[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 59 (Monday, March 27, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 16161-16162]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-7469]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration

49 CFR Parts 174 and 177

[Docket No. HM-212]
RIN 2137-AC24


Hazardous Materials: Tank Cars and Cargo Tank Motor Vehicles; 
Attendance Requirements

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.

ACTION: Proposed rule; withdrawal.

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SUMMARY: RSPA is withdrawing the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) 
issued in 1992 under this docket on attendance requirements for tank 
cars and cargo tank motor vehicles. RSPA will address the issues raised 
in that NPRM, including the proposed rewrite of tank car unloading 
regulations, in rulemaking under RSPA Docket HM-223 (RSPA-98-4952). The 
HM-223 rulemaking is intended to clarify the applicability of the 
Hazardous Materials Regulations to specific functions and activities, 
including hazardous materials loading and unloading operations.

DATES: The proposed rule is withdrawn as of March 27, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Gorsky (202) 366-8553, Office of 
Hazardous Materials Standards, Research and Special Programs 
Administration, Department of Transportation.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On September 14, 1992, the Research and Special Programs 
Administration (RSPA, ``we'') published a notice of proposed rulemaking 
(NPRM) under Docket HM-212 (57 FR 42466), proposing several changes to 
the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) as they 
apply to loading and unloading of hazardous materials from rail tank 
cars and cargo tanks. We proposed to amend the following sections of 
the HMR:
    Section 174.67(i) pertaining to unloading of tank cars and 
Sec. 177.834(i) pertaining to the loading of cargo tanks to provide for 
the use of signaling systems to meet attendance requirements.
     Sections 174.67(i) and 174.67(j) to allow a tank car 
containing hazardous materials, under certain conditions, to remain 
standing with the unloading connections attached when no hazardous 
material is being transferred.
     Section 177.834 to remove a requirement that an attendant 
must be within 25 feet of the cargo tank motor vehicle during loading 
operations that are monitored by a signaling system.

II. HM-225 and -225A Cargo Tank Rulemaking

    Because of safety concerns, we addressed cargo tank attendance 
requirements in separate rulemakings under Docket Nos. RSPA-97-2133 
(HM-225) and RSPA-97-2718 (HM-225A). In a final rule published May 24, 
1999 (64 FR 28030), we revised the regulations applicable to 
transportation and unloading of liquefied compressed gases in cargo 
tank motor vehicles. The final rule, which became effective on July 1, 
1999, established a comprehensive safety program intended to reduce the 
risk of an unintentional release of a liquefied compressed gas during 
unloading, assure prompt detection and control of an unintentional 
release, and make the regulatory requirements easier to understand and 
comply with. Among the changes effected by that final rule were 
revisions to the attendance requirements in Sec. 177.834(i). We do not 
believe that it is appropriate to implement changes to the cargo tank 
loading requirements before we have had an opportunity to evaluate 
industry experience under that recent rule.

III. HM-223 Rulemaking on Applicability of the HMR

    Since the HM-212 NPRM was issued in 1992, we have initiated a broad 
rulemaking under HM-223 (Docket No. RSPA-98-4952) designed to clarify 
the meaning of ``transportation in commerce'' as it is used in federal 
hazardous material transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5101-5127) and to 
delineate specific activities that are included in that term and, 
therefore, subject to regulation under the HMR. In developing this 
rulemaking, we have four goals. First, we want to ensure that there are 
uniform national standards applicable to functions performed in advance 
of transportation that affect the safe transportation of hazardous 
materials in commerce. Second, we want to ensure that there are uniform 
national standards applicable to the actual transportation of hazardous 
materials in commerce. Third, we want to distinguish functions that are 
subject to the HMR from functions that are not subject to the HMR. 
Finally, we want to clarify that facilities within which functions 
subject to the HMR occur may be subject to federal, state, or local 
regulations governing occupational safety and health and environmental 
protection.
    In 1996, we issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM; 
61 FR 39522) under HM-223 and hosted a series of public meetings to 
elicit ideas, proposals, and recommendations on the applicability of 
the HMR. The ANPRM identified loading, unloading, and storage of 
hazardous materials as areas of particular confusion and concern. On 
April 27, 1999, we published a supplemental ANPRM (64 FR 22718) 
requesting additional information on these issues.
    We are currently evaluating comments submitted in response to the 
two ANPRMs and at the public meetings. We expect to issue an NPRM later 
this year. The NPRM may propose to interpret the statutory definition 
of ``transportation in commerce'' in a way that could affect how the 
HMR apply to certain loading, unloading, and storage operations, 
particularly loading, unloading, and storage of hazardous materials in 
bulk packages, such as tank cars. Thus, we believe it is more 
appropriate to address tank car unloading issues in the context of the 
HM-223 rulemaking. Indeed, commenters to the HM-212 docket recommended 
that the scope of the 1992 NPRM should be broadened. Several commenters 
suggested that the tank car unloading requirements in Part 174 be moved 
to Part 173 because unloading is

[[Page 16162]]

not typically performed by rail carriers, but by non-transportation 
entities. Commenters also suggested that we revise the HMR to more 
clearly define the term ``in transportation'' and to clarify the 
regulatory jurisdiction of the Occupational Safety and Health 
Administration (OSHA) and RSPA with respect to the transfer of 
hazardous materials.

IV. Withdrawal of NPRM

    For the reasons outlined above, we are withdrawing the 1992 NPRM 
published on September 14, 1992 (57 FR 42466), concerning cargo tank 
and tank car loading and unloading operations that was issued under HM-
212 and closing the HM-212 docket. We are deferring action on the 
overall rewrite of Sec. 174.67 that was proposed in the 1992 NPRM. 
Changes to this section will be considered as part of HM-223. Comments 
submitted to the HM-212 docket will be placed in the HM-223 docket. 
This action should not be read as an indication of how we intend to 
resolve the questions at issue in HM-223.

    Issued in Washington, DC on March 20, 2000, under authority 
delegated in 49 CFR Part 106.
Robert A. McGuire,
Acting Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety, Research 
and Special Programs Administration.
[FR Doc. 00-7469 Filed 3-24-00; 8:45 am]
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