Agency Information Collection Activities; Renewal of a Currently Approved Information Collection: Hazardous Material Safety Permits

AGENCY:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), Department of Transportation (DOT).

ACTION:

Notice and request for comments.

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 its review and approval and invites public comment. FMCSA requests approval to renew an existing ICR titled, “Hazardous Materials Safety Permits.” This ICR requires companies holding safety permits to develop communications plans that allow for the periodic tracking of the shipments. A record of the communications that includes the time of the call and location of the shipment 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 6 months at the company's principal place of business or readily available to the employees at the company's principal place of business. This ICR is being renewed only to the extent that the number of motor carriers with an active Hazardous Materials (HM) Safety Permit has increased from 987 to 1065.

DATES:

Comments on this notice must be received on or before March 7, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2022-0236 using any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.

• Fax: 1-202-493-2251.

• Mail: Dockets Operations; U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC 20590-0001.

• Hand Delivery or Courier: U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Washington, DC, 20590-0001 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

Instructions: All submissions must include the Agency name and docket number. For detailed instructions on submitting comments, see the Public Participation heading below. Note that all comments received will be posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided. Please see the Privacy Act heading below.

Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or comments received, go to https://www.regulations.gov, and follow the online instructions for accessing the docket, or go to the street address listed above.

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.

Public Participation: The Federal eRulemaking Portal is available 24 hours each day, 365 days each year. You can obtain electronic submission and retrieval help and guidelines under the “FAQ” section of the Federal eRulemaking Portal website. If you want us to notify you that we received your comments, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope or postcard, or print the acknowledgement page that appears after submitting comments online. Comments received after the comment closing date will be included in the docket and will be considered to the extent practicable.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ms. Melissa Williams, Office of Safety, Hazardous Materials Division, DOT, FMCSA, West Building 6th Floor, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001; 202-366-4163; melissa.williams@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background: The Secretary of Transportation is responsible for implementing regulations to issue safety permits for transporting certain HM in accordance with 49 U.S.C. 5101 et seq. The HM Safety Permit regulations (49 CFR part 385, subpart E) require initial or first time HM Safety Permit carriers to file the Unified Registration System (URS), Form MCSA-1. Currently, update and renewal applications must be filed with FMCSA using the “Combined Motor Carrier Identification Report and HM Permit Application” (Form 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 covers the record of communications that includes 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 6 months at the company's principal place of business or be readily available to employees at the company's principal place of business.

Title: Hazardous Materials Safety Permits.

OMB Control Number: 2126-0030.

Type of Request: Renewal of a currently approved information collection.

Respondents: Motor carriers subject to the Hazardous Materials Safety Permit requirements in 49 CFR part 385, subpart E.

Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,065.

Estimated Time per Response: 5 minutes. The communication between motor carriers and their drivers must take place at least two times per day. It is estimated that it will take 5 minutes to maintain a daily communication record for each driver.

Expiration Date: September 30, 2023.

Frequency of Response: On occasion.

Estimated Total Annual Burden: 750,000 hours [9 million trips × 5 minutes per record ÷ 60 minutes per hour = 750,000, rounded to the nearest thousand].

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 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. The Agency will summarize or include your comments in the request for OMB's clearance of this ICR.