IV
of this preamble, the purpose of requiring facilities to include the publication date, revision date, or other revision-specific identifying information on the manual submissions is so that the Coast Guard and the facility can identify the most recently examined version of the manual. Requiring the identifying information to be revision-specific will help achieve that purpose.
The third change from the NPRM
regulatory text is in paragraph 156.120t2, which is the existing requirement for maintaining Facility Operations Manuals and vessel transfer procedures at the facility. After publication of the NPRM, we realized that the proposed text inadvertently allowed electronic copies of vessel transfer procedures, which is in conflict with existing 155.740. Section 155.740, paragraphs b and c, require that vessel transfer procedures be printed and posted for viewing. The NPRM only discussed allowing electronic copies for the Facility Operations Manuals; we do not intend to allow electronic copies for vessel transfer procedures. Because print or electronic copies of the Facility Operations Manuals will be expressly permitted by new 154.300, this final rule revises paragraph 156.120t2
from the version in the NPRM to say that copies instead of print or electronic copies of the Facility Operations Manual and vessel transfer
E:FRFM11AUR1.SGM

11AUR1