Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision and Extension of a Currently-Approved Information Collection Request: Hazardous Materials Safety Permits

Kelly Regal
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
10 November 2016

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 218 (Thursday, November 10, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 79085-79086]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-26559]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2016-0359]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Revision and Extension 
of a Currently-Approved Information Collection Request: Hazardous 
Materials Safety Permits

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, 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 its 
review and approval and invites public comment. The FMCSA requests 
approval to revise and extend 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 
six months at the company's principal place of business or readily 
available to the employees at the company's principal place of 
business.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before January 9, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2016-0359 using any of the 
following methods:
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
     Mail: Docket Management Facility; U.S. Department of 
Transportation, 1200

[[Page 79086]]

New Jersey Avenue SE., West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 
20590-0001.
     Hand Delivery or Courier: West Building, Ground Floor, 
Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC, between 9 
a.m. and 5 p.m. e.t., 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 http://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 http://www.regulations.gov, and follow the 
online instructions for accessing the dockets, or go to the street 
address listed above.
    Privacy Act: Anyone is able to search the electronic form of all 
comments received into any of our dockets by the name of the individual 
submitting the comment (or signing the comment, if submitted on behalf 
of an association, business, labor union, etc.). You may review DOT's 
complete Privacy Act Statement for the Federal Docket Management System 
published in the Federal Register on January 17, 2008 (73 FR 3316), or 
you may visit http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdfE8-794.pdf.
    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 ``help'' section 
of the Federal eRulemaking Portal Web site. 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: Mr. Vincent Babich or Mr. Tyrone 
Gibbs, Office of Enforcement and Compliance, Hazardous Materials 
Division, Department of Transportation, FMCSA, West Building 6th Floor, 
1200 New Jersey Avenue SE., Washington, DC 20590. Telephone: 202-366-
4871 or 202-366-1705; email vincent.babich@dot.gov or 
tyrone.gibbs@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: The Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) is 
responsible for implementing regulations to issue safety permits for 
transporting certain hazardous materials (HM) in accordance with 49 
U.S.C. 5101 et seq. The HM Safety Permit regulations (49 CFR part 385, 
subpart E) require carriers to develop and maintain route plans so that 
law enforcement officials can verify the correct location of the HM 
shipment. The FMCSA requires companies holding safety permits to 
develop a communications plan that allows for the periodic tracking of 
the shipment. This ICR 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 six months at the company's principal 
place of business or be readily available to employees at the company's 
principal place of business. The currently-approved information 
collection is based on an estimated 1,382 respondents. The total number 
of companies now holding a safety permit is 1,304 therefore in this ICR 
the estimated number of respondents is being revised to reflect this 
number.
    Title: Hazardous Materials Safety Permits.
    OMB Control Number: 2126-0030.
    Type of Request: Revision and extension of a currently-approved 
information collection.
    Respondents: Motor carriers subject to the HM Safety Permit 
requirements in 49 CFR part 385, subpart E.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 1,304.
    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: July 31, 2017.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 908,000 hours [10.9 million trips x 
5 minutes per record / 60 minutes per hour = 908,333.33 rounded to 
908,000].
    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 information 
collection.

    Issued under the authority of 49 CFR 1.87 on: October 27, 2016.
Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator for Office of Research and Information 
Technology.
[FR Doc. 2016-26559 Filed 11-9-16; 8:45 am]
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