[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 152 (Tuesday, August 8, 2006)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 44955-44957]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-12859]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

49 CFR Parts 110 and 178

[Docket No. PHMSA-06-24304 (Notice No. 06-01)]


Regulatory Flexibility Act Section 610 and Plain Language Reviews

AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), 
DOT.

ACTION: Notice of regulatory review; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: PHMSA requests comments on the economic impact of its 
regulations on small entities. As required by the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act and as published in DOT's Semi-Annual Regulatory 
Agenda, we are analyzing the Hazardous Materials Regulations applicable 
to specifications for non-bulk packagings and training and planning 
grants. We are also analyzing the Pipeline Safety Regulations 
applicable to oil pipeline response plans and the hazardous liquid 
reporting requirements. The purpose of these analyses is to identify 
requirements that may have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities. We also request comments on ways 
to make these regulations easier to read and understand.

DATES: Comments must be received by November 6, 2006.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the docket number 
PHMSA-06-24304 (Notice No. 06-01) by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Web site: http://dms.dot.gov. Follow the instructions for 
submitting comments on the DOT electronic docket site.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management System; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 400 Seventh Street, SW., Nassif Building, Room PL-401, 
Washington, DC 20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery: To the Docket Management System; Room PL-
401 on the plaza level of the Nassif Building, 400 Seventh Street, SW., 
Washington, DC between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, except 
Federal holidays.
    Instructions: You must include the agency name and docket number 
PHMSA-06-24304 (Notice No. 06-01) at the beginning of your comment. 
Note that all comments received will be posted without change to http://dms.dot.gov including any personal information provided. Anyone is 
able to search the electronic form of any written communications and 
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the document (or signing the document, if submitted on 
behalf of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review 
DOT's complete Privacy Act Statement in the Federal Register

[[Page 44956]]

published on April 11, 2000 (65 FR 19477) or you may visit http://dms.dot.gov.
    Docket: You may view the public docket through the Internet at 
http://dms.dot.gov or in person at the Docket Management System office 
at the above address.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin A. Leary, Office of Hazardous 
Materials Standards, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety 
Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, telephone (202) 366-
8553 (for the Hazardous Materials Regulations); Piyali Talukdar, U.S. 
Department of Transportation, telephone (617) 494-2999 (for the 
Pipeline Safety Regulations).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act

A. Background and Purpose

    Section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (Pub. L. 96-
354), as amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness 
Act of 1996 (Pub. L. 104-121), requires agencies to conduct periodic 
reviews of rules that have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small business entities. The purpose of the 
review is to determine whether such rules should be continued without 
change, amended, or rescinded, consistent with the objectives of 
applicable statutes, to minimize any significant economic impact of the 
rules on a substantial number of such small entities.

B. Review Schedule

    The Department of Transportation (DOT) published its Semiannual 
Regulatory Agenda on October 31, 2005 (70 FR 64940), listing in 
Appendix D (70 FR 64954) those regulations that each operating 
administration will review under section 610 during the following 12 
months. Appendix D also contains DOT's 10-year review plan for all of 
its existing regulations.
    The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA, 
we) has divided its Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR parts 
171-180) and its Pipeline Safety Regulations (49 CFR parts 190-199) 
into 10 groups by subject area. Each group will be reviewed once every 
10 years, undergoing a two-stage process (an Analysis Year and Section 
610 Review Year. For purposes of the review announced in this notice, 
the Analysis year began in October 2005, coincident with the fall 2005 
publication of the Semiannual Regulatory Agenda.
    During the Analysis Year, we will analyze each of the rules in a 
given year's group to determine whether any rule has a significant 
impact on a substantial number of small entities and, thus, requires 
review in accordance with section 610 of the Regulatory Flexibility 
Act. In each fall's Regulatory Agenda, we will publish the results of 
the analyses we completed during the previous year. For rules that have 
a negative finding, we will provide a short explanation. For parts, 
subparts, or other discrete sections of rules that do have a 
significant impact on a substantial number of small entities, we will 
announce that we will be conducting a formal section 610 review during 
the following 12 months.
    The section 610 review will determine whether a specific rule 
should be revised or revoked to lessen its impact on small entities. We 
will consider: (1) The continued need for the rule; (2) the nature of 
complaints or comments received from the public; (3) the complexity of 
the rule; (4) the extent to which the rule overlaps, duplicates, or 
conflicts with other federal rules or with state or local government 
rules; and (5) the length of time since the rule has been evaluated or 
the degree to which technology, economic conditions, or other factors 
have changed in the area affected by the rule. At the end of the Review 
Year, we will publish the results of our review.
    The following table shows the 10-year analysis and review schedule:

