September 6, 2017

 

 

Mr. Robert Miller

ESHQ Services North America

Evonik Corporation

299 Jefferson Road

Parsippany, NJ  07054

 

Reference No. 16-0204

 

Dear Mr. Miller:

 

This letter is in response to your December 14, 2016, e-mail and letter requesting clarification of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) applicable to use of the word “stabilized” in a proper shipping name.  You note international regulations specifically require that the word “STABILIZED” be added to a proper shipping name of a material that requires mitigation (e.g., through the use of special transport conditions, chemical inhibitors, or stabilizers) to prevent a dangerous reaction that would be forbidden in transport.  Specifically, you ask the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to amend the HMR by adding this requirement to the final rule being developed under Docket No. PHMSA-2015-0273 (HM-215N).

 

PHMSA published the HM-215N final rule in the Federal Register on March 30, 2017 [82 FR 15796].  Further, PHMSA published the HM-215N notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register on September 7, 2016, with a comment period that closed on November 7, 2016 [81 FR 61741].  As a result, the changes you request could not be added to the NPRM or final rule.  Additionally, the wording you describe would require the word “stabilized” to be added to a proper shipping name in the HMR without requiring at the same time that the material be stabilized.  

 

In 2002, PHMSA issued a final rule that revised proper shipping names in the Hazardous Materials Table (§ 172.101) to replace the word “inhibited” with “stabilized” to harmonize with international regulations.  See Docket No. RSPA-2000-7702 (HM-215D; 66 FR 33316).  A version of the language you reference existed in the international regulations at that time (for the current version, see § 3.1.2.6 of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code; § 1.2.5 of the International Civil Aviation Organization Technical Instructions for the Safe Transport of Dangerous Goods by Air; and § 3.1.2.6 of the United Nations Recommendations for the Transport of Dangerous Goods).  PHMSA did not adopt this language because it required the word “stabilization” to be added to the proper shipping names of materials that may not meet the chemical definition for “stabilization.” 

 

If you believe a change to this requirement is warranted, you are welcome to file a petition for rulemaking (a request to change a requirement in the 49 CFR) in accordance with § 106.95.  Please include all the information (see § 106.100) needed to support your petition. 

 

I hope this information is helpful.  Please contact us if we can be of further assistance.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

T. Glenn Foster

Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention Branch

Standards and Rulemaking Division

 

172.101, 106.95, 106.100