Interpretation Response #12-0225 ([General Electric Capital Corporation] [Mr. John Byrne])
Below is the interpretation response detail and a list of regulations sections applicable to this response.
Interpretation Response Details
Response Publish Date:
Company Name: General Electric Capital Corporation
Individual Name: Mr. John Byrne
Location State: IL Country: US
View the Interpretation Document
Response text:
May 1, 2013
Mr. John Byrne
Manager, Regulatory Compliance
Rail Services
General Electric Capital Corporation
161 North Clark Street, 7th
Chicago, IL 60601
Reference No. 12-0225
Dear Mr. Byrne:
This is in response to your October 2, 2012 letter and March 14, 2013 telephone conversation with a member of my staff requesting clarification of the new definition for a tank car “coating/lining owner” added to § 180.503 of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) in a final rule the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued on June 25, 2012 under Docket No. PHMSA-2010-0018 (HM-216B). You ask PHMSA to confirm if your understanding of the issues discussed in the following two paragraphs is correct. You also ask who would be defined as the tank car coating/lining owner if the person financially responsible for purchasing the coating/lining and the person financially responsible for maintaining the coating/lining are different people? We apologize for the delay in responding and any inconvenience this may have caused.
You state the HMR’s new definition for “coating/lining owner” differs from the one described in Department of Transportation (DOT) Special Permit DOT-SP 12095 and the one proposed in the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) issued under Docket No. HM-216B. The definition in DOT-SP 12095 states the coating/lining owner “means the party responsible for bearing the cost of the maintenance of the lining or coating,” whereas the definition in the NPRM states it “means the person responsible for bearing the costs of maintaining the lining/coating.” The final rule states “Coating/lining owner means the person with the financial responsibility for purchasing and maintaining the integrity of the interior coating or lining.”
You also state this new definition is inconsistent with how the tank car industry defines these terms in § 2.1.2 of Appendix D of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices, which describes it as “the party responsible for bearing the cost of the maintenance for the lining or coating,” and in Appendix U, which describes it as “the party responsible for the maintenance for the lining or coating.” You further state this change will have unintended consequences for General Electric Rail Services and other tank car owners without promoting rail safety. In addition, you state inclusion of the word “purchaser” to the new definition adds considerable ambiguity to this definition in that the owner of a new manufactured tank car can bill back the purchase price coating/lining to the lessee who is then contractually responsible for its maintenance or include the cost of the coating/lining installation the lessee requests in the lessee’s monthly lease payments. Similarly, you state it is the industry’s practice and also your company’s position that the entity financially responsible for a tank car’s coating/lining maintenance is considered and contractually defined as the coating/lining owner without consideration of who actually financed its initial purchase.
PHMSA agrees there is inconsistency with the definition of a tank car coating/lining owner in the final rule and its iterations in the DOT-SP 12095, NPRM, and AAR Manual of Standards and Recommended Practices. Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. PHMSA will revise this definition in a future rulemaking to remove the words “purchasing and” to clarify that the person responsible for the maintenance of a tank car’s coating or lining is the person financially responsible for maintaining a tank car’s coating or lining. As you stated earlier, this approach is compatible with the rail industry’s historical use of this definition.
I hope this satisfies your request. If you have additional questions, please contact Mr. Karl Alexy, Staff Director, Hazardous Materials Division, Federal Railroad Administration, at 202-493-6229.
Sincerely,
T. Glenn Foster
Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Branch
Standards and Rulemaking Division
180.503
Regulation Sections
| Section | Subject |
|---|---|
| 180.503 | Definitions |