PHMSA Sends FAST Act Rail Final Rule to OMB

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it had received a final rule for review from DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA). The direct final rule (no prior publish and comment activity) implements Congressional mandates from the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015 (HR 22 – PL 114-94).

According to the Spring 2016 Unified Agenda, the provisions in this rule include:

• A new phase-out schedule for DOT-111 specification tank cars, including DOT-111 tank cars constructed to the Casualty Prevention Circular (CPC) 1232 (CPC-1232) industry standard, used to transport unrefined petroleum products e.g., petroleum crude oil, ethanol, and other Class 3 flammable liquids, irrespective of train composition {§7304};

• That each tank car built to meet the DOT-117 specification, and each non-jacketed tank car retrofit to meet the DOT-117R specification, be equipped with an insulating blanket with at least -inch-thick material that has been approved by the Secretary pursuant to 49 CFR 179.18(c) {§7305}; and

• Minimum top fittings protection requirements for tank cars retrofit to meet the DOT-117R specification {§7306}.

OIRA has a large number of final rules under consideration so there is no telling when this bill will be approved for publication in the Federal Register.