Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration January 23, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On October 20, 2014, in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a notice in the Federal Register (79 FR 62707) inviting comments on two information collections that will be expiring in 2015. PHMSA requests an extension with no change for the information collection identified by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control number 2137-0048. In addition, PHMSA proposed a revision to the information collection identified under OMB control number 2137- 0600. This revision updates the number of respondents used in the burden calculation but does not add to or change the type of information being collected. PHMSA received no comments in response to that notice. PHMSA is publishing this notice to provide the public with an additional 30 days to comment on both the renewal and the revision of the information collections referenced above and announce that the Information Collections will be submitted to OMB for approval.

PHMSA proposes to make miscellaneous amendments to the Hazardous Materials Regulations to update and clarify certain regulatory requirements. These proposed amendments are designed to promote safer transportation practices, address petitions for rulemaking, respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Safety Recommendations, facilitate international commerce, make editorial corrections, and simplify the regulations. The proposed provisions in this rulemaking include, but are not limited to, removing the packing group (PG) II designation for certain organic peroxides, self-reactive substances and explosives, incorporating requirements for trailers of manifolded acetylene cylinders, and providing requirements to allow for shipments of damaged wet electric batteries. In addition, this rulemaking proposes to revise the requirements for the packaging of nitric acid, testing of pressure relief devices on cargo tanks, and shipments of black or smokeless powder for small arms.