The US Coast Guard announced it is withdrawing two notices of proposed rulemaking based on findings that the proposed rules are no longer appropriate to the current state of spill response in the chemical industry.
The proposed rules withdrawn are:
- “Tank Vessel Response Plans for Hazardous Substances” published March 22, 1999
- “Marine Transportation-Related Facility Response Plans for Hazardous Substances” published March 31, 2000
Following publication, the US Coast Guard received feedback from concerned citizens, commercial entities, and trade associations regarding the proposed rulemakings.
Since then, further analysis by the Coast Guard and the Chemical Transportation Advisory Committee (CTAC) has shown that implementation of the rules as laid out in the respective NPRMs would not significantly increase response effectiveness at this time.
In addition, CTAC identified many areas in which the NPRMs may overlap with existing local, state, and international regulatory schemes as well as current industry practice.
The Coast Guard is withdrawing the proposed rulemakings so as to better analyze the current spill response capabilities of the chemical industry before conducting any further rulemaking on hazardous substance response plans for certain tank vessels and marine transportation-related facilities, in line with its OPA 90 mandate.