                PHMSA Section 610 Review Plan 1999--2009
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                                                                Review
            Title                Regulation    Analysis year     year
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Incident reports............  Sec.  Sec.       1998           N/A
                               171.15 and
                               171.16.
Hazmat safety procedures....  Parts 106 and    1999           N/A
                               107.
General Information,          Part 171.......
 Regulations, and
 Definitions.
Pipeline Safety Procedures..  Part 190.......
Hazardous Liquid Pipeline     Part 195.......
 Corrosion Control.
Carriage by Rail and Highway  Parts 174 and    2000           N/A
                               177.
Gas Pipeline Transportation   Part 191.......
 Reports.
Gas Pipeline Corrosion        Part 192.......
 Control.
Carriage by Vessel..........  Part 176.......  2001           N/A
Pipeline Employee Drug and    Part 199.......
 Alcohol Testing.
Radioactive Materials.......  Parts 172, 173,  2002           N/A
                               174, 175, 176,
                               177, 178.
Explosives..................  Parts 172, 173,  2003           N/A
                               174, 176, 177.
Cylinders...................  Parts 172, 173,
                               174, 176, 177,
                               178, 180.
Liquefied Natural Gas         Part 193.......
 Facilities.
Shippers--General             Part 173.......  2004           N/A
 Requirements for Shipments
 and Packagings.
Onshore Oil Pipeline          Part 194.......
 Response Plans.
Specifications for Non-bulk   Part 178.......  2005/2006      2007
 Packagings.
Training and Planning Grants  Part 110.......
Hazardous Liquid Pipeline     Part 195.......
 Transportation.
Specifications for Bulk       Parts 178, 179,  2006           2007
 Packagings.                   180.
State Pipeline Safety Grants  Part 198.......
Hazardous Materials Table,    Part 172.......  2007           2008
 Special Provisions,
 Hazardous Materials
 Communications, Emergency
 Response Information, and
 Training Requirements.
Carriage by Aircraft........  Part 175.......
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[[Page 44957]]

C. Regulations Under Analysis

    During Year 8 (2006-2007), the Analysis Year, we will conduct a 
preliminary assessment of the rules in 49 CFR part 178 applicable to 
specifications for non-bulk packages. The review will include the 
following subparts:

                                Part 178
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Subpart                               Title
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subpart B.................................  Specifications for Inside
                                             Containers and Linings.
Subpart L.................................  Non-bulk Performance
                                             Oriented Packaging
                                             Standards.
Subpart M.................................  Testing of Non-bulk
                                             Packagings and Packages.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In addition, we will conduct a preliminary assessment of the rules 
in 49 CFR part 110 establishing procedures for the Hazardous Materials 
Public Sector Training and Planning Grants. These regulations include 
eligibility requirements, grant application procedures, disbursement of 
Federal funds, grant monitoring, and after-grant requirements.
    The oil pipeline response plan regulations in Part 194 and the 
hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations in Subpart B of Part 195 
are also scheduled for review this year. The Part 194 regulations 
contain requirements for oil spill response plans to reduce the 
environmental impact of oil discharged from onshore oil pipelines. Part 
195, Subpart B, addresses hazardous liquid reporting requirements, 
including annual reporting, accident reporting, and reporting of safety 
related conditions.
    We are seeking comments on whether any requirements for training 
and planning grants in Part 110, specifications for non-bulk packagings 
in Part 178, oil response plans in Part 194, or hazardous liquid 
pipeline reporting requirements in Part 195 have a significant impact 
on a substantial number of small entities. ``Small entities'' include 
small businesses, not-for-profit organizations that are independently 
owned and operated and are not dominant in their fields, and 
governmental jurisdictions with populations under 50,000. If your 
business or organization is a small entity and if any of the above 
described regulatory requirements has a significant economic impact on 
your business or organization, please submit a comment explaining how 
and to what degree these rules affect you, the extent of the economic 
impact on your business or organization, and why you believe the 
economic impact is significant.

II. Plain Language

A. Background and Purpose

    Plain language helps readers find requirements quickly and 
understand them easily. Examples of plain language techniques include:
    (1) Undesignated center headings to cluster related sections within 
subparts.
    (2) Short words, sentences, paragraphs, and sections to speed up 
reading and enhance understanding.
    (3) Sections as questions and answers to provide focus.
    (4) Personal pronouns to reduce passive voice and draw readers into 
the writing.
    (5) Tables to display complex information in a simple, easy-to-read 
format.
    For an example of a rule drafted in plain language, you can refer 
to our final rule entitled ``Revised and Clarified Hazardous Materials 
Safety Rulemaking and Program Procedures,'' which was published June 
25, 2002 (67 FR 42948). This final rule revised and clarified the 
hazardous materials safety rulemaking and program procedures by 
rewriting 49 CFR Part 106 and Subpart A of Part 107 in plain language 
and creating a new Part 105 that contains definitions and general 
procedures.

B. Review Schedule

    In conjunction with our section 610 reviews, we will be performing 
plain language reviews of the HMR and pipeline safety regulations over 
a 10-year period on a schedule consistent with the section 610 review 
schedule. Thus, our review of requirements in Part 110 applicable to 
training and planning grants, part 178 applicable to specifications for 
non-bulk packagings, Part 194 applicable to oil response plans, and 
Part 195 applicable to hazardous liquid pipeline reporting will also 
include a plain language review to determine if the regulations can be 
reorganized and/or rewritten to make them easier to read, understand, 
and use. We encourage interested persons to submit draft regulatory 
language that clearly and simply communicates regulatory requirements, 
and other recommendations, such as putting information in tables or 
consolidating regulatory requirements, that may make the regulations 
easier to use.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on August 2, 2006.
Robert A. McGuire,
Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety, Pipeline and 
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
 [FR Doc. E6-12859 Filed 8-7-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P