The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) recenrtly announced a new, proposed rule that would provide close to $100 million in annual cost savings for businesses and consumers.
The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) would improve supply chains by modernizing and simplifying hazardous material transportation regulations that impact truck drivers hauling fuels, according to a statement from the PHMSA. It will also enhance safety standards across highway, rail, and vessel modes of transportation, the agency said.
“Hazardous materials are a significant share of the essential goods routinely shipped in the United States, and the Biden-Harris Administration is working to make it more affordable and straightforward to safely move these materials through our supply chains,” said U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. “The proposal we’re announcing today streamlines requirements while maintaining safety measures, helping to reduce costs for businesses and consumers and make it easier for drivers to do their job.”
The PHMSA said the proposed rule updates and modernizes regulations to accommodate the latest technologies, business practices, and understandings of hazardous materials, including updates in packaging practices for hazmat transportation.
Highlights of the proposed rule include:
- Reducing burdens for U.S. truck drivers by simplifying hazard communication requirements for fuels including gasoline that are transported in tanker trucks.
- Encouraging innovation and safety improvements to hazardous materials rail cars by reducing review times for tank car design improvements and addressing National Transportation Safety Board recommendations regarding improved design standards for rail tank cars.
- Modernizing standards for essential agricultural equipment by codifying manufacturing standards for newly built fertilizer tanks and permitting the use of video and fiber optics technologies when inspecting and calibrating cargo tanks in both agricultural and non-agricultural operations.
“This proposal focuses on ways to reduce regulatory burdens for America’s truck drivers and increases the overall efficiency of America’s critical energy transportation supply chains that impact every job and industry throughout our economy," said PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown.
The proposed rule has been submitted to the Office of the Federal Register for publication and can be viewed on PHMSA’s website at www.phmsa.dot.gov. PHMSA will accept comments on the proposed rule up to 90 days after it publishes in the Federal Register.