Hazardous Materials: Adjusting Registration and Fee Assessment Program

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION <SUBAGY>Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration</SUBAGY> <CFR>49 CFR Part 107</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. PHMSA-2022-0033 (HM-208J)]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2137-AF59</RIN> <SUBJECT>Hazardous Materials: Adjusting Registration and Fee Assessment Program</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Department of Transportation (DOT). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> In order to account for increased transport of hazardous materials as well as the burdens such transport places on first responders, PHMSA proposes overdue updates to the registration fees under the statutorily mandated registration and fee assessment program for persons who transport, or offer for transportation, certain categories and quantities of hazardous materials. PHMSA's proposal would increase the annual fee to be paid by those registrants qualifying as a small business or not-for-profit organization by $125 to $375 and by those registrants not qualifying as a small business or not-for-profit organization by $425 to $3,000. Actions such as fee adjustments are necessary to fund PHMSA's Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness grants program at newly authorized levels in accordance with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Pub. L. 117-58). PHMSA also proposes to implement an electronic-only registration fee payment process. Finally, PHMSA proposes to revise requirements to clarify that a certificate of registration may be carried in either electronic or paper form for both motor carriers and those who transport hazardous materials by vessel. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments must be received by August 22, 2024. However, PHMSA will consider late-filed comments to the extent possible. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may submit comments identified by the docket number PHMSA-2022-0033 (HM-208J) by any of the following methods: • <E T="03">Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.</E> Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. • <E T="03">Fax:</E> (202) 493-2251. • <E T="03">Mail:</E> Docket Management System, U.S. Department of Transportation, Dockets Operations, M-30, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. • <E T="03">Hand Delivery:</E> U.S. Department of Transportation, Docket Operations, M-30, Ground Floor, Room W12-140 in 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. <E T="03">Instructions:</E> All submissions must include the agency name and docket number (PHMSA-2022-0033) or RIN 2137-AF59 for this NPRM at the beginning of the comment. Note that all comments received will be posted without change to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> including any personal information provided. If sent by mail, comments must be submitted in duplicate. Persons wishing to receive confirmation of receipt of their comments must include a self-addressed stamped postcard. <E T="03">Docket:</E> For access to the dockets to read background documents or comments received, go to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> or DOT's Docket Operations Office; see <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> . <E T="03">Confidential Business Information:</E> Confidential Business Information (CBI) is commercial or financial information that is both customarily and 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 NPRM contain commercial or financial information that is customarily treated as private, that you treat as private, and that is relevant or responsive to this NPRM, it is important that you clearly designate the submitted comments as CBI. Please mark each page of your submission containing CBI as “PROPRIETARY.” PHMSA will treat such marked submissions as confidential under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and they will not be placed in the public docket of this NPRM. Submissions containing CBI should be sent to Yul B. Baker Jr., Standards and Rulemaking Division, Office of Hazardous Materials Safety, (202) 366-8553, PHMSA, East Building, PHH10, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. Any commentary that PHMSA receives, which is not specifically designated as CBI, will be placed in the public docket for this rulemaking. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Yul B. Baker Jr., Standards and Rulemaking Division, Office of Hazardous Materials Safety, (202) 366-8553, PHMSA, East Building, PHH10, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590 and Adam Lucas, Operations System Division, Office of Hazardous Materials Safety, (202) 366-1074 PHMSA, East Building, PHH-60, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. ANPRM and Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Public Meeting</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Summary of the Proposal To Fund the HMEP Grants Program</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Multi-Year Registrations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Section-by-Section Review of Changes</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VII. Regulatory Analyses and Notices</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Statutory/Legal Authority for This Rulemaking</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Executive Order 12866, 14094, and DOT Regulatory Policies and Procedures</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Executive Order 13132</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Executive Order 13175</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order 13272</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Paperwork Reduction Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. Draft Environmental Assessment</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">I. Privacy Act</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> Since 1992, the Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA)—now known as the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Administration (PHMSA)—has conducted a national registration program for persons who offer for transportation or transport certain hazardous materials in intrastate, interstate, or foreign commerce ( <E T="03">see 49 U.S.C. 5108</E> ). The registration program implements the mandate for persons to file a registration statement with the Secretary of Transportation (Secretary)—as delegated to PHMSA—and collects registration and processing fees from these registrants. The purpose of the registration program is to fund the Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grants program and any additional related activities  <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> and to gather information regarding the transportation of hazardous materials. The HMEP grants program supports hazardous materials emergency response planning and training activities by states, local governments, and Native American Tribes—ensuring first responders are well trained and prepared to respond to hazardous materials related incidents. HMEP grants also fund non-profit organizations to provide “train-the-trainer” and direct training programs for hazardous materials emergency response training and hazardous materials employee training. Additionally, HMEP grants support the development of the Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG)—provided to and used by nearly every fire department in the U.S.—and provides funds for grantee monitoring and technical assistance. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  See 49 U.S.C. 5116(a), (e), (h)(3), (i), (j), and 5107(e). </FTNT> PHMSA has discretion to require additional persons to register—beyond those who offer, and transport certain categories and quantities of hazardous materials listed in 49 U.S.C. 5108(a)(1)—and to set the annual registration fee between the statutorily mandated minimum and maximum amounts. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> PHMSA must currently set an annual registration fee between a statutory prescribed minimum of $250 and maximum of $3,000. The annual registration fee is currently set at $250 (plus a $25 processing fee) for registrants qualifying as small businesses or not-for-profit organizations (hereafter referred to as “small businesses”) and $2,575 (plus a $25 processing fee) for registrants not qualifying as a small businesses or not-for-profit organizations (hereafter referred to as “large businesses”) in accordance with 49 CFR 107.612(b). <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  49 U.S.C. 5108(a)(2) and (g)(2)(A). </FTNT> On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act  <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> into law—commonly known as the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law” (BIL)—and authorized the Secretary to expend $46,825,000 from emergency preparedness funds to carry out the grants program, for fiscal years 2022 through 2026. As such, the BIL increased the authorized funding level by $18,507,000. Also, on March 9, 2024, the President signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024  <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> which raised the obligation limitation from a previous level of $28,318,000 to $46,825,000. This increase gives PHMSA the ability to make legal commitments—in the form of grants—at the new authorized level. To achieve full funding of the grants program at the increased amount, PHMSA will need to adjust the fees for the national hazardous materials transportation registration and fee program. While the grant size and ability to commit funds has increased, PHMSA remains constrained by the $3,000 statutory maximum registration fee and thus is proposing to set fees within that limitation. <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  Public Law 117-58. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>  Public Law 118-42. </FTNT> <H ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 52k characters. 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