[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 190 (Tuesday, October 3, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68280-68282]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21870]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

[Docket No. PHMSA-2023-0078 (Notice No. 2023-11)]


Hazardous Materials: Information Collection Activities

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

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, PHMSA 
invites comments on two information collections pertaining to hazardous 
materials transportation for which PHMSA intends to request renewal 
from the Office of Management and Budget.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before 
December 4, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket Number 
PHMSA-2023-0078 (Notice No. 2023-11) by any of the following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management System; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Routing 
Symbol M-30, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
     Hand Delivery: To the Docket Management System; Room W12-
140 on the ground floor of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue 
SE, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, except Federal holidays.
    Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and 
Docket Number (PHMSA-2023-0078) for this notice at the beginning of the 
comment. To avoid duplication, please use only one of these four 
methods. All comments received will be posted without change to the 
Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) and will include any personal 
information you provide.
    Requests for a copy of an information collection should be directed 
to Steven Andrews or Nina Vore, Standards and Rulemaking Division, 
(202) 366-8553, [email protected], Pipeline and Hazardous Materials 
Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
    Docket: For access to the dockets to read background documents or 
comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov or DOT's Docket 
Operations Office (see ADDRESSES).
    Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits 
comments from the public to better inform its rulemaking process. DOT 
posts these comments, without edit, including any personal information 
the commenter provides, to www.regulations.gov, as described in the 
system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at 
www.dot.gov/privacy.
    Confidential Business Information: Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) is commercial or financial information that is both 
customarily and actually treated as private by its owner. Under the 
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from 
public disclosure. If your comments responsive to this notice contain 
commercial or financial information that is customarily treated as 
private, that you actually treat as private, and that is relevant or 
responsive to this notice, it is important that you clearly designate 
the submitted comments as CBI. Please mark each page of your submission 
containing CBI as ``PROPIN.'' PHMSA will treat such marked submissions 
as confidential under the FOIA, and they will not be placed in the 
public docket of this notice. Submissions containing CBI should be sent 
to Steven Andrews or Nina Vore, Standards and Rulemaking Division and 
addressed to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety 
Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001 or [email protected]. Any commentary 
that PHMSA receives which is not specifically designated as CBI will be 
placed in the public docket for this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Andrews or Nina Vore, Standards 
and Rulemaking Division, (202) 366-8553, [email protected], Pipeline and 
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Section 1320.8(d), title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 
requires PHMSA to provide interested members of the public and affected 
agencies an opportunity to comment on information collection and 
recordkeeping requests. This notice identifies information collection 
requests that PHMSA will be submitting to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for renewal and extension. These information collections 
are contained in 49 CFR 171.6 of the Hazardous Materials Regulations 
(HMR; 49 CFR parts 171-180). PHMSA has revised burden estimates, where 
appropriate, to reflect current reporting levels or adjustments based 
on changes in proposed or final rules published since the information 
collections were last approved. The following information is provided 
for each information collection: (1) title of the information 
collection, including former title if a change is being made; (2) OMB 
control number; (3) summary of the information collection activity; (4) 
description of affected public; (5) estimate of total annual reporting 
and recordkeeping burden; and (6) frequency of collection. PHMSA will 
request a 3-year term of approval for each information collection 
activity and will publish a notice in the Federal Register upon OMB's 
approval.
    PHMSA requests comments on the following information collections:
    Title: Hazardous Materials Security Plans.
    OMB Control Number: 2137-0612.
    Summary: To assure public safety, shippers and carriers must take 
reasonable measures to plan and implement procedures to prevent 
unauthorized persons from taking control of, or attacking, hazardous 
materials shipments. Part 172 of the HMR requires persons who offer or 
transport certain hazardous materials to develop and implement written 
plans to enhance the security of hazardous materials shipments. The 
security plan requirements as prescribed in Sec.  172.800(b) apply to 
specific types of shipments. Such shipments include but

[[Page 68281]]

are not limited to: shipments greater than 3,000 kg (6,614 pounds) for 
solids or 3,000 liters (792 gallons) for certain liquids and gases in a 
single packaging such as a cargo tank motor vehicle, portable tank, 
tank car, or other bulk container; any quantity of a Division 1.1, 1.2, 
or 1.3 material; a large bulk quantity of a Division 2.1 material; or 
any quantity of a poison-by-inhalation material. A security plan will 
enable shippers and carriers to reduce the possibility that a hazardous 
materials shipment will be used as a weapon of opportunity by a 
terrorist or criminal.
    The following is a list of the information collections and burden 
estimates associated with this OMB Control Number:

