Contents Pages :

Volume 20, Number 4

In This Issue  

Summary of U.S. D.O.T. Rule & Rulemaking Activity 

PHMSA PENALTY VIOLATIONS:  U.S. DOT, PHMSA CLOSED PENALTY CASES   

U.S. DOT Letters of Interpretation of the Hazardous Materials Regulations: September and October 2009. Thirty-six letters sorted, indexed and provided verbatim.

HAZMAT TRANSPORTATION GUIDANCE

Are consumer commodities, ORM-D materials, shipped by air, subject to the §173.27(e) requirement to use absorbent material?

Are customer employees accepting shipments of hazardous materials required to be trained if they simply return the hazardous material shipments to the original offeror without opening the package they received?

In other words, may such a gas-containing metal can be defined as an aerosol?

May a company's employees fill bottles with hazardous materials samples from one of its facilities and transport them by exclusive contract motor carrier approximately 1½  miles over public roads to the same company's on-site lab as a material of trade.

INTERNATIONAL HARMONIZATION

On October 21st the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration published an ANPRM in the Federal Register for proposed changes to the Hazardous Materials Regulations. Those changes will be part of the on-going efforts of PHMSA to ensure the harmonization of the HMR with a variety of international hazardous materials shipping regulations and standards. In this report Mr. Coyle discusses the harmonization, the proposed changes, and highlighted changes.

EMERGENCY RESPONSE

PHMSA issued its final rule on HM-206F on Revision of Requirements for Emergency Response Telephone Numbers. The main purpose of the rule is to enable a third party emergency response information provider such as CHEMTREC® to correctly match emergency response information in its data system with a substance involved in an incident. In this report Mr. Wybenga looks at the new requirements and explains what needs still needs correcting.

DANGEROUS GOODS BY AIR

The Dangerous Goods Panel met for its 22nd session in Montreal Canada to complete its work on the 2011-2012 edition of the ICAO Technical Instructions on the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air.  The changes will also feed into the 52nd edition of the IATA Dangerous Goods Regulations.

FedEx will be offering two services, International Economy and International Economy Freight which are scheduled to begin accepting dangerous goods August 2010.  However there are some additional requirements to consider. In this report Mr. Holloway explains those requirements.


HAZMAT ENFORCEMENT

In September, PHMSA released its report of penalties that were collected in calendar year 2008.  PHMSA’s enforcement program is intended to improve compliance with the regulations. In this report Mr. Wybenga looks at PHMSA’s enforcement track record, as well as the 130 closed cases for 2008 and what they were cited for.

SPECIAL PERMITS

A special permit allows the holder to avoid compliance with a particular section of the HMR by authorizing an alternative means of compliance or excusing compliance altogether. Last month, the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General and the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure announced that PHMSA is not adequately performing its oversight and enforcement functions. PHMSA is working on new guidance for the public on the standards for issuing special permits. In this report Mr. Wicks, Ms. Mcguire, and Mr. Holloway explain the special permits program, and the changes in enforcement.

MARINE TRANSPORTATION

Report on IMO DSC Sub-Committee Meeting

The IMO DSC Subcommittee met from September 21-25, 2009 in London to prepare amendments to the IMDG Code based primarily on the 16th revised edition to the UN Model Regulations. This report discusses a few items that are separate from UN based changes.

HAZMAT SECURITY

On November 6th the House of Representatives passed HR 2868, renamed the Chemical and Water Security Act of 2009. The bill permanently authorizes the authority of the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to regulate security at high-risk chemical facilities and adds similar authority for the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate security at drinking water treatment facilities and waste water treatment works. In this report Mr. Coyle looks at the methods to reduce consequences, citizens suits, and HR 2868 in the senate.

On August 26th, the Transportation Security Administration published a notice of proposed rulemaking to propose regulations that would provide a methodology for public reporting of transportation related security issues. In this report Mr. Coyle looks at the NPRM and discusses the Alaska Airlines comments, and other reporting requirements.

On September 16th the Transportation Security Administration published an interim final rule on certified air cargo screening. The rule established a regulation that would allow the TSA and the airlines to meet the 100% cargo screening requirements for cargo going on passenger aircraft set forth in Implementing the Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007. In this report Mr. Coyle discusses CCSF Validators, TSA cargo inspections, STA program, and the IFR in effect.

HAZMAT LEGISLATION

House Hearing on the Hazmat Safety Act of 2009

On November 4, 2009 Chairman James Oberstar, of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, introduced HR 4016 the “Hazardous Material Transportation Safety Act of 2009”.  HR 4016 is divided into four titles. In this report Mr Coyle provides a summary on this bill

COMMENTS ON DOT INTERPRETATIONS

Comments on Significant Letters of Interpretation of the HMR  
By Frits Wybenga, Senior Technical Advisor

-  Empty packages sufficiently cleaned of residue
-  Replacement of “UN” with “NA” for combustible liquids
-  Requirements for Absorbent Material for Consumer Commodities Transported by Air
-  Blocking and Bracing for Sea Transport
-  Transport of Waste Treated as Hazardous Wastes under a State Implementation Plan

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