Hazardous Materials: Information Collection Activities

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Published

October 3, 2023

Issuing agencies

Transportation DepartmentPipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

Abstract

In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, PHMSA invites comments on two information collections pertaining to hazardous materials transportation for which PHMSA intends to request renewal from the Office of Management and Budget.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 190 (Tuesday, October 3, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 190 (Tuesday, October 3, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68280-68282]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-21870]

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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration

[Docket No. PHMSA-2023-0078 (Notice No. 2023-11)]

Hazardous Materials: Information Collection Activities

AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA),
DOT.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, PHMSA
invites comments on two information collections pertaining to hazardous
materials transportation for which PHMSA intends to request renewal
from the Office of Management and Budget.

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit comments on or before
December 4, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by the Docket Number
PHMSA-2023-0078 (Notice No. 2023-11) by any of the following methods:
<bullet> Federal eRulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>.
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
<bullet> Fax: 1-202-493-2251.
<bullet> Mail: Docket Management System; U.S. Department of
Transportation, West Building, Ground Floor, Room W12-140, Routing
Symbol M-30, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590.
<bullet> Hand Delivery: To the Docket Management System; Room W12-
140 on the ground floor of the West Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue
SE, Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays.
Instructions: All submissions must include the agency name and
Docket Number (PHMSA-2023-0078) for this notice at the beginning of the
comment. To avoid duplication, please use only one of these four
methods. All comments received will be posted without change to the
Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) and will include any personal
information you provide.
Requests for a copy of an information collection should be directed
to Steven Andrews or Nina Vore, Standards and Rulemaking Division,
(202) 366-8553, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#91fef9fce2e1e3f0d1f5fee5bff6fee7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="99f6f1f4eae9ebf8d9fdf6edb7fef6ef">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New
Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001.
Docket: For access to the dockets to read background documents or
comments received, go to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> or DOT's Docket
Operations Office (see ADDRESSES).
Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits
comments from the public to better inform its rulemaking process. DOT
posts these comments, without edit, including any personal information
the commenter provides, to <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>, as described in the
system of records notice (DOT/ALL-14 FDMS), which can be reviewed at
<a href="http://www.dot.gov/privacy">www.dot.gov/privacy</a>.
Confidential Business Information: Confidential Business
Information (CBI) is commercial or financial information that is both
customarily and actually treated as private by its owner. Under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from
public disclosure. If your comments responsive to this notice contain
commercial or financial information that is customarily treated as
private, that you actually treat as private, and that is relevant or
responsive to this notice, it is important that you clearly designate
the submitted comments as CBI. Please mark each page of your submission
containing CBI as ``PROPIN.'' PHMSA will treat such marked submissions
as confidential under the FOIA, and they will not be placed in the
public docket of this notice. Submissions containing CBI should be sent
to Steven Andrews or Nina Vore, Standards and Rulemaking Division and
addressed to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 New Jersey
Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001 or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#791611140a090b18391d160d571e160f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="82edeaeff1f2f0e3c2e6edf6ace5edf4">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>. Any commentary
that PHMSA receives which is not specifically designated as CBI will be
placed in the public docket for this notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Andrews or Nina Vore, Standards
and Rulemaking Division, (202) 366-8553, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#315e595c4241435071555e451f565e47"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="f49b9c9987848695b4909b80da939b82">[email&#160;protected]</span></a>, Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, U.S. Department of
Transportation, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590-0001.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Section 1320.8(d), title 5, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)
requires PHMSA to provide interested members of the public and affected
agencies an opportunity to comment on information collection and
recordkeeping requests. This notice identifies information collection
requests that PHMSA will be submitting to the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) for renewal and extension. These information collections
are contained in 49 CFR 171.6 of the Hazardous Materials Regulations
(HMR; 49 CFR parts 171-180). PHMSA has revised burden estimates, where
appropriate, to reflect current reporting levels or adjustments based
on changes in proposed or final rules published since the information
collections were last approved. The following information is provided
for each information collection: (1) title of the information
collection, including former title if a change is being made; (2) OMB
control number; (3) summary of the information collection activity; (4)
description of affected public; (5) estimate of total annual reporting
and recordkeeping burden; and (6) frequency of collection. PHMSA will
request a 3-year term of approval for each information collection
activity and will publish a notice in the Federal Register upon OMB's
approval.
PHMSA requests comments on the following information collections:
Title: Hazardous Materials Security Plans.
OMB Control Number: 2137-0612.
Summary: To assure public safety, shippers and carriers must take
reasonable measures to plan and implement procedures to prevent
unauthorized persons from taking control of, or attacking, hazardous
materials shipments. Part 172 of the HMR requires persons who offer or
transport certain hazardous materials to develop and implement written
plans to enhance the security of hazardous materials shipments. The
security plan requirements as prescribed in Sec. 172.800(b) apply to
specific types of shipments. Such shipments include but

