{"operation":"document","citation":"00-0042","title":"Public Works Department — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation","source_type":"guidance","agency":"Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration","status":"guidance","official":true,"published_on":"2000-06-21","effective_on":null,"summary":"00-0042 response to Public Works Department concerning 171.1.","machine_formats":{"json":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-00-0042.json","markdown":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-00-0042.md"},"app_url":"https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-00-0042","source_url":"https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2000/000042.pdf","body":"<<<PAGE 1>>>\n\n:*\nU.S. Department\nof Transportation\nWashington, D.C.\n400 Seventh Street, S.W.\n20590\nspecial Program\ndministratior\nJUN 2 | 2000\nMr. Dave Vail\nCounty of Olmsted\nRef. No. 00-0042\nPublic Works Department\n2122 Campus Drive SE\nRochester, MN 55904-4744\nDear Mr. Vail:\nThis is in response to your letter dated January 31, 2000, regarding the Hazardous Materials\nRegulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) as they apply to household hazardous waste. The\ncollection program is government operated and the facilities and equipment are government owned.\nYou stated that the Minnesota DOT has a regional household waste collection\nprogram, which consists of four counties in Southeastern Minnesota. The collection\nprogram consists of one permanent facility and one semi-truck and trailer (mobile\nfacility), which collects household waste in various parts of the region. The counties\nthat are part of the regional collection partnership sometimes bill each other for various\nservices, such as providing a truck to perform scheduled event collections around the\narea. The partner in your collection area does not charge for transportation, but charges\n(i.e., counties reimburse each other) for the time the employee is on the road, to and\nfrom these collections, and the time the employee is helping administer the collection.\nSpecifically, you asked, what \"in commerce\" means, and whether being reimbursed for\ntravel time constitutes being \"in commerce\"\nThe HMR do not apply to the transportation of household hazardous waste collected by the\ngovernmentally operated Southeastern Minnesota household hazardous waste collection program. The\nHMR apply to those entities covered by the definition of a \"person\", in § 171.8, which includes a\ngovernment offering hazardous material for transportation \"in commerce\" or transporting hazardous\nmaterial \"in furtherance of a commercial enterprise.\" Accordingly, a government employee who is\n000042\n\n<<<PAGE 2>>>\n\n..:\ntransporting hazardous material for a non-commercial purpose in the course of his/her employment for a\ngovernmental entity, is not subject to the HMR. Whether the counties that are part of the regional\ncollection partnership sometimes reimburse each other for various services, they are jointly conducting a\nnon-commercial enterprise that is not considered to be transportation in commerce. Therefore, the\nHMR do not apply to this transportation..\nI hope this satisfies your inquiry. If we can be of further assistance, please contact us.\nSincerely,\nDelmer F. Billings\nOffice of Hazardous Materials Standards\nChief, Standards Development\nSta pot!\nV20040 00-\n\n<<<PAGE 3>>>\n\nengrum\nS171.1\nCOUNTY OF\nPUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT\nGlinsted\n2122 CAMPUS DR SE\n507/285-8231\nROCHESTER MN 55904-4744\n00 - 0042\nDate: 1-31-00\nDelmer Billings\nU.S. DOT\n400 7* Street SW\nOffice of Hazmat Standards\nWashington, DC 20590-0001\nDear Mr. Billings,\nOur program is seeking your guidance on the request of the Minnesota Department of\nTransportation. We are a regional household hazardous waste collection program. The\nregion consists of four counties in Southeastern Minnesota. We currently employ one\npermanent facility and one semi-truck and trailer (mobile facility) to collect waste in the\nregion. I understand that when a county employee is driving a county vehicle and is on\nofficial county business that the employee is considered to not be \"in commerce\" and\nthus is not required but is encouraged to abide by DOT hazardous: waste transportation.\nguidelines. We would like clarification of the \"in commerce\" rule. The counties that are\npart of our regional collection partnership sometimes charge each other for various\nservices, one of these services is providing the collection truck to perform scheduled\nevent collections around the regional collection area. Although the partner who owns the\ntruck in our collection region does not charge for transportation per say, the partner does\ncharge for the time the employee is on the road, on the way to and on the back from,\nevent collections, as well as the time the employee is helping administer the collection.\nBecause we are being charged for travel time, does this constitute being \"in commerce\"?\nPlease keep in mind that processing of collected household hazardous waste does occur at\nmany of the collections. Therefore much of the material being transported is \"waste\" and\nis not usable product.\nDave Vail\nOlmsted County Hazardous Waste Specialist\nPhone: (507) 287-2470\nFax:\n(507) 287-2320\nrecycied paper\nAN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER\nrecyctable\nAdministration\nBuilding Maintenance\nSurveying and Mapping\nEngineering\nHighway Maintenance\nParks & Agriculture\nSolid W","truncated":false,"body_characters":4673}