[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 58 (Wednesday, March 26, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14502-14503]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-7664]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Research and Special Programs Administration
[Notice No. 97-1]
Hazardous Materials Transportation; Registration and Fee
Assessment Program
AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.
ACTION: Notice of filing requirements.
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SUMMARY: The Hazardous Materials Registration Program will enter
registration year 1997-98 on July 1, 1997. 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 1996-97 registration
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 SW., Washington, DC
20590-0001, or by E-mail to [email protected].
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,
Secs. 107.601-107.620.
Proceeds from the fee are used to fund grants to State, local, and
Indian tribal governments for emergency response training and planning.
Grants were awarded to all states, three territories, and 15 Native
American tribes during FY 1996. By law, 75 percent of the Federal grant
monies awarded to the States is further distributed to local emergency
response and planning agencies. The FY 1995 funds helped to provide:
(1) Training for 121,000 emergency response personnel; (2)
approximately 500 commodity flow studies and hazard analyses; (3) 4,500
emergency response plans updated or written for the first time; (4)
assistance to 2,150 local emergency planning committees; and (5) 770
emergency exercises.
The persons affected by these regulations are those who offer or
transport in commerce any of the following materials:
A. Any highway route-controlled quantity of a Class 7 (radioactive)
material;
B. 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;
C. 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');
D. 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
E. 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:
A. Agencies of the Federal Government;
B. Agencies of States;
C. Agencies of political subdivisions of States;
D. Employees of those agencies listed in A, B, or C with respect to
their official duties;
E. 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
F. 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 1996-97 registration year ends on June 30, 1997. The 1997-98
registration year will begin on July 1, 1997, and end on June 30, 1998.
Any person who engages in any of the specified activities during the
1997-98 registration year
[[Page 14503]]
must file a registration statement and pay the associated fee of
$300.00 before July 1, 1997, or before engaging in any of the
activities, whichever is later. All persons who registered for the
1996-97 registration year will be mailed a registration statement form
and an informational brochure in May 1997. 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://ohm.volpe.dot.gov/ohm/register.htm.
The registration statement has not been revised for the 1997-98
registration year. Registrants should file a registration statement and
pay the associated fee at least four weeks before July 1, 1997, in
order to ensure that a 1997-98 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), or 1996-97 (July 1, 1996, through June
30, 1997), and have not filed a 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 1997-98
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 March 21, 1997.
Alan I. Roberts,
Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety.
[FR Doc. 97-7664 Filed 3-25-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P