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

Kelly Regal
Federal Highway Administration
7 November 2019

[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 216 (Thursday, November 7, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60142-60143]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-24236]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

[Docket No. FMCSA-2019-0242]


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

AGENCY: 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 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 permits 
to develop and implement communications plans that allow for the 
periodic tracking of the shipments. A record of the communications that 
includes the name of the driver, identification of the vehicle, 
permitted material(s) being transported, and the date, time and 
location of each contact 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. This ICR is 
being revised only to the extent that the number of motor carriers with 
an active Hazardous Materials (HM) Safety Permit has decreased from 
1,304 to 987.

DATES: We must receive your comments on or before January 6, 2020.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Federal Docket 
Management System (FDMS) Docket Number FMCSA-2019-0242 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 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 and 
additional information on the exemption process, 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

[[Page 60143]]

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 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. Suzanne Rach, 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: 202-385-2307; email 
suzanne.rach@dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Background: The Secretary of Transportation (Secretary) is 
responsible for implementing regulations to issue safety permits for 
transporting certain HM in accordance with 49 U.S.C. 5101 et seq. 
Currently, the HM Safety Permit regulations (49 CFR part 385, subpart 
E) require companies applying for a HM Safety Permit that do not have a 
USDOT number to file online at the FMCSA website via the Unified 
Registration System (URS) before conducting operations in commerce that 
require a safety permit. Safety permit applications for companies that 
have a USDOT number and applications to update or renew a safety permit 
must be filed with FMCSA using the form MCS-150B (Combined Motor 
Carrier Identification Report and HMSP Application). The URS and MCS-
150B are covered under the FMCSA's OMB Control Number 2126-0013, 
``Motor Carrier Identification Report,'' information collection 
request. The FMCSA requires companies holding permits to develop a 
communications plan that allows for the periodic tracking of the 
shipment. This information collection request covers the record of 
communications that includes the name of the driver, identification of 
the vehicle, permitted material(s) being transported, and the date, 
location and time of each contact. 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.
    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 Hazardous Materials 
Safety Permit requirements in 49 CFR part 385, subpart E.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 987.
    Estimated Time per Response: 5 minutes. The communication between 
motor carriers and their drivers must take place at least two times per 
day, and at the pickup and delivery of each permitted load. It is 
estimated that it will take 5 minutes to maintain a daily communication 
record for each driver.
    Expiration Date: August 31, 2020.
    Frequency of Response: On occasion.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden: 692,000 hours [8.3 million trips x 5 
minutes per record / 60 minutes per hour = 691,667 rounded to 692,000]
    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 31, 2019.
Kelly Regal,
Associate Administrator for Office of Research and Information 
Technology.
[FR Doc. 2019-24236 Filed 11-6-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4910-EX-P