Department of Transportation December 15, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The agency is proposing to amend our air brake standard to improve the stopping distance performance of truck tractors. Based on current safety trend data and brake system technologies for truck tractors, we are proposing to reduce the required stopping distance for these vehicles by 20 to 30 percent. We have tentatively concluded that truck tractors are capable of achieving a reduction in stopping distance within this range with existing technologies. We also discuss research and request comment concerning improving the braking performance of other types of heavy vehicles, i.e., trailers, straight trucks, and buses. The agency may address improved braking performance for these other vehicles in a future rulemaking.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is revising and updating its Circulars 4702.1, ``Title VI Program Guidelines for Urban Mass Transit Administration Recipients'' and 4704.1 ``Equal Employment Opportunity Program Guidelines for Grant Recipients.'' FTA is seeking input from interested parties on this document, including examples of problems with compliance, best practices for compliance, and proposals for changes to these circulars. Upon consideration of the comments, FTA will issue revised circulars and will seek additional comments on the revised documents.

PHMSA proposes revisions to the current Pipeline Safety Regulations for Pipeline Integrity Management in High Consequence Areas. The revisions address a petition from the hazardous liquid pipeline industry. The revisions are to: allow more flexibility in reassessment intervals for hazardous liquid pipelines by adding an eight-month window to the five-year time frame for operators to complete reassessment; and require both hazardous liquid pipeline and gas transmission pipeline operators to notify PHMSA whenever they reduce pipeline pressure to make a repair and to provide reasons for pressure reduction. Another notification, including reasons for repair delay, would be required when a pressure reduction exceeds 365 days. Also, PHMSA proposes to correct existing provisions for calculating a pressure reduction when making an immediate repair on a hazardous liquid pipeline. The proposed correction would allow operators to use another acceptable method to calculate reduced operating pressure when a specified formula is not applicable or results in a calculated pressure higher than operating pressure. Finally, PHMSA seeks the submittal of engineering analyses and technical data. These submittals are to provide the basis for modifying the required time periods for remediating certain conditions found during a hazardous liquid pipeline integrity assessment. PHMSA will use this data to evaluate the scope and scale of repair issues to develop an accurate basis for determining if any additional flexibility is needed in the repair schedules.

The FAA proposes to adopt a new airworthiness directive (AD) for certain Airbus Model A318-100 and A319-100 series airplanes, A320- 111 airplanes, A320-200 series airplanes, and A321-100 and A321-200 series airplanes. This proposed AD would require operators to review the airplane's maintenance records to determine the part numbers of the magnetic fuel level indicators (MFLI) of the fuel tank, and related investigative and corrective actions if necessary. This proposed AD results from several in-service incidents of wear and detachment of the top-stops from the MFLI. Such detachment allows the top-stop to move around the fuel tank, and the top-stop could come into contact or in close proximity with a gauging probe, resulting in compromise of the air gap between the probe and the structure and creating a potential ignition source. We are proposing this AD to prevent an ignition source in the fuel tank in the event of a lightning strike, which could result in a fire or explosion.