US provides some relief

GET OUT OF THAT

US • PHMSA’S BIGGEST RULEMAKING FOR SOME TIME, RESPONDING TO PETITIONS FROM INDUSTRY, PROVIDES RELIEF FROM A NUMBER OF REQUIREMENTS THROUGHOUT HMR

THOSE SUBJECT TO the US Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) have had a quiet couple of years, with the current presidential administration hostile to the imposition of additional regulatory burdens. However, on 7 November, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a wide-ranging final rule that has resulted in changes throughout HMR.

The final rule, issued under docket HM219A, came in response to 19 petitions for rulemaking to update, clarify, streamline, or provide relief from miscellaneous regulatory requirements. Adoption of the changes therefore allows more efficient and effective ways of transporting hazardous materials in commerce, achieving current political goals, while maintaining an equivalent level of safety.

While a number of the amendments are editorial in nature or update references to other publications, several provide a substantive degree of change. 1. Revisions to §§172.519(f) and 172.407(f) allow for the use of labels and placards conforming to the specifications in the

UN Recommendations, ICAO Technical

Instructions, IMDG Code, or TDG Regulations.

Additionally, the word “approximately” is inserted in §172.407(c) to allow for tolerance in the size of the inner border on labels, with a similar change in §172.519(c) for placards. 2. Revision of §172.205 to allow the use of electronic signatures when completing

EPA forms 8700-22 and 8700-22A. 3. There will no longer need to be an emergency response number shown on

shipping papers for excepted quantities of hazardous materials. 4. A revision to §173.24a allows packages tested with a liquid material to be filled with a solid material of the equivalent packing group. 5. Reference to a 20-year service life for rail tank cars used to transport materials that are poisonous by inhalation in §173.31(e)(2)(iii) has been removed. 6. A revision to §173.156(b)(2)(iii) allows pallets used for limited quantities and ORM-D material to be made of metal, plastic or composite materials in addition to wood. 7. A revision to §176.415 removes the requirement for the Captain of the Port to be informed in writing ahead of the loading or unloading of

Division 1.5 ammonium nitrates when shipped in limited quantities.

These changes took effect on 7 December. Full details can be found in the Federal Register at www.federalregister.gov/ documents/2018/11/07/2018-23965/hazardousmaterials-response-to-petitions-from-industryto-modify-clarify-or-eliminate-regulations.

RULEMAKING PROCESS It is clear from the lengthy document describing these changes that PHMSA has had to justify each of them very carefully, in consultation with industry and with other federal agencies, while taking account of recent Executive Orders.

The increasingly long process of getting a rulemaking through the federal system means that PHMSA’s next major action, the biennial update to keep HMR in step with international regulations, will inevitably be delayed. A notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) under the docket, HM-215O, was published on 27 November, just too late to be reviewed in this issue of HCB.

The NPRM invites comments on the proposed changes by 28 January 2019, which suggests that a final rule will not be forthcoming before March at the earliest. Until then, HMR will be out of step with international regulations – in particular the 20192020 edition of the ICAO Technical Instructions, which takes full effect promptly on 1 January.

PHMSA has a couple of ways by which it can get around this issue; HCB will look more closely at the HM-215O proposals – and especially those UN changes that PHMSA is not adopting – in the January issue, by which time we may know how it is to deal with the ICAO issue. HCB