Page 40 - Oil & Energy - March 2013

40 • OIL&ENERGY
Fleet Management
THE FEDERAL MOTOR CARRIER SAFETY
Administration (FMCSA) revealed in a
meeting of the Transportation Research
Board some of the major projects that it has
planned for the 2013 regulatory calendar.
If FMCSA gets its way with all of these
plans, 2013 could shape up to be a year to
remember. The end result will be an agency
that is better equipped to combat unsafe
carriers and a regulatory landscape that is
much more complex than it is right now.
EOBR FIX
FMCSA is expected to issue a fix to the
2010 EOBR Final Rule regarding Electronic
Logging Devices such as Electronic Onboard
Recorders (EOBRs). The rule change will
fix privacy issues brought to light by the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit.
If accepted unchallenged (that is a very
big if), the ruling would result in almost
all interstate trucks being required to have
an EOBR installed. We should see a Final
Rule by March; however, given the difficult
regulatory journey that this legislation has
faced, more delays are likely in the future.
CSA SAFETY FITNESS DETERMINATION
A project that will almost certainly be
controversial is the long-standing matter
of using the CSA program to make Safety
Fitness Determinations. In the simplest
terms, this means that FMCSA can take
carriers off the road based solely on the
information in the carriers’ CSA profiles.
If they have sufficiently poor BASIC
scores, or if they are linked to a large number
of fatal accidents, a carrier could be pulled
off the road without a full inspection taking
place. This is a major step up in terms of the
“teeth” of CSA. Right now, the program’s
regulatory threats are essentially
limited to Compliance Reviews and
increased Roadside Inspections.
Under its current guise,
FMCSA relies on market forces
such as insurance premiums and
shipper concerns to encourage
better compliance. We should see
a proposed rulemaking late in the
year (probably December).
DRUG AND ALCOHOL
TESTING CLEARINGHOUSE
On the other hand, some new
regulations will be welcomed by the
trucking industry. One projected rule-
making with lots of support is the creation of
a Drug and Alcohol Testing Clearinghouse.
This will be a central database of
every verified positive drug or alcohol
test taken by CDL holders. (The database
will also include refusal-to-submits.) This
will make it easier for carriers to hire the
right drivers, as applicants will not be
able to hide misdeeds by “forgetting” to
put their last employer on an application.
This should be in place by the end of
March.
UNIFIED REGISTRATION SYSTEM
In April, FMCSA should launch a
new unified registration system that will
tie together at least four existing legacy
registration programs. By tying everything
together under one system, the agency will
be better enabled to combat ‘chameleon’
carriers — those who are placed out of
service, only to reform under a new name
and DOT number and go right back
to work. Fighting this issue has been a
very high priority for FMCSA, so expect
this to be enacted along
with other, new regulations
designed to fight it.
MAP 21
In addition to the regulatory calendar,
FMCSA will have to deal with the fallout
of the Moving Ahead for Progress in
the 21st Century or MAP 21. Otherwise
known as last year’s transportation bill,
MAP 21 adds a number of requirements
to FMCSA’s schedule. The Agency will
have to shoehorn MAP 21’s versions
of certain rules, such as the Drug and
Alcohol Testing Clearinghouse, in with
the existing drafts.
In addition, FMCSA has been
empowered to shut down carriers that
share management teams with Out-of-
Service carriers. We should see a Final Rule
regarding those regulations imminently.
State News
FMCSA Gives Preview of a Year of Big Regulations
By Matthew Wrobel, Foley Services
Connecticut
CEMA FILES FREEDOM OF
INFORMATION ACT REQUEST
The Connecticut Energy Marketers
Association (CEMA) recently filed two
Freedom of Information Act requests for all
documents and communications between
two state agencies, the Department of
Energy and Environmental Protection
(DEEP) and the Public Utility Regulatory
Authority (PURA). In a newsletter to
members, CEMA reported that it had filed
requests for all documents and commu-
nications between the DEEP Office of the
Commissioner and his staff and PURA, as
well as several others involving the state’s
comprehensive energy strategy.
CEMA also asked the Executive
Secretary of PURA for all work products,
communications and other materials related
to the comprehensive energy strategy.
CEMA noted that DEEP has silenced PURA
by failing to grant an extension for the
Authority to comment on the governor’s
new energy plan. “The professional staff at
PURA wishes to speak on matters relating
to the development of the DEEP compre-
hensive energy strategy and they have been
prevented from speaking. Hence, we will
find out what they are not being allowed to
say,” CEMA wrote to members.
Maine
STATE APPROVES NATURAL
GAS PIPELINE PLANS
Summit Natural Gas of Maine recently
won the approval of the state Public Utilities
Commission to provide natural gas through
Continued on page 42