On Friday the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced that they had received a new advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPMR) from the Coast Guard concerning the TWIC program. This new rule was not included in the Spring Unified Agenda so details are sketchy at best. The OMB notice does state that the rule pertains to ‘requirements for mariners’ so this new rule may not pertain to MTSA covered chemical facilities.
I would expect that it will be at least a couple of months before we see this ANPRM published in the Federal Register.
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1 comment:
Patrick,
My guess is that the ANPRM is designed to implement section 809 of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2010, which amended 46 US Code §70105 (the legislative basis for TWIC). Prior to the amendment, all USCG-credentialed mariners and all personnel on tugs hauling tank vessels, among others, had to have TWICs. In a somewhat convoluted way, section 809 reduces the number of people required to have TWICs by limiting these TWIC requirements to those people serving on vessels that have MTSA Vessel Security Plans.
This is creating some headaches for the USCG, which had set up a system requiring people to have (or at least have applied for) a TWIC before they could apply for a mariner credential. The only impact on chemical facilities that I can see, however, is rather remote. Some tug personnel arriving at the facilities might not have TWICs anymore. In that event, facilities might find it somewhat more difficult to pass TWIC-less personnel needing to run errands ashore through their secure areas. (Mariners’ access to shore is another big issue in the Authorization Act.) As tugs hauling barges containing hazardous chemicals are required to have security plans, this potential impact would be further limited to people on tugs hauling barges empty of chemicals to or from a facility (assuming that the tugs never hauled barges containing regulated chemicals, because the people on tugs that do that must have TWICs).
I guess the foregoing boils down to a longwinded way of agreeing with you that the ANPRM probably won’t apply to chemical facilities.
Best regards,
John
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