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are not limited to: shipments greater than 3,000 kg (6,614 pounds) for
solids or 3,000 liters (792 gallons) for certain liquids and gases in a
single packaging such as a cargo tank motor vehicle, portable tank,
tank car, or other bulk container; any quantity of a Division 1.1, 1.2,
or 1.3 material; a large bulk quantity of a Division 2.1 material; or
any quantity of a poison-by-inhalation material. A security plan will
enable shippers and carriers to reduce the possibility that a hazardous
materials shipment will be used as a weapon of opportunity by a
terrorist or criminal.
The following is a list of the information collections and burden
estimates associated with this OMB Control Number:

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Annual Total annual Hours per Total annual
Information collection respondents responses response burden hours
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New Security Plan--Large Companies.............. 30 90 50 4,500
New Security Plan--Small Companies.............. 170 170 25 4,250
Updating Security Plan--Large Companies......... 6,300 18,900 10 189,000
New Security Plan--Small Companies.............. 35,700 35,700 5 178,499
Compilation of Commodity Data--Class I Railroads 7 7 40 280
Compilation of Commodity Data--Class II 32 32 40 1,280
Railroads......................................
Compilation of Commodity Data--Class III 100 100 40 4,000
Railroads......................................
Primary Route Analysis--Class I Railroads....... 7 60 80 4,800
Primary Route Analysis--Class II Railroads...... 32 128 80 10,240
Primary Route Analysis--Class III Railroads..... 100 200 40 8,000
Alternate Route Analysis--Class I Railroads..... 7 60 120 7,200
Alternate Route Analysis--Class II Railroads.... 32 96 120 11,520
Alternate Route Analysis--Class III Railroads... 100 50 40 2,000
Route Selection and Completion of Route 7 7 16 112
Analysis--Class I Railroads....................
Route Selection and Completion of Route 32 32 16 512
Analysis--Class II Railroads...................
Route Selection and Completion of Route 100 100 8 800
Analysis--Class III Railroads..................
Storage, Delays in Transit, and Notification-- 7 7 8 56
Class I Railroads..............................
Storage, Delays in Transit, and Notification-- 32 32 8 256
Class II Railroads.............................
Storage, Delays in Transit, and Notification-- 100 100 4 400
Class III Railroads............................
Notifying a Consignee in the Event of a 7 12 .50 6
Significant Delay--Class I Railroads...........
Notifying a Consignee in the Event of a 32 12 .50 6
Significant Delay--Class II Railroads..........
Notifying a Consignee in the Event of a 100 2 .50 1
Significant Delay--Class III Railroads.........
Inspection--Large Companies..................... 100 100 .008 1
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Affected Public: Shippers and carriers of hazardous materials in
commerce.
Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden:
Number of Respondents: 43,134.
Total Annual Responses: 55,997.
Total Annual Burden Hours: 427,719.
Frequency of Collection: On occasion.
Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback
on Agency Service Delivery.
OMB Control Number: 2137-0640.
Summary: The information collection activity will garner
qualitative customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely
manner, in accordance with the Department's commitment to improving
service delivery. Qualitative feedback is information that provides
useful insights on perceptions and opinions, not statistical surveys
that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the
population of study. This feedback will provide insight into customer
or stakeholder perceptions, opinions, experiences and expectations, as
well as an early warning of issues with service, or focus attention on
areas where communication, training or changes in operations might
improve delivery of products or services. These collections will allow
for ongoing, collaborative, and actionable communications between PHMSA
and its customers and stakeholders. It will also allow feedback to
contribute directly to the improvement of program management. Feedback
or information collected under this generic clearance will provide
useful information, but it will not yield data that can be generalized
to the overall population.
The Department will submit a collection for approval under this
generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:
<bullet> The collections are voluntary.
<bullet> The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on
considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or
burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents
and the Federal Government.
<bullet> The collections are non-controversial and do not raise
issues of concern to other Federal agencies.
<bullet> Any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions
from respondents who have experience with the program or may have
experience with the program in the near future.
<bullet> Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected
only to the extent necessary and is not retained.
<bullet> Information gathered is intended to be used only
internally for general service improvement and program management
purposes and is not intended for release outside of the Department (if
released, the Department must indicate the qualitative nature of the
information).
This type of generic clearance for qualitative information will not
be used for quantitative information collections that are designed to
yield reliably actionable results, such as monitoring trends over time
or documenting program performance. Such data uses require more
rigorous designs that address: the target population to which
generalizations will be made, the sampling frame, the sample design
(including stratification and clustering), the precision requirements
or power calculations that justify the proposed sample size, the
expected response rate, methods for assessing potential nonresponse
bias, the protocols for data collection, and any testing procedures
that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding the study. Depending
on the degree of influence the results are likely

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to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for
other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield quantitative
results.
Affected Public: Individuals and households, businesses and
organizations, State, local or Tribal governments.
Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden:
Number of Respondents: 6,000.
Total Annual Responses: 6,000.
Total Annual Burden Hours: 3,000.
Frequency of Collection: One-time requirement.
Issued in Washington, DC, on September 28, 2023, under authority
delegated in 49 CFR 1.97.

T. Glenn Foster,
Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Branch, Office of Hazardous
Materials Safety, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-21870 Filed 10-2-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-60-P

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