Interpretation Response #04-0059 ([Professional Emergency Resource Services] [Mr. Rich Heylmun])

Below is the interpretation response detail and a list of regulations sections applicable to this response.

Interpretation Response Details

Response Publish Date: 10/06/2004

Company Name: Professional Emergency Resource Services

Individual Name: Mr. Rich Heylmun

Location State: UT Country: US

View the Interpretation Document

Response text:

Oct 6, 2004

Mr. Rich Heylmun                 Reference No. 04-005 9
Operations Manager
Professional Emergency Resource Services
P. 0. Box 1560
Ogden, UT 84402-1560

Dear Mr. Heylmun:

This responds to your letter requesting clarification of the marking exception for petroleum distillate fuels in § 172.336 under the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). You reference an April 24, 2001 clarification letter, Reference No. 01-0082, and ask whether a cargo tank motor vehicle containing denatured ethanol (95% ethanol and 5% gasoline) is eligible for the marking exceptions in § 1 72.336(c)(4) and (5). I apologize for the delay and any inconvenience it may have caused.

Under § 173.22, it is the shipper’s responsibility to properly classify a hazardous material and assign it a proper shipping name from the Hazardous Materials Table (HMT). For a material not specifically identified by name in the HMT, the HMR require that the material be described by the shipping name that “most appropriately” describes the material. Based on the information provided, it is our opinion that the appropriate shipping description for your mixture of 95% ethanol and 5% gasoline is “Flammable liquid, n.o.s. (Ethanol, Gasoline)”. The high percentage of alcohol in this mixture makes it ineligible as a petroleum distillate. Therefore, the cargo tank does not qualify for the marking exceptions in § 172.336(c)(4) and (5).

Also, for your information, we proposed to reinstate the proper shipping name “Denatured alcohol” in a notice of proposed rulemaking published August 12, 2004 (Docket No. RSPA-04- 18683 (HM-218C), 69 FR 49846). Additionally, we proposed to add new special provision 172 for both “Denature alcohol, NA 1987” and “Alcohols, n.o.s., UN 1987” to allow solutions of alcohol and petroleum products to be described as either “Denature alcohol” or “Alcohols, n.o.s.”, provided the solution contains no more than 5% petroleum products.

I trust this satisfies your request.

Sincerely,

Hattie L. Mitchell
Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention
Office of Hazardous Materials Standards
 
172.336

Regulation Sections