Photo: PHMSA

Photo: PHMSA

A new final rule from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration places an additional 96 hazardous-materials special permits into regulation. PHMSA submitted the rule for publication to the Federal Register on Jan. 12.

The agency said such special permits “set forth alternative requirements— or a variance— to the requirements in the Hazardous Materials Regulations in a way that achieves a safety level at least equal to that required under the regulations.”

PHMSA added that these permits also provide a mechanism for testing new technologies, promoting increased transportation efficiency and productivity and improving global competitiveness.

According to PHMSA, it has previously issued eight separate rulemakings and put 94 hazardous materials special permits into regulation before this latest rule was issued.

The new rulemaking was required by a provision within the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) highway act, which was signed into law back in 2012.

A preview of the rulemaking transmitted by PHMSA to the Federal Register is available on the agency's website.

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David Cullen

David Cullen

[Former] Business/Washington Contributing Editor

David Cullen comments on the positive and negative factors impacting trucking – from the latest government regulations and policy initiatives coming out of Washington DC to the array of business and societal pressures that also determine what truck-fleet managers must do to ensure their operations keep on driving ahead.

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