[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 8, 2002)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 62681-62682]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-25463]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration

49 CFR Part 177

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

49 CFR Part 397

[Docket No. FMCSA-02-11650 (HM-232A)]
RIN 2137-AD70, 2126-AA71


Security Requirements for Motor Carriers Transporting Hazardous 
Materials

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), and 
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION: Supplemental advance notice of proposed rulemaking; extension 
of comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) and 
the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published a 
July 16, 2002 Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) seeking 
comments on the feasibility of implementing security enhancement 
requirements for motor carriers transporting hazardous materials, and 
the potential costs and benefits of deploying such enhancements. After 
receiving a request from an industry association to put a procedure in 
place to protect potentially security-sensitive comments, we are 
informing commenters of the procedures currently set forth in RSPA's 
regulations for requesting confidential treatment. Thus, we are 
removing the sentence in the ANPRM indicating that ``comments that 
include information that may compromise transportation security will be 
disqualified as beyond the scope of the rulemaking.'' We will consider 
all comments received. All comments will be placed in the rulemaking 
docket unless they, or a portion thereof, are determined to be 
confidential and thereby protected from disclosure under the law. In 
this supplement to the ANPRM, we are also extending the comment period 
for an additional 31 days to November 15, 2002.

DATES: Submit comments on or before November 15, 2002. To the extent 
possible, we will consider late-filed comments as we consider further 
action.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donna O'Berry, (202) 366-4400, Office 
of the Chief Counsel, Research and Special Programs Administration; 
Susan Gorsky, (202) 366-8553, Office of Hazardous Materials Standards, 
Research and Special Programs Administration; or William Quade, (202) 
366-6121, Office of Enforcement and Compliance, Federal Motor Carrier 
Safety Administration.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: RSPA and FMCSA published a July 16, 2002 
ANPRM entitled ``Security Requirements for Motor Carriers Transporting 
Hazardous Materials.'' See 67 FR 46622. In that rulemaking document, 
RSPA and FMCSA are examining the feasibility of implementing specific 
enhanced security requirements for motor carriers transporting 
hazardous materials, and the potential costs and benefits of deploying 
such enhancements. In the July 16 ANPRM, we set out seven questions and 
invited commenters to submit data and information in response to those 
questions.
    Because the ANPRM addressed measures to enhance the security of 
hazardous materials in transportation, we urged commenters to carefully 
consider the information they submitted in response to the questions 
posed. After the ANPRM was published, we received an industry 
association letter indicating that it planned to file comments and 
stating ``however, we are concerned that the public dissemination of 
these comments could compromise our national security by providing 
information that could later be exploited by terrorists with access to 
such information.'' The association requested that we establish a 
procedure to safeguard those comments.
    After reviewing this request, we have decided to supplement the 
ANPRM to inform the public of the procedures currently in RSPA's 
regulations for requesting confidentiality. (These procedural 
regulations were recently re-written in plain language and published on 
June 25, 2002 [67 FR 42948].) Under 49 CFR 105.30, if you submit 
information to us, you may ask us to keep the information confidential. 
This section explains the steps you should follow: (1) Mark 
``confidential'' on each page of the original document you would like 
to keep confidential, (2) send us, along with the original document, a 
second copy of the original document with the confidential information 
deleted, and (3) explain why the information is confidential (for 
example, it is exempt from mandatory public disclosure under the 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [5 U.S.C. 552] because it is 
confidential commercial information). See 67 FR 42953.
    In your explanation, you should provide enough information to 
enable us to make a determination as to the confidentiality of the 
information provided. In addition, if you believe that certain laws or 
FOIA exemptions might apply to protect the information, you should 
reference those legal citations.
    The FOIA requires that we release any nonexempt (not protected 
under FOIA) portions of information that can be reasonably segregated. 
Therefore, we ask that you identify the particular portions of 
information within your documents that you believe are confidential. If 
the non-confidential information is so intertwined with the 
confidential information that disclosing it would leave only 
meaningless words and phrases, the entire page or document may be 
withheld.
    After reviewing your request for confidentiality and the 
information provided, we will analyze all applicable laws to decide 
whether or not to treat the information as confidential. We will notify 
you of our decision to grant or deny confidentiality at least five days 
before the information is publicly disclosed, and give you an 
opportunity to respond. See 105.30(b).
    If, prior to submitting your request, you have any questions 
regarding RSPA's procedures for determining confidentiality, you may 
call one of the contact individuals above for more information.
    The July 16 ANPRM included a statement that we would disqualify 
information received in comments that could compromise transportation 
security as beyond the scope of the rulemaking. In light of the fact 
that RSPA's regulations provide a process for requesting 
confidentiality, all comments will be part of the docket, unless 
comments or portions of comments are determined to be confidential and 
protected from disclosure under law. Information determined to be 
confidential will be redacted and the unredacted portions will be 
placed in the docket.
    The ANPRM provided an October 15, 2002 deadline for filing 
comments. In conjunction with informing the public of our procedures 
for requesting confidentiality, we are also extending the comment 
period deadline to November 15, 2002 to provide commenters with an 
additional 30 days

[[Page 62682]]

to file comments. We will consider late-filed comments to the extent 
possible.

    Issued in Washington, DC on October 1, 2002, under authority 
delegated in 49 CFR part 106.
Robert A. McGuire,
Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety, Research and 
Special Programs Administration.
Julie A. Cirillo,
Assistant Administrator, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
[FR Doc. 02-25463 Filed 10-7-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P; 4910-EX-P