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Date: July 27, 2004 Release No. RI 2004-70 Contact: Tim Dugan, 978-318-8264 |
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Corps establishes a new restricted area in the
Narragansett Bay adjacent to Naval Station Newport CONCORD, Mass. – After careful review of existing state and federal laws by various
state and federal agencies, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has established
a new Restricted Area in Narragansett Bay (East Passage), Coasters Harbor
Island, adjacent to Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island. “The purpose of the new regulation is to create an
area of separation between general navigation on the East Passage of
Narragansett Bay and Naval Station Newport,” said Permit Project Manager Mike
Elliott, of the Corps of Engineers’ New England District, Regulatory
Division. The permit review included a public notice and
public comment period in April-May 2003. Also, the notice of proposed
rulemaking and request for comments was published in the Federal Register on
Nov. 18, 2003. “The new
regulation supports an increased security posture by augmenting existing
protections for Government personnel and property located onboard Naval
Station Newport. The area will be marked off with a series of danger area
marker buoys,” Elliott said. The new rule has also been published in the Federal
Register, dated June 25, 2004. The Corps of Engineers has granted a
request by the U.S. Navy, Northeast Region, to establish a Restricted Area
under Section 7 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1917 and chapter XIX of the
Army Appropriation Act of 1919. “Vessels, with the exception of law enforcement and
military vessels, are prohibited from entering the area except with the
written permission of the local Commanding Officer of Naval Station Newport
or his or her designee,” Elliott said. The Restricted Area is the “C” shaped area, shown
in the public notice, enclosing Coasters Harbor Island and the mainland
shoreline of Naval Station Newport from Coddington Point south to the old
Naval Hospital. It includes essentially all of the navigable waters immediately
adjacent to and surrounding Coasters Harbor Island from Coddington Point
west-southwest to the rocks known as The Sisters, then south-southwest to
Bishop Rock, then due south past an area labeled as Tower, then
south-southeast to a wash, then southeast to a rock, then due east to the
shore at the Navy Hospital. The new regulation states that “All persons, swimmers, vessels and other
craft, except those vessels under the supervision or contract to local
military or Naval authority, vessels of the United States Coast Guard, and
local or state law enforcement vessels, are prohibited from entering the
restricted areas without permission from the Commanding Officer Naval Station
Newport, USN, Newport, Rhode Island or his/her authorized representative.” The public notice with plans, descriptions and the
site described in longitude and latitude degrees can be reviewed online at
the Corps website http://www.nae.usace.army.mil.
Select Regulatory/Permitting and search by file number or state. The file
number is #2003-00571; NAE 2004-455. -- 30 -- |
