E7-21281. Agency Information Collections; Extension of a Currently Approved Collection: Transportation of Hazardous Materials, Highway Routing

AGENCY:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comments.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval and invites public comment. The FMCSA requests approval to extend an existing information collection entitled “Transportation of Hazardous Materials, Highway Routing,” which requires States and Indian tribes to identify designated/restricted routes and restrictions or limitations affecting how motor carriers may transport certain hazardous materials on the highway.

DATES:

We must receive your comments on or before December 31, 2007.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments bearing the Department of Transportation (DOT) Docket Management System (DMS) Docket Number FMCSA Docket Number FMCSA-2007-29137 using any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
• Hand Delivery: West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., e.t., Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.
• Fax: [phone].

Each submission must include the Agency name and the docket number for this Notice. Note that DOT posts all comments received without change to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information included in a comment. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments, go to http://www.regulations.gov at any time or Room W12-140 on the ground level of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. The DMS is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. If you want acknowledgement that we received your comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope or post card or print the acknowledgement page that appears after submitting on-line.

Privacy Act: Anyone may search the electronic form of all comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual submitting the comment (or of the person signing the comment, if submitted on behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review the DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477-19478; April 11, 2000). This information is also available at http://Docketinfo.dot.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. James O. Simmons, Hazardous Materials Division, phone [phone]; FAX [phone]; or e-mail [e-mail]; Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, DOT, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. Office hours are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday, except Federal Holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background: The data for the Transportation of Hazardous Materials; Highway Routing designations are collected under authority of 49 U.S.C. 5112 and 5125. That authority places responsibility on the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) to specify and regulate standards for establishing, maintaining, and enforcing routing designations.

Under 49 CFR 397.73, the Administrator has the authority to request that each State and Indian tribe, through its routing agency, provide information identifying hazardous materials routing designations within their jurisdictions. That information is collected and consolidated by the FMCSA and published annually in whole, or as updates, in the Federal Register.

Title: Transportation of Hazardous Materials, Highway Routing.

OMB Control Number: 2126-0014.

Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.

Respondents: The reporting burden is shared by the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Marianas, and the Virgin Islands.

Frequency: There is one response annually from approximately 53 respondents.

Estimated Average Burden per Response: 15 minutes.

Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 13 hours [53 respondents x 1 response x15 minutes per response/60 minutes = 13.25 hours, rounded to 13 hours].

Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed collection is necessary for the performance of FMCSA's functions; (2) the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways for the FMCSA to enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and (4) ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the quality of the collected information. The agency will summarize and/or include your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this information collection.

Issued On: October 24, 2007.

Michael S. Griffith,

Acting Associate Administrator for Research and Information Technology.