Review - Fall 2024 Unified Agenda – PHMSA HAZMAT

This is part of a continuing look at the Fall 2024 Unified Agenda that was published last week by the Biden Administration.

Fall 2024 Unified Agenda – DHS Rulemakings

Fall 2024 Unified Agenda – FAA and UAS

The DOT portion of the Unified Agenda lists 222 rulemakings for the Department. Of those, 28 rulemakings are associated with the DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) rules account for 15 of those rulemakings. There is one additional HAZMAT rulemaking listed in the DOT’s Long Range Actions portion of the Agenda.

Commentary

Trump’s nominee for DOT Secretary (still way too early for a PHMSA Administrator to be named), Sean Duffy (former congressman from Wisconsin), has some familiarity with the legislative and regulatory process, so I suspect that we will see DOT continue the rulemaking processes, especially those associated with updating regulatory requirements. People who work in government have a tendency to believe that the government has a duty to protect industry and/or the people; they would not be in government if that were not true.

The rules in the next four years will be more careful in their application of new costly mandates on industry. But, when necessary, regulators will be able to convince the political appointees to go along with necessary regulatory requirements.

 

For more information on these rulemakings, see my article at CFSN Detailed Analysis - https://patrickcoyle.substack.com/p/fall-2024-unified-agenda-e9f - subscription required.