Regulatory Agenda Published 1-7-14

Today various agencies of the Federal government published their Regulatory Agenda in the Federal Register. This semi-annual exercise follows the on-line publication of the Fall 2013 Unified Agenda back in November and presents each agency’s list of “the most important significant regulatory actions that the agency reasonably expects to issue in proposed or final form in that fiscal year”. For readers of this blog the Regulatory Agendas of note will be DHS (79 FR 1170-1177), DOT (79 FR 1190-1209), EPA (79 FR 1216-1223) and DOL (79 FR 1184-1189).

Here is my list of the chemical safety and security items in those four listings. I have covered most of the DHS items in some detail over the years and have provided coverage of the DOT rulemakings as well. There is no need to mention the EPA and the one OSHA rule has been on the CSB Wish List for over a decade; enough said.

Department of Homeland Security

320 Ammonium Nitrate Security Program (Reg Plan Seq No. 68) 1601–AA52

324 Updates to Maritime Security 1625–AB38

329 Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC); Card Reader Requirements (Reg Plan Seq No. 80) 1625–AB21

337 Security Training for Surface Mode Employees (Reg Plan Seq No. 86) 1652–AA55

338 Standardized Vetting, Adjudication, and Redress Services (Reg Plan Seq No. 87) 1652–AA61

Department of Transportation

376 Pipeline Safety: Safety of On-Shore Liquid Hazardous Pipelines (Reg Plan Seq No. 118) 2137–AE66

Environmental Protection Agency

None

Department of Labor

353 Combustible Dust 1218–AC41

Commentary

Given the President’s Executive Order on Improving Chemical Safety and Security the lack of chemical safety and security rules in the Regulatory Agenda, particularly from EPA and DOL is kind of pathetic.

Oh, and cybersecurity rules? I can’t find any outside of one DOD-FAR listing (427, FAR Case 2011-020). But cybersecurity is a priority for this Administration, yep is says it right here in the fine print. Please excuse the sarcasm.

Of course, this whole Unified Agenda exercise is more than a little pathetic. Most of the items on the Agenda have been there without change for years. Meanwhile, real-life rulemakings get fast tracked without spending any time on these lists.