Hazardous Materials: Authorization for the Continued Manufacture of Certain MC 331 Cargo Tanks

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Special Programs Administration

49 CFR Part 171

[Docket No. RSPA-98-4943 (HM-225B)]

RIN 2137-AD31

Hazardous Materials: Authorization for the Continued Manufacture

of Certain MC 331 Cargo Tanks

AGENCY: Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), DOT.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This final rule extends from March 1, 1999 to July 1, 1999,

the period for continued manufacture of MC 331 cargo tanks without

certification and demonstrated performance of the emergency discharge

control system. This amendment is necessary to provide for the

uninterrupted production of specification MC 331 cargo tanks used in

the transportation of propane, anhydrous ammonia and other liquefied

compressed gases.

EFFECTIVE DATE: March 1, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Karim or Susan Gorsky, Office

of Hazardous Materials Standards, Research and Special Programs

Administration (202) 366-8553.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On February 19, 1997, under Docket No. RSPA-

97-2133 (HM-225) [62 FR 7638], the Research and Special Programs

Administration (RSPA, ``we'') issued an emergency interim final rule to

specify the conditions under which MC 330 and MC 331 cargo tank motor

vehicles could continue to operate while RSPA and the industry

addressed operational problems related to the cargo tank emergency

discharge control system. A final rule extending and revising the

provisions of the emergency interim final rule was issued on August 18,

1997 [62 FR 44038]. The August 18 final rule

[[Page 9924]]

included a provision permitting continued manufacture of MC 331 cargo

tanks without certification and demonstrated performance of the

emergency discharge control system until March 1, 1999.

We issued a final rule responding to petitions for reconsideration

and clarifying certain provisions of the August 18 final rule on

December 10, 1997 [62 FR 65187]. In this final rule, RSPA extends the

expiration date of certain provisions of the previous final rule from

March 1, 1999 to July 1, 1999. This change was based on a request from

Farmland Industries, Inc. and The Fertilizer Institute asking that the

agency allow a four-month extension of the expiration date to July 1,

1999, to avoid expiration of the requirements at the beginning of the

fertilizer industry's peak delivery season.

A provision in the August 18, 1997 final rule permits, until March

1, 1999, a new cargo tank motor vehicle to be marked and certified as

conforming to specification MC 331 without certification and

demonstrated performance of the emergency discharge control system.

RSPA did not change the date for this provision in the December 10,

1997 final rule because it was not requested by petitioners and we did

not anticipate a need to extend the date at that time. RSPA has

subsequently established a negotiated rulemaking committee (the

Committee) which is developing alternative safety standards for

unloading liquefied compressed gases to replace those standards that

expire on July 1, 1999.

On January 12, 1999, for consistency with the work of the Committee

and the expiration date of the final rule, RSPA published a notice of

proposed rulemaking (NPRM) under Docket No. RSPA-98-4943 (64 FR 1789).

This notice proposed to extend from March 1, 1999 to July 1, 1999 the

period for continued manufacture of MC 331 cargo tanks without

certification and demonstrated performance of the emergency discharge

control system. The comment period ended on February 11, 1999, and no

comments were received to the proposed change. Therefore, in this final

rule, the expiration date is changed from March 1, 1999 to July 1, 1999

for the continued production of specification MC 331 cargo tanks used

in the transportation of propane, anhydrous ammonia and other liquefied

compressed gases.

Regulatory Analyses and Notices

Executive Order 12866 and DOT Regulatory Policies and Procedures

This final rule is not considered a significant regulatory action

under section 3(f) of Executive Order 12866 and, therefore, was not

reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget. The rule is not

considered significant under the regulatory policies and procedures of

the Department of Transportation (44 FR 11034).

RSPA did not prepare a regulatory evaluation for this rule.

However, a final regulatory evaluation was prepared in support of the

December 10, 1997 final rule. The final regulatory evaluation is

available for review in that public docket.