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                                                      Annual       Total annual      Hours per     Total annual
             Information collection                 respondents      responses       response      burden hours
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New Security Plan--Large Companies..............              30              90              50           4,500
New Security Plan--Small Companies..............             170             170              25           4,250
Updating Security Plan--Large Companies.........           6,300          18,900              10         189,000
New Security Plan--Small Companies..............          35,700          35,700               5         178,499
Compilation of Commodity Data--Class I Railroads               7               7              40             280
Compilation of Commodity Data--Class II                       32              32              40           1,280
 Railroads......................................
Compilation of Commodity Data--Class III                     100             100              40           4,000
 Railroads......................................
Primary Route Analysis--Class I Railroads.......               7              60              80           4,800
Primary Route Analysis--Class II Railroads......              32             128              80          10,240
Primary Route Analysis--Class III Railroads.....             100             200              40           8,000
Alternate Route Analysis--Class I Railroads.....               7              60             120           7,200
Alternate Route Analysis--Class II Railroads....              32              96             120          11,520
Alternate Route Analysis--Class III Railroads...             100              50              40           2,000
Route Selection and Completion of Route                        7               7              16             112
 Analysis--Class I Railroads....................
Route Selection and Completion of Route                       32              32              16             512
 Analysis--Class II Railroads...................
Route Selection and Completion of Route                      100             100               8             800
 Analysis--Class III Railroads..................
Storage, Delays in Transit, and Notification--                 7               7               8              56
 Class I Railroads..............................
Storage, Delays in Transit, and Notification--                32              32               8             256
 Class II Railroads.............................
Storage, Delays in Transit, and Notification--               100             100               4             400
 Class III Railroads............................
Notifying a Consignee in the Event of a                        7              12             .50               6
 Significant Delay--Class I Railroads...........
Notifying a Consignee in the Event of a                       32              12             .50               6
 Significant Delay--Class II Railroads..........
Notifying a Consignee in the Event of a                      100               2             .50               1
 Significant Delay--Class III Railroads.........
Inspection--Large Companies.....................             100             100            .008               1
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    Affected Public: Shippers and carriers of hazardous materials in 
commerce.
    Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden:
    Number of Respondents: 43,134.
    Total Annual Responses: 55,997.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 427,719.
    Frequency of Collection: On occasion.
    Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback 
on Agency Service Delivery.
    OMB Control Number: 2137-0640.
    Summary: The information collection activity will garner 
qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely 
manner, in accordance with the Department's commitment to improving 
service delivery. Qualitative feedback is information that provides 
useful insights on perceptions and opinions, not statistical surveys 
that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the 
population of study. This feedback will provide insight into customer 
or stakeholder perceptions, opinions, experiences and expectations, as 
well as an early warning of issues with service, or focus attention on 
areas where communication, training or changes in operations might 
improve delivery of products or services. These collections will allow 
for ongoing, collaborative, and actionable communications between PHMSA 
and its customers and stakeholders. It will also allow feedback to 
contribute directly to the improvement of program management. Feedback 
or information collected under this generic clearance will provide 
useful information, but it will not yield data that can be generalized 
to the overall population.
    The Department will submit a collection for approval under this 
generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:
     The collections are voluntary.
     The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on 
considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or 
burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents 
and the Federal Government.
     The collections are non-controversial and do not raise 
issues of concern to other Federal agencies.
     Any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions 
from respondents who have experience with the program or may have 
experience with the program in the near future.
     Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected 
only to the extent necessary and is not retained.
     Information gathered is intended to be used only 
internally for general service improvement and program management 
purposes and is not intended for release outside of the Department (if 
released, the Department must indicate the qualitative nature of the 
information).
    This type of generic clearance for qualitative information will not 
be used for quantitative information collections that are designed to 
yield reliably actionable results, such as monitoring trends over time 
or documenting program performance. Such data uses require more 
rigorous designs that address: the target population to which 
generalizations will be made, the sampling frame, the sample design 
(including stratification and clustering), the precision requirements 
or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the 
expected response rate, methods for assessing potential nonresponse 
bias, the protocols for data collection, and any testing procedures 
that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding the study. Depending 
on the degree of influence the results are likely

[[Page 68282]]

to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for 
other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield quantitative 
results.
    Affected Public: Individuals and households, businesses and 
organizations, State, local or Tribal governments.
    Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden:
    Number of Respondents: 6,000.
    Total Annual Responses: 6,000.
    Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,000.
    Frequency of Collection: One-time requirement.
    Issued in Washington, DC, on September 28, 2023, under authority 
delegated in 49 CFR 1.97.

T. Glenn Foster,
Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Branch, Office of Hazardous 
Materials Safety, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety 
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-21870 Filed 10-2-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P