Review - TSA Sends HMI Threat Assessment ICR to OMB

Yesterday, the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received an extension without change of a currently approved collection from the DHS’ Transportation Security Administration for their “Security Threat Assessment for Individuals Applying for a Hazardous Materials Endorsement for a Commercial Driver's License” information collection request (ICR). The 30-day ICR notice was published earlier this week in the Federal Register (91 FR 53889-53890). The 60-day ICR notice was published on May 6th, 2026. 

The OMB reports that the following burden estimate data was provided to them by the TSA: 

Public Comments  

TSA and OIRA are soliciting public comments on the data being provided in the 30-day ICR notice that is currently being reviewed by OIRA. Comments may be submitted by going to OIRA’s Agency Submission page for this ICR and clicking on the “COMMENT” button near the top of the page. Comments should be submitted by September 21st, 2026. 

Commentary  

While not a function of the information collection process, the generally declining number of applicants and renewal requests reported by TSA for these security threat assessments for CDL hazardous materials indorsements presages an increasing problem for the chemical industry. The chemical industry can ill afford to deal with a declining number of truck drivers that are legally qualified to haul hazardous material loads. Industry is going to have to become more actively involved in recruiting truck drivers in general and HMI qualified drivers in particular. 

PHMSA Sends LNG Amendments NPRM to OMB

Yesterday, OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) from DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) on “Pipeline Safety: Amendments to Liquefied Natural Gas Facilities”. An advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) was published on May 5th, 2025. 

According to the 2026 Unified Agenda entry for this rulemaking: 

“This rulemaking would update incorporated industry standards and revise all subparts of part 193 as needed. These updates to part 193 would address the risks associated with today's liquefied natural gas facilities, including permanent, small scale liquefied natural gas pipeline facilities as required by section 27 of the PIPES Act of 2016. These updates would also address section 110 of the PIPES Act of 2020 regarding operating and maintenance standards.” 

Short Takes – 8-21-26 - Federal Register Edition

Chemical Risk Assessment  

Ethylene Dibromide Draft Risk Evaluation Under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); Notice of Availability and Request for Comment. EPA, notice of availability. Summary: “The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is announcing the availability of and seeking public comment on the draft risk evaluation under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) for ethylene dibromide. The purpose of risk evaluations under TSCA is to determine whether a chemical substance presents an unreasonable risk of injury to health or the environment under the conditions of use (COUs), including unreasonable risk to potentially exposed or susceptible subpopulations identified as relevant to the risk evaluation by EPA, and without consideration of costs or non-risk factors. EPA is seeking comment on the draft risk evaluation for ethylene dibromide.” 

UAS Imports  

Proclamation 11055. Adjusting Imports of Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Unmanned Aircraft Systems Components into the United States. Executive Office of the President, proclamation. 

Information Collection Requests  

Submission for OMB Review, Comment Request; Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA)/Stakeholder Preparedness Review (SPR) Unified Reporting Tool. FEMA, 30-day ICR extension notice. Summary: “Each report must include a description of current capability levels, a discussion of the extent to which target capabilities identified in the applicable state homeland security plan and other applicable plans are unmet, and an assessment of resources needed to meet the preparedness priorities established under PKEMRA Section 646(e) (6 U.S.C. 746(e) [link added]), including: (i) an estimate of the amount of expenditures required to attain the preparedness priorities; and (ii) the extent to which the use of Federal assistance during the preceding fiscal year achieved the preparedness priorities. To meet this requirement, States, territories, urban areas, and Tribes first identify capability targets through THIRA and then assess against these targets in the SPR.” 

Chemical Transportation Incidents – Week of 7-18-26

Reporting Background 

See this post for explanation, with the most recent update here (removed from paywall). 

Data from PHMSA’s online database of transportation related chemical incidents that have been reported to the agency. 

Incidents Summary  

• Number of incidents – 645 (608 highway, 33 air, 4 rail, 0 water) 
• Serious incidents – 2 (2 Bulk release, 0 evacuation, 0 injury, 0 death, 0 major artery closed, 1 fire/explosion, 40 no release)  
• Largest container involved – 30,009-gal DOT 117R100W Railcar {Diesel Fuel} Misaligned manway cover. 
• Largest amount spilled – 300-gal Plastic IBC {Combustible Liquid, N.O.S.} IBC damaged in forklift strike. 
• Total amount reported spilled in all incidents – 645.0-gal 

NOTE: Links above are to Form 5800.1 for the incident described. 

Most Interesting Chemical: Organophosphorus pesticides, liquid, toxic: CAMEO Chemicals has 61 chemical datasheets with response recommendations for this UN/NA number. (Source: https://cameochemicals.noaa.gov/unna/3018). NOTE: This is another case where the listing is not “N.O.S.” but it may as well be. It may include Toxic Inhalation Hazard materials. 

Looking Back – 9-17-13 – Disclosure – An Opposing View

 Nearly every morning I start my computer time by looking at information from Google about what happened in my blog in the previous 24 hours. Google, and blogspot.com is a Google service, provides interesting pieces of analytical data about my blog readership. One item of particular interest is the top ten blog posts each day. As you would expect, most of those posts were from the last couple of days, but with 16 years of publishing this blog, every once-in-a-while, a blog post from ancient history rises into that list. 

Today a blog post from September 2013, “Reader Comment – 09-17-13 – Disclosure – An Opposing View”, made the list. It takes a look at the issue of coordinated (and uncoordinated) disclosures of vulnerabilities. The reader comments on the post, from respected names in the community, point out how much interest this topic has driven. The discussion holds up today; it just has gotten more complex now that AI-detected vulnerabilities have been added to the mix. 

1 Advisory Published – 8-20-26

Today, CISA’s NCCIC-ICS published one control system security advisory for products from Johnson Controls. 

Advisories  

Johnson Controls Advisory - This advisory describes a cleartext storage of sensitive information in memory vulnerability in the Johnson Controls Simplex Incident Manager fire alarm management system.