Hazardous materials transportation: Registration requirements and fee assessment,

[Federal Register: April 20, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 75)]

[Notices]

[Page 19573-19574]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr20ap98-146]

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration

[Notice No. 98-4]

Hazardous Materials Transportation; Registration and Fee Assessment Program

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice of filing requirements.

SUMMARY: The Hazardous Materials Registration Program will enter registration year 1998-99 on July 1, 1998. Persons who transport or offer for transportation certain hazardous materials are required to annually file a registration statement and pay a fee to the Department of Transportation. Persons who registered for the 1997-98registration year will be mailed a registration statement form and informational brochure in May.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David W. Donaldson, Office of Hazardous Materials Planning and Analysis, DHM-60 (202-366-4109), Hazardous Materials Safety, 400 Seventh Street S.W., Washington, DC 20590-0001, or by E-mail to REGISTER@rspa.dot.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is intended to notify persons who transport or offer for transportation certain hazardous materials of an annual requirement to register with the Department of Transportation. Each person, as defined by the Federal hazardous materials transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.), who engages in any of the specified activities relating to the transportation of hazardous materials is required to register annually with the Department of Transportation and pay a fee. The regulations implementing this program are in Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 107.601-107.620.

Proceeds from the fee are used to fund grants to State, local, and Native American tribal governments for emergency response training and planning. Grants were awarded to 49 states, the District of Columbia, five territories, and 17 Native American tribes during FY 1997. By law, 75 percent of the Federal grant monies

[[Page 19574]]

awarded to the States is further distributed to local emergency response and planning agencies. The FY 1996 funds helped to provide: (1) Training for 120,000 emergency response personnel; (2) approximately 520 commodity flow studies and hazard analyses; (3) 5,650 emergency response plans updated or written for the first time; (4) assistance to 1,850 local emergency planning committees; and (5) 800 emergency exercises.

The persons affected by these regulations are those who offer or transport in commerce any of the following materials:

1. Any highway route-controlled quantity of a Class 7 (radioactive) material;

2. More than 25 kilograms (55 pounds) of a Division 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3 (explosive) material in a motor vehicle, rail car, or freight container;

3. More than one liter (1.06 quarts) per package of a material extremely toxic by inhalation (that is, a ``material poisonous by inhalation'' that meets the criteria for ``hazard zone A'');

4. A hazardous material in a bulk packaging having a capacity equal to or greater than 13,248 liters (3,500 gallons) for liquids or gases or more than 13.24 cubic meters (468 cubic feet) for solids; or

5. A shipment, in other than a bulk packaging, of 2,268 kilograms (5,000 pounds) gross weight or more of a class of hazardous materials for which placarding of a vehicle, rail car, or freight container is required for that class.

   The following persons are excepted from the registration requirement:

1. Agencies of the Federal Government;

2. Agencies of States;

3. Agencies of political subdivisions of States;

4. Employees of those agencies listed in A, B, or C with respect to their official duties;

5. Hazmat employees, including the owner-operator of a motor vehicle which transports in commerce hazardous materials if that vehicle, at the time of those activities, is leased to a registered motor carrier under a 30-day or longer lease as prescribed in 49 CFR Part 1057 or an equivalent contractual relationship; and

6. Persons domiciled outside the United States who offer, solely from locations outside the United States, hazardous materials for transportation in commerce, if the country in which they are domiciled does not impose registration or a fee upon U.S. companies for offering hazardous materials into that country. However, persons domiciled outside the United States who carry the types and quantities of hazardous materials that require registration within the United States are subject to the registration requirement.

   The 1997-98registration year ends on June 30, 1998. The 1998-99 registration year will begin on July 1, 1998, and end on June 30, 1999. Any person who engages in any of the specified activities during the 1998-99 registration year must file a registration statement and pay the associated fee of $300.00 before July 1, 1998, or before engaging in any of the activities, whichever is later. All persons who registered for the 1997-98registration year will be mailed a registration statement form and an informational brochure in May 1998. Other persons wishing to obtain the form and any other information relating to this program should contact RSPA at the address given above. The brochure and form can also be downloaded from the RSPA registration Internet home page at http://hazmat.dot.gov/register.htm.

   The registration statement has not been revised for the 1998-99 registration year. Registrants should file a registration statement and pay the associated fee at least four weeks before July 1, 1998, in order to ensure that a 1998-99 certificate of registration has been obtained by that date to comply with the recordkeeping requirements. These include the requirement that the registration number be made available on board each truck and truck tractor (not including trailers and semi-trailers) and each vessel used to transport hazardous materials subject to the registration requirements. A certificate of registration is generally mailed within ten days of RSPA's receipt of a properly completed registration statement.

   Persons who engage in any of the specified activities during a registration year are required to register for that year. Persons who engaged in these activities during registration year 1992-93 (September 16, 1992, through June 30, 1993), 1993-94 (July 1, 1993, through June 30, 1994), 1994-95 (July 1, 1994, through June 30, 1995), 1995-96 (July 1, 1995, through June 30, 1996), 1996-97 (July 1, 1996, through June 30, 1997), or 1997-98(July 1, 1997, through June 30, 1998) and have not fileda registration statement and paid the associated fee of $300.00 for each year for which registration is required should contact RSPA to obtain the required form (DOT F 5800.2). A copy of the form that will be distributed for the 1998-99 registration year may be used to register for previous years. Persons who fail to register for any registration year in which they engaged in such activities are subject to civil penalties for each day a covered activity is performed. The legal obligation to register for a year in which any specified activity was conducted does not end with the registration year.

   Issued in Washington, DC, on April 14, 1998. Alan I. Roberts, Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety.

   [FR Doc. 98-10384Filed4-17-98; 8:45 am]

   BILLING CODE 4910-60-P