[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 57 (Thursday, March 25, 1999)] [Notices] [Pages 14497-14499] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 99-7257] [[Page 14497]] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Research and Special Programs Administration [Docket No. RSPA-99-5143 (Notice No. 99-1)] International Standards on the Transport of Dangerous Goods: Request for Comments AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT. ACTION: Request for comments. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: RSPA invites comments on certain environmental substances issues that will be considered by the United Nations Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (UN Committee of Experts) at a subcommittee meeting to be held in July 1999. These issues concern the development of requirements for substances that are dangerous to the environment and the criteria that will be used to define such substances, including RSPA's recommendation of criteria for substances transported in bulk quantities. The purpose of this notice is to afford the public an opportunity to submit comments on these important issues. DATES: Comments must be submitted by May 7, 1999. ADDRESSES: Address comments to the Dockets Unit, U.S. Department of Transportation, Room PL 401, 400 Seventh St., SW, Washington, D.C. 20590-0001. Comments should identify the docket and notice numbers (Docket No. RSPA-99-5143; Notice No. 99-1) and be submitted in two copies. Persons wishing to receive confirmation of receipt of their comments should include a self-addressed stamped postcard. Alternatively, comments may be submitted by E-mail to [email protected]. The Dockets Unit is located on the Plaza Level of the Nassif Building at the U.S. Department of Transportation at the above address. Public dockets may be reviewed between the hours of 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays. Internet users may access all comments received by the U.S. Department of Transportation by using the Universal Resource Locator (URL) at http://dms.dot.gov/. An electronic copy of the document may be downloaded using modem and suitable communications software from the Government Printing Office's Electronic Bulletin Board Service at (202) 512-1661. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Frits Wybenga, International Standards Coordinator for Hazardous Materials Safety, RSPA, U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, DC 20590-0001; telephone (202) 366-0656. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Introduction Subject to guidance and direction from the Department of State (49 U.S.C. 5120), the RSPA Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety represents the U.S. at meetings of the UN Committee of Experts in Geneva, Switzerland. The UN Committee of Experts is responsible for the UN Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (UN Recommendations) which forms the basis for the International Civil Aviation Organization Technical Instructions on the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air (ICAO Technical Instructions), and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (IMDG Code). Since 1990, through amendments to the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR parts 100 through 180), U.S. regulations have been substantially aligned with the UN Recommendations. Although the UN Committee of Experts will consider many issues affecting the UN Recommendations in its 1999--2000 biennium, RSPA believes that the importance of developing requirements and criteria for substances that are dangerous to the environment is of such significance as to warrant special consideration and public involvement. Background In the absence of internationally harmonized criteria for substances that are dangerous to the environment in the UN Recommendations, varying environmental criteria and requirements applicable to these substances have been included in national and international transport regulations. The UN Committee of Experts seeks to achieve international harmonization of these differing regulations. Although discussion on the development of requirements and criteria for these substances has been on the agenda of the UN Committee for a number of years, RSPA believes that significant progress will be made by the UN Committee of Experts in its 1999--2000 biennium as a result of agreements by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on internationally harmonized environmental criteria. UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and OECD In 1992, UNCED endorsed the development of a standardized system for the classification and labeling of hazardous chemicals commonly referred to as the Globally Harmonized System (GHS). The goal of the GHS is to promote common, consistent criteria for classifying chemicals according to their health, physical and environmental hazards, and to develop compatible labeling, material safety data sheets for workers, and other information based on the resulting classifications. In developing the GHS, it was agreed that OECD would coordinate the development of health and environmental hazard classification criteria. In November 1998, OECD endorsed the Harmonized Integrated Hazard Classification System for Human Health and Environmental Effects of Chemical Substances. The document is available on the internet at ``http://www.epa.gov/oppfead1/harmonization'' and may also be accessed through RSPA's website (http://www.hazmat.dot.gov) under ``International Standards.'' The document includes internationally harmonized criteria for classification of chemicals which are ``hazardous for the aquatic environment,'' a discussion of how OECD arrived at the criteria, and an explanation of the application of the criteria. It is the UN Committee of Expert's intent to use the criteria in this document as the basis for its dangerous-to-the-environment criteria. OECD is currently developing a guidance document on how the ``hazardous-for-the-aquatic-environment'' criteria should be applied to substances that are difficult to test and a standardized procedure for classifying mixtures. Completion of both tasks is necessary in order for the UN Committee of Experts to include criteria in its Model Regulations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods. U.S. Domestic Activities Relative to the Development of Criteria The U.S. HMR have long included requirements for substances that are hazardous to the environment, but do not include criteria for the classification of such substances. As required by law (42 U.S.C. 9601(14)), substances designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as hazardous substances are regulated as hazardous materials and are listed in the HMR (Appendix A to Sec. 172.101). Substances that are listed as marine pollutants in the HMR (Appendix B to Sec. 172.101) are also regulated as hazardous materials. RSPA considers a criteria-based system for regulating substances that are hazardous to the environment to be more appropriate than the current list approach. Virtually all other substances [[Page 14498]] subject to the HMR are regulated on the basis of their meeting hazard classification criteria. During congressional hearings following a July 14, 1991 train derailment in Dunsmuir, California that resulted in the release of 20,000 gallons of metam sodium into the Sacramento River, RSPA and EPA agreed to collaborate in developing criteria for substances that are dangerous to the environment. In an October 1992 letter, the EPA, pursuant to that agreement, provided RSPA with recommended criteria. On the basis of an analysis, the EPA letter noted that for ``ecological effects, * * * the most vulnerable endpoint is aquatic ecosystems.'' EPA recommended four possible options for aquatic toxicity criteria for RSPA to consider for inclusion in the HMR. The ``hazardous-for-aquatic- environment'' criteria subsequently developed by OECD are compatible with the EPA recommended criteria. EPA also stated in their letter that substances with an aquatic toxicity of up to 100 mg/L should not be exempted. Pending the outcome of the ongoing work to develop internationally harmonized criteria, RSPA delayed proposing the EPA recommended criteria for inclusion in the HMR. Instead, U.S. delegations led by EPA used the recommended criteria as a basis for U.S. positions at the OECD meetings. Following a June 30, 1992 train derailment in Superior, Wisconsin that resulted in the release of 21,850 gallons of aromatic concentrates into the Nemadji River, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended (Safety Recommendation I-94-1) that EPA and DOT work together to establish criteria to identify materials that are harmful to the environment and evaluate the ``* * * severity of harm posed by the release of these materials from bulk containers, including tank cars, in transportation * * *'' The inclusion of criteria in the HMR would be responsive to this recommendation. United Kingdom (UK) Proposal At the 20th Session of the UN Committee of Experts in December 1999, the UK provided an information paper proposing dangerous-to-the- environment requirements for inclusion in the UN Recommendations. It is anticipated that the UK proposal will provide the basis for the discussion on dangerous-to-the-environment criteria at the 16th Session of the UN Subcommittee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods to be held in July 1999. The paper is available through DOT's website (http://dms.dot.gov/) by first accessing the Docket number of this document and then the Notice number. Under the UK proposal, substances which are not subject to regulation under Classes 1 through 8 in the UN Recommendations, and which meet the dangerous-to-the-environment criteria, would be subject to regulation as miscellaneous dangerous goods under Class 9 and offered for transportation in packaging tested at the Packing Group III level of performance. Under the proposal, an offeror would be responsible for determining whether a substance offered for transportation meets the dangerous-to-the-environment criteria. The paper proposes that substances meeting any one of several sets of acute and chronic toxicity categories be regarded as dangerous to the environment. The sets of criteria proposed by the UK for inclusion in the UN Recommendations are from the OECD ``hazardous-for-the-aquatic- environment'' criteria. They are as follows: Acute Category I Acute toxicity: 96 hr LC50 (for fish)....................1mg/L and/or 48 hr EC50 (for crustacea).............. 1mg/L and/or 72 or 96hr ErC50 (for algae or other 1mg/L aquatic plants). Category: Chronic I Acute toxicity: 96 hr LC50 (for fish).................... 1 mg/L and/or 48 hr EC50 (for crustacea)............... 1mg/L and/or 72 or 96hr ErC50 (for algae or other 1mg/L aquatic plants) and the substance is not rapidly degradable and/or the log Kow 4 (unless the experimentally determined BCF <500). Category: Chronic II Acute toxicity: 96 hr LC50 (for fish).................... >1 to 10 mg/L and/or 48 hr EC50 (for crustacea)............... >1 to 10 mg/L and/or 72 or 96hr ErC50 (for algae or other >1 to 10 mg/L aquatic plants) and the substance is not rapidly degradable and/or the log Kow 4 (unless the experimentally determined BCF <500), unless the chronic toxicity NOECs are >1mg/L. (The above abbreviations are defined in the OECD paper.) RSPA believes that these criteria will be widely supported by participants at the UN Subcommittee meeting because they are similar to criteria already used by the IMO in identifying substances as Marine Pollutants under the IMDG Code and are similar to criteria used in European rail and highway transport regulations. RSPA's Position and Request for Comments As the U.S. representative at the UN Committee of Experts meeting, RSPA is developing positions it will take on proposals that will be considered at the July 1999 Subcommittee meeting. Consistent with past practice, RSPA reviews all the positions it intends to take at public meetings prior to participation in the upcoming UN meetings. RSPA believes that the issues set forth in this notice are of such significance as to merit a request for written comments prior to the public meeting which will be held in June on a date to be announced later in the Federal Register. RSPA currently plans to support the UK proposed criteria and, in addition, consistent with the statement in the October 1992 EPA letter, recommend that an acute toxicity level of less than 100 mg/L be used for defining substances as dangerous to the environment when being transported in bulk packagings having a capacity exceeding 3000 liters. Commenters are requested to address the development of requirements for substances that are dangerous to the environment and the proposed criteria to define such substances, including RSPA's proposed additional acute toxicity level recommendation for bulk packagings with a capacity exceeding 3000 liters. [[Page 14499]] Issued in Washington, DC on March 19, 1999. Alan I. Roberts, Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety. [FR Doc. 99-7257 Filed 3-24-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 4910-60-P