[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 118 (Monday, June 22, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 29456]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-14569]
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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
49 CFR Part 107
[Docket No. PHMSA-2008-0010 (HM-208G)]
RIN 2137-AE35
Hazardous Materials Transportation; Miscellaneous Revisions to
Registration and Fee Assessment Program
AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA),
DOT.
ACTION: Withdrawal of notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA) is withdrawing the notice of proposed rulemaking published
under this docket on May 5, 2008 (73 FR 24519). Our revised estimates
of unexpended balances from previous years and revenues expected to be
generated at current registration fee levels indicate that an increase
in registration fees is not necessary to fund the national Hazardous
Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grants program at its
authorized level of $28,318,000 for Fiscal Year 2009.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Deborah Boothe, Office of Hazardous
Materials Standards, (202) 366-8553, or David Donaldson, Office of
Hazardous Materials Planning and Analysis, (202) 366-4484, Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, U.S. Department of
Transportation.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness (HMEP) grants
program, as mandated by 49 U.S.C. 5116, provides Federal financial and
technical assistance to States and Indian tribes to ``develop, improve,
and carry out emergency plans'' within the National Response System and
the Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act of 1986 (Title
III), 42 U.S.C. 11001 et seq. The grants are used to develop, improve,
and implement emergency plans; to train public sector hazardous
materials emergency response employees to respond to accidents and
incidents involving hazardous materials; to determine flow patterns of
hazardous materials within a State and between States; and to determine
the need within a State for regional hazardous materials emergency
response teams. The HMEP grants program is funded by registration fees
collected from persons who offer for transportation or transport
certain hazardous materials in intrastate, interstate, or foreign
commerce.
Congress reauthorized the Federal hazardous materials
transportation law (Federal hazmat law; 49 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.) in
2005. The Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety and Security
Reauthorization Act of 2005 (Title VII of the Safe, Accountable,
Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act--A Legacy for Users, Pub.
L. 109-59, 119 Stat. 1144, Aug. 10, 2005) authorizes $28.3 million per
year for the HMEP grants program and lowered the maximum registration
fee from $5,000 to $3,000. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008
(Pub. L. 110-161, 121 Stat. 2404, Dec. 26, 2007) set an obligation
limitation of $28,318,000 for expenses from the HMEP fund, and the
Administration's Fiscal Year 2009 budget requests $28,300,000 in
support of HMEP activity.
II. Current Rulemaking
To ensure full funding of the HMEP grants program for FY 2009,
PHMSA proposed an increase in registration fees to fund the program at
the $28.3 million level (73 FR 24519, May 5, 2008). For those
registrants not qualifying as a small business or not-for-profit
organization, we proposed to increase the registration fee from $975
(plus a $25 administrative fee) to $2,475 (plus a $25 administrative
fee) for registration year 2009-2010 and following years. As explained
in the NPRM, an existing surplus enabled us to delay an increase in
registration fees, but we concluded that we would not be able to fund
the HMEP grants program at the $28.3 million level in Fiscal Year 2009
without an increase.
We received 13 written comments in response to the NPRM from
shippers and carriers and from the emergency response community,
including the American Trucking Association (ATA), Council on the Safe
Transportation of Hazardous Articles (COSTHA), Institute of Makers of
Explosives (IME), International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC),
National Association of SARA Title III Program Officials (NASTTPO), and
Vessel Operators Hazardous Materials Association, Inc. (VOHMA).
We have recently re-examined our estimates for funding the HMEP
grants program based on updated information from the Department of
Treasury on the HMEP account carry-over balance, de-obligations of
unused grant and administrative funds, increased enforcement of the
registration requirements, and current registrant data, and we have
further refined our estimates of revenues we anticipate collecting for
registration years 2008-2009 (covering July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009)
and 2009-2010 (covering July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010) at current
registration fee levels. Based on this analysis, we have concluded that
we will be able to fund the HMEP grants program at the $28.3 million
level in Fiscal Year 2009 without an increase in registration fees.
Accordingly, PHMSA is withdrawing the May 5, 2008, NPRM and terminating
this rulemaking proceeding. Depending on appropriated and available
funding for Fiscal Year 2010, we may initiate a future rulemaking to
adjust registration fees for future registration years.
Issued in Washington, DC, on June 9, 2009 under authority
delegated in 49 CFR part 106.
Theodore L. Willke,
Associate Administrator for Hazardous Materials Safety.
[FR Doc. E9-14569 Filed 6-19-09; 8:45 am]
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