1625-0023_SS_r0_2019

1625-0023

Supporting Statement

for

Barge Fleeting Facility Records

OMB No.: 1625-0023

COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS: Instruction

A. Justification

1) Circumstances that make the collection of information necessary.

The barge fleeting facility regulations require the person in charge of a facility to keep records of the twice daily inspections of the barge moorings and the movements of barges and hazardous cargo in and out of the facility. Barge fleeting facilities are storage facilities made up of empty and loaded barges, temporarily moored together and located outside the river channel. The regulations in 33 CFR 165.803 were issued under the authority of the Port and Waterways Safety Act of 1972 (33 U.S.C. 1221 et seq.).¹

2) Purpose of the information collection.

The recordkeeping requirements were written to establish procedures that would help prevent barges from breaking away from a fleeting facility and drifting downstream out of control in a very congested area of the Lower Mississippi River. The records are required only for barge fleeting facilities located between New Orleans, LA, and Baton Rouge, LA, to assure compliance with the rules and to provide documentary evidence should enforcement action be necessary.

3) Consideration of the use of improved technology.

The information required may be in any format (i.e., written or electronic). We estimate that 100% of the recordkeeping requirements can be done electronically. At this time, we estimate that 50% of recordkeeping is done electronically.

4) Efforts to identify duplication.

The Coast Guard monitors State and local regulatory activity in this field. To date no equivalent State and local programs have been identified that require equivalent information, and no other Federal agencies have similar or equivalent regulatory requirements.

5) Methods used to minimize the burden to small businesses if involved.

This information collection does not have an impact on small businesses or other small entities.

6) Consequences to the Federal program if collection were conducted less frequently.

If this information collection were done less frequently, to ensure waterway safety the Coast Guard Captain of the Port (COTP) may have to visit and inspect each fleeting facility more frequently to verify compliance, resulting in greater burden to both the respondents and the Federal Government.

7) Special collection circumstances.

This information collection is conducted in manner consistent with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8) Consultation.

A 60-day Notice (See [USCG-2019-0250], April 8, 2019, 84 FR 13944) and 30-Day Notice (June 24, 2019, 84 FR 29534) was published in the Federal Register to obtain public comment on this collection. The Coast Guard has not received any comments on this information collection.

9) Provide any payments or gifts to respondents.

There is no offer of monetary or material value for this information collection.

10) Describe any assurance of confidentiality provided to respondents.

There are no assurances of confidentiality provided to the respondents for this information collection. This information collection request is covered by the Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE) Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) and System of Records Notice (SORN). Links to the MISLE PIA and SORN are provided below:

• https://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/privacy_pia_uscg_misle.pdf

• https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2009-06-25/html/E9-14906.htm

11) Additional justification for any questions of a sensitive nature.

There are no questions of sensitive language.

12) Estimates of reporting and recordkeeping hour and cost burdens of the collection of information.

• The estimated annual number of respondents is 32.

• The estimated annual number of responses is 23,360.

• The estimated annual hour burden is 7,542 hours.

• The estimated annual cost burden is $437,436.

The burden to respondents is provided in Appendix A. There are two components to this collection. One is mooring inspection records; the other is barge movement records. We assume that each barge fleeting facility will make 2 responses per day for the required records. We estimate that a the person in charge of a facility will take about 0.33 minutes (0.0055 hours) per mooring inspection record and 1 minute (0.0167 hours) per barge movement record. Additionally, we assume that each barge fleeting facility has 38 barge movements per day.² The position of a person in charge is analogous to a WG-12. The wage rate used is in accordance with the current edition of COMDTINST 7310.1(series) for “Out-Government” personnel.

13) Total of annualized capital and start-up costs.

There are no capital, start-up or maintenance costs associated with this information collection.

14) Estimates of annualized Federal Government costs.

The estimated annual Federal Government cost is $720 (see Appendix B). Coast Guard personnel review barge fleeting facility records during periodic inspections and post-casualty investigations. We estimate that it will take 15 minutes (0.25 hours) by a Petty Officer (E-4) to review barge fleeting facility records, and that each facility’s records are examined 2 times per year. The wage rate shown is in accordance with the current edition of COMDTINST 7310.1(series) for “In-Government” personnel.

15) Explain the reasons for the change in burden.

The change in the burden is an ADJUSTMENT due to a change (i.e., decrease) in the estimated annual number of responses. There is no proposed change to the recordkeeping requirements of this collection. The recordkeeping requirements, and the methodology for calculating burden, remain unchanged.

16) Plans for tabulation, statistical analysis and publication.

This information collection will not be published for statistical purposes.

17) Approval for not explaining the expiration date for OMB approval.

The Coast Guard will display the expiration date for OMB approval of this information collection.

18) Exception to the certification statement.

The Coast Guard does not request an exception to the certification of this information collection.

B. Collection of Information Employing Statistical Methods

This information collection does not employ statistical methods.

1 see 165.803(h)(3)(i) Fleeting facility: Records.

2 The barge capacity of a fleeting facility may vary greatly. Historically, the range of fleeting facility barge capacities is 2 to 300, with the average size of 75. As not all barges arrive/depart in a given day, we assume 50% daily barge movements per facility for a figure of 38 daily movements.

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