AMTA E-News
March 2010
CTA Slams Proposed $2000 PHMSA Fee Increase
In
a March 2010 letter to the US Department of Transportation
(DOT), the Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) urged the Pipeline
and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to “take a
hard look” at programs and consider cuts to non-essential
components rather than continuing a disturbing US trend for
significant fee hikes – including a proposed $2000 increase to
the registration and fee assessment program for large hazmat
transporters. PHMSA proposed the huge increase as a means to
retain its safety and environmental initiatives at current
levels, including the Hazardous Materials and Emergency
Preparedness grants program (HMEP).
CTA
President David Bradley
cited recent proposed fee increases by the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and
the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA’s)
proposal to raise Unified Carrier Registration Agreement (UCRA)
fees by exorbitant amounts as similar examples. Faced with
industry opposition and calls for review,
APHIS withdrew its proposal and UCRA
fee increases are under review.
Bradley noted that
DOT’s notice of proposed rulemaking in this case contains
nothing suggesting that PHMSA carried
out an analysis of the administrative costs to run the
HMEP program or examined the purposes
for which funds are distributed, which might have helped it to
identify cuts. In CTA’s view, core HMEP
components include training hazardous materials responders and
conducting emergency response exercises.
CTA
cited further concerns that the fee assigned to large carriers
(those with US$25.5 million in gross revenue) is partially based
on revenues that are derived from domestic business in Canada
that should be completely beyond the reach of the US government.
Instead, determination of large carrier status should be based
solely on revenue earned in the
US
to haul hazardous materials.
AMTA
and CTA will continue to monitor the
situation and advise members of new information as it is made
available.
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