Executive Order 12612

This rule has been analyzed according to the principles and

criteria contained in Executive Order 12612 (``Federalism''). The

Federal hazardous materials transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5101--5127)

contains an express preemption provision that preempts State, local,

and Indian tribe requirements on certain covered subjects. Covered

subjects are:

(A) The designation, description, and classification of hazardous

materials;

(B) The packing, repacking, handling, labeling, marking, and

placarding of hazardous materials;

(C) The preparation, execution, and use of shipping documents

pertaining to hazardous materials and requirements relating to the

number, content, and placement of such documents;

(D) The written notification, recording, and reporting of the

unintentional release in transportation of hazardous materials; or

(E) The design, manufacturing, fabrication, marking, maintenance,

reconditioning, repairing, or testing of a package or container which

is represented, marked, certified, or sold as qualified for use in the

transportation of hazardous materials.

This final rule concerns the manufacturing of a container used in

the transportation of a hazardous material.

This final rule would preempt any State, local, or Indian tribe

requirements concerning the above mentioned subjects unless the non-

Federal requirements are ``substantively the same'' (see 49 CFR

107.202(d)) as the Federal requirements.

Title 49 U.S.C. 5125(b)(2) provides that DOT must determine and

publish in the Federal Register the effective date of Federal

preemption. The effective date may not be earlier than the 90th day

following the date of issuance of the final rule and not later than two

years after the date of issuance. RSPA has determined that the

effective date of Federal preemption for these requirements will be

June 1, 1999 under this document. RSPA has determined that this rule

does not have sufficient Federalism impacts to warrant the preparation

of a federalism assessment.

Executive Order 13084

This rule will not significantly or uniquely affect the communities

of Indian tribal governments when analyzed under the principles and

criteria contained in Executive Order (``Consultation and Coordination

with Indian Tribal Government''). Therefore, the funding and

consultation requirements of this Executive Order would not apply.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.), RSPA

must consider whether a rule would have a significant economic impact

on a substantial number of small entities. This rule extends the

expiration date of the current rule from March 1, 1999 to July 1, 1999.

Therefore, I certify that this rule will not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.

Paperwork Reduction Act

Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no person is required to

respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB

control number. This rule does not propose any new information

collection requirements.

Regulation Identifier Number (RIN)

A regulation identifier number (RIN) is assigned to each regulatory

action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations. The

Regulatory Information Service Center publishes the Unified Agenda in

April and October of each year. The RIN number contained in the heading

of this document can be used to cross-reference this action with the

Unified Agenda.

Unfunded Mandates Reform Act

This rule does not impose unfunded mandates under the Unfunded

Mandates Reform Act of 1995. It does not result in costs of $100

million or more to either State, local, or tribal governments, in the

aggregate, or to the private sector, and is the least burdensome

alternative that achieves the objective of the rule.

[[Page 9925]]

Impact on Business Processes and Computer Systems

Many computers that use two digits to keep track of dates will, on

January 1, 2000, recognize ``double zero'' not as 2000 but as 1900.

This glitch, the Year 2000 problem, could cause computers to stop

running or to start generating erroneous data. The Year 2000 problem

poses a threat to the global economy in which Americans live and work.

With the help of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion,

Federal agencies are reaching out to increase awareness of the problem

and to offer support. We do not want to impose new requirements that

would mandate business process changes when the resources necessary to

implement those requirements would otherwise be applied to the Year

2000 problem.

This rule does not impose business process changes or require

modifications to computer systems. Because this rule does not affect

organizations' ability to respond to the Year 2000 problem, we do not

intend to delay the effectiveness of the requirements in this rule.

List of Subjects in 49 CFR Part 171

Exports, Hazardous materials transportation, Hazardous waste,

Imports, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

In consideration of the foregoing, 49 CFR Part 171 is amended as

follows:

PART 171--GENERAL INFORMATION, REGULATIONS, AND DEFINITIONS

1. The authority citation for Part 171 continues to read as

follows:

Authority: 49 U.S.C. 5101-5127; 49 CFR 1.53.

Sec. 171.5 [Amended]

2. In Sec. 171.5, in paragraph (a)(3), the date ``March 1, 1999''

is revised to read July 1, 1999''.

Issued in Washington, DC, on February 24, 1999, under authority

delegated in 49 CFR Part 1.

Kelley S. Coyner,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 99-5093 Filed 2-26-99; 8:45 am]

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