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.). 

This information collection supports the following strategic goals:

Department of Homeland Security

Protection

Prevention

Coast Guard

Safety

Protection of the Natural Resources

Prevention Policy and Response Policy Directorates (CG-5P & CG-5R)

Reduce the number of collisions, allisions, and groundings

Reduce the amount of oil discharged into the marine environment

Reduce the amount of chemicals entering the environment

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 will be published in the Federal Register to obtain
public comment on this 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.

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 47.

The estimated annual number of responses is 34,310.

The estimated annual hour burden is 11,076 hours.

The estimated annual cost burden is $631,332.

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.  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 $1,056 (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 respondents and number of
responses.  Based on information from the local Coast Guard unit, we
revised our estimate of the number of barge fleeting facilities and the
number of daily barge movements.  The facility population was changed
from 66 to 47, and the number of barge movements from 125 to 38 per day.
 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.

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

  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.  

OMB 2115-0613		9/3/99

1625-0023  

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