Permits for Structures Located Within Shipping Safety Fairways

The Corps is changing its rules regarding permits for the placement of temporary anchors, cables and chains for floating or semisubmersible drilling rigs within shipping safety fairways. Shipping safety fairways and anchorages are established on the Outer Continental Shelf by the U.S. Coast Guard to provide unobstructed approaches for vessels using U.S. ports. This change arises as a result of requests by offshore oil companies for exemptions to the provisions of the existing rule because drilling and production technologies have greatly extended the range of deepwater drilling and the 120 day time limits placed on temporary structures allowed within fairway boundaries are no longer reasonable.