[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 114 (Wednesday, June 14, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31347-31348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-14565]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
[Docket No. HM-208; Notice No. 95-8]
Hazardous Materials Transportation; Registration and Fee
Assessment Program
AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of filing requirements.
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SUMMARY: The Hazardous Materials Registration Program will enter
Registration Year 1995-96 on July 1, 1995. Persons who transport or
offer for transportation certain hazardous materials are required to
annually file a registration statement and pay a fee to the Department
of Transportation. Persons who registered for the 1994-95 Registration
Year were mailed a Registration Statement form and informational
brochure.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David W. Donaldson, Office of
Hazardous Materials Planning and Analysis (202-366-4109), Hazardous
Materials Safety, 400 Seventh Street SW., Washington, DC 20590-0001.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is intended to notify persons
who transport or offer for transportation certain hazardous materials
of an annual requirement to register with the Department of
Transportation. Each person, as defined by the Federal hazardous
materials transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.), who engages in
any of the specified activities relating to the transportation of
hazardous materials is required to register annually with the
Department of Transportation and pay a $250 registration fee (plus a
separate $50 processing fee). The regulations implementing this program
are in Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Sec. Sec. 107.601-
107.620.
Proceeds are used to fund grants to State and Indian tribal
governments for emergency response training and planning. Grants were
awarded to all states, five territories, and 11 Native American tribes
during FY 1994. By law, 75 percent of the Federal grant monies is
further distributed to local emergency response and planning agencies.
The FY 1993 funds helped to provide (1) over 500 commodity flow studies
and hazard analyses, (2) over 1,000 emergency response plans updated or
written for the first time, (3) assistance to over 1,200 local
emergency planning committees, (4) over 600 emergency exercises, and
(5) training for over 200,000 emergency response personnel.
The persons affected by these requirements are those who offer or
transport in commerce any of the following materials:
A. Any highway route-controlled quantity of a Class 7 (radioactive)
material;
B. More than 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of a Division 1.1, 1.2, or
1.3 (explosive) material in a motor vehicle, rail car, or freight
container;
C. More than one liter (1.06 quarts) per package of a material
extremely toxic by inhalation (Division 2.3, Hazard Zone A, or Division
6.1, Packing Group I, Hazard Zone A);
D. A hazardous material in a bulk packaging having a capacity equal
to or greater than 13,248 liters (3,500 gallons) for liquids or gases
or more than 13.24 cubic meters (468 cubic feet) for solids; or
E. A shipment, in other than a bulk packaging, of 2,268 kilograms
(5,000 pounds) gross weight or more of a class of hazardous materials
for which placarding of a vehicle, rail car, or freight container is
required for that class.
The 1994-95 registration year ends on June 30, 1995. The 1995-96
Registration Year will begin on July 1, 1995, and end on June 30, 1996.
Any person who engages in any of the specified activities during that
period must file a Registration Statement and pay the associated fee of
$300.00 before July 1, 1995, or before engaging in any of the
activities, whichever is later. All persons who registered for the
1994-95 Registration Year have been mailed a Registration Statement
form and an informational brochure. Other persons wishing to obtain the
form and any other information relating to this program should contact
the program number given above.
The Registration Statement has not been revised for the 1995-96
Registration Year. The informational brochure has been revised to be
more customer oriented and to provide some information that was not
previously included in the brochure. Registrants should file a
registration statement and pay the associated fee in advance of July 1,
1995, in order to ensure that a 1995-96 Certificate of Registration has
been provided by that date to comply with the recordkeeping
requirements, including the requirement that the registration number be
made available on board each truck and truck tractor (not including
trailers and semi-trailers) and each vessel used to transport hazardous
materials subject to the registration requirements. A Certificate of
Registration is generally mailed within three weeks of RSPA's receipt
of a Registration Statement.
Persons who engage in any of the specified activities during a
Registration Year are required to register for that year. Persons who
engaged in these activities during Registration Year 1992-93 (September
16, 1992, through June 30, 1993), 1993-94 (July 1, 1993, through June
30, 1994), or 1994-95 (July 1, 1994, through June 30, 1995) and have
not filed a registration statement and paid the associated fee of
$300.00 for each year for which registration is required should contact
RSPA to obtain the required form (DOT F 5800.2). A copy of the form
being distributed for the 1995-96 Registration Year may be used to
register for previous years. Persons who fail to register for any
registration year in which they engaged in such activities are subject
to civil penalties for each day a covered activity is performed. The
legal obligation to register for a year in which any specified activity
was conducted does not end with the registration year. Registration
after the completion of a registration year may also involve the
imposition of a late fee and interest in addition to a civil penalty.
During the 1995-96 Registration Year, RSPA is continuing to
participate with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) in a
pilot test of an alternate procedure for filing the Federal
Registration Statement for motor carriers who are also subject to the
State of Ohio's registration program. Ohio Revised Code Section 4905.80
requires that motor carriers transporting in or through Ohio hazardous
materials that must be placarded, require the display of vehicle
markings, or must be manifested register with PUCO. Motor carriers who
are subject to both the Federal registration requirements and the PUCO
requirements may obtain further information from the PUCO at 614-466-
7232.
On January 30, 1995, RSPA published a notice of proposed rulemaking
in the Federal Register requesting comments on several proposed changes
to the registration program. Over 350 comments were submitted in
response. After reviewing the comments and evaluating the options
available to the Department, RSPA decided to maintain the total fee for
registration and processing at $300 rather than to implement a
graduated fee schedule
[[Page 31348]]
based on measurements of involvement in the transportation of hazardous
materials. Two minor changes will be adopted for the 1996-97
Registration Year: (1) Foreign offerors will be permanently excepted
from the registration requirement as long as the country in which they
are domiciled does not impose a registration or a fee upon U.S.
companies for offering hazardous materials into that country, and (2)
the definition of ``materials extremely toxic by inhalation'' will be
expanded to include all materials poisonous by inhalation that meet the
criteria for hazard zone A. For more information, see the Final Rule on
Docket HM-208B published in the Federal Register on May 23, 1995 (60 FR
27231).
Dated: June 9, 1995.
Alan I. Roberts,
Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety.
[FR Doc. 95-14565 Filed 6-13-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P
