[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 206 (Thursday, October 25, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60712-60713]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-20975]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2007-0016]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision of an Approved 
Information Collection: Hazardous Materials Safety Permits (Formerly 
Hazardous Materials Permit)

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, FMCSA 
announces its plan to submit the Information Collection Request (ICR) 
described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review 
and approval. This information collection concerns the requirement that 
companies holding permits for transporting certain hazardous materials 
to develop a communications plan that allows for the periodic tracking 
of the shipment. A record of the communications may be kept by either 
the driver (e.g., recorded in the log book) or the company that 
contains the time of the call and location of the shipment. These 
records must be kept, either physically or electronically, for at least 
six months at the company's principal place of business or readily 
available to employees at the company's principal place of business. On 
July 20, 2007, FMCSA published a Federal Register notice allowing for a 
60-day

[[Page 60713]]

comment period on the ICR. One comment was received.

DATES: Please send your comments by November 26, 2007. OMB must receive 
your comments by this date in order to act quickly on the ICR.

ADDRESSES: All comments should reference Docket No. FMCSA-2007-0016. 
You may submit comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 725 Seventeenth Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20503, Attention: DOT/FMCSA Desk Officer.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. James O. Simmons, Hazardous 
Materials Division, phone (202) 366-6121; FAX (202) 366-3921; or e-mail 
[email protected]; Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 
DOT, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. Office hours 
are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EST, Monday through Friday, except Federal 
Holidays.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Hazardous Materials Safety Permits (formerly Hazardous 
Materials Permit).
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0030.
    Type of Request: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents: Motor Carriers; Drivers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 2,515 motor carriers of property 
(Forms MCS-150B).
    Estimated Time per Response: 5 minutes. The communication between 
motor carriers and their drivers must take place at least two times per 
day and it is estimated that it will take 5 minutes to maintain a daily 
communication record for each driver.
    Expiration Date: October 31, 2007.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion. The changes will occur at the 
time of renewal, update or change of information.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 130,780 hours. 52 annual hours per 
carrier [5 minutes/60 minutes per trip x 1,570,391 estimated annual 
trips for carriers/2,515 carriers = 52 hours]. 130,780 total annual 
burden hours [52 annual hours per carrier x 2,515 carriers = 130,780 
hours].
    Background: The Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) is 
responsible for implementing regulations to issue safety permits for 
transporting certain hazardous materials in accordance with 49 U.S.C. 
5101 et seq. The HM Safety Permit regulations (49 CFR part 385) require 
carriers to complete a ``Combined Motor Carrier Identification Report 
and HM Safety Permit Application''--form number MCS-150B. The HM Safety 
Permit regulations also require carriers to have a security program. As 
part of the HM Safety Permit regulations, carriers are required to 
develop and maintain route plans so that law enforcement officials can 
verify the correct location of the HM shipment. FMCSA requires 
companies holding permits to develop a communications plan that allows 
for the periodic tracking of the shipment. This information collection 
covers the records of the communications that contain the time of the 
call and location of the shipment. The records may be kept by either 
the driver (e.g., recorded in the log book) or the company. These 
records must be kept, either physically or electronically, for at least 
six months at the company's principal place of business or readily 
available to employees at the company's principal place of business.
    On July 20, 2007, (72 FR 39878) FMCSA published a Federal Register 
notice allowing for a 60-day comment period on the proposed revision of 
this ICR. One comment was received from a motor carrier that asked the 
Agency to consider exempting drivers of trucks equipped with satellite 
tracking and monitoring systems from the requirement to call in. The 
commenter did not discuss the revised burden hours and costs aspects of 
the Hazardous Materials Safety Permits information collection.
    Public Comments Invited: You are asked to comment on any aspect of 
this information collection, including: (1) Whether the proposed 
collection is necessary for the performance of FMCSA's functions; (2) 
the accuracy of the estimated burden; (3) ways for the FMCSA to enhance 
the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the collected information; and 
(4) ways that the burden could be minimized without reducing the 
quality of the collected information.

Terry Shelton,
Associate Administrator for Research and Information Technology.
[FR Doc. E7-20975 Filed 10-24-07; 8:45 am]
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