On October 22, 2012, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) proposing to amend the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR) through incorporation of several long standing special permit and competent authorities. The specified special permits and competent authorities have a long history of safety. Accordingly, PHMSA contends that the proposed revisions will have two main benefits while maintaining an appropriate level of safety. First, incorporation will facilitate wider access to the regulatory flexibility offered through special permits and approvals. Second, incorporation will eliminate the need for numerous renewal requests while reducing paperwork burdens. A few of the special permits and approvals that PHMSA proposes to incorporate will be reviewed below.
Special Permits:
v DOT–SP 9275 authorized the transportation in commerce of certain limited quantities of liquids and solids containing ethyl alcohol and exempts these shipments from the provisions of HMR. This special permit has been in effect since at least 1985 and had been utilized by hundreds of companies. PHMSA is now proposing to allow certain limited quantities of ethyl alcohol to be exempted from the applicable provisions of the HMR.
v DOT–SP 11263 authorizes the transportation of solid coal tar pitch compounds, Class 9, in open-top and closed-top sift-proof metal cans or fiber drums. The special permit has been in effect since 1994 with an acceptable safety performance record. PHMSA now proposes to incorporate the terms of DOT–SP 11263 into the HMR by amending the entry in § 172.101, The Hazardous Materials Table (HMT), for Environmentally hazardous substances, solids, n.o.s., UN 3077.
v DOT–SP 11836 authorizes the transportation of specific ammonia solutions in specification UN1H1 drums, UN3H1 jerricans, and UN6HA1 composite packagings. PHMSA proposes to incorporate the terms of DOT–SP 11836 into the HMR by amending the entry in the HMT for Ammonia solutions, relative density between 0.880 and 0.957 at 15 degrees C in water, with more than 10 percent but not more than 35 percent ammonia, UN 2672.
Competent Authority:
v Competent Authority CA2005120010 authorizes the manufacturing, marking, and selling of UN4G combination packagings with outer fiberboard boxes and with inner fiberboard components that have basis weights that vary by not more than plus or minus 5% from the measured basis weight in the initial design qualification test report.
For further information or questions regarding the NPRM, please contact Ronce Almond at (202) 457-7790.