# Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

- **operation:** document
- **citation:** 03-0242
- **title:** Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation
- **source type:** guidance
- **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- **status:** guidance
- **official:** true
- **published on:** 2003-12-03
- **effective on:** Not available
- **summary:** 03-0242 response to Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority concerning 172.800.
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- **markdown:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-03-0242.md
- **app url:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-03-0242
- **source url:** https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/2003/030242.pdf
**body:**

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U.S. Department
of Transportation
400 Seventh St., S.W.
Research and
Washington, D.C. 20590
Administratior
special Program:
DEC 3 - 2003
Ms. Laura MacPherson
Hazardous Waste Coordinator
Reference No.: 03-0242
Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority
P. O. Box 370
Mendham, NJ 07945-0370
Dear Ms. MacPherson:
This responds to your letter concerning the applicability of the new hazardous materials
transportation security requirements adopted in a final rule issued under RSPA Docket (HM-
232). Your letter states that the Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority (MCMUA) accepts
and stores for up to 90 days household hazardous waste and Conditionally Excepted Small
the wastes meet the definition of a flammable liquid in § 173.120 of the Hazardous Materials
Quantities Generator (CESQG) waste. In subsequent conversations with my staff, you stated that
Regulations (HIMIR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180), and are transported in quantities that require
placarding of the transport vehicle. A contractor sorts and packages the waste, labels the
however, an employee of MCMUA signs the manifest.
containers, prepares the manifest, and ultimately, transports the waste to its own disposal facility;
Your questions are paraphrased and answered as follows:
Q1. Is MCMUA subject to the registration requirements under 49 CFR 107.606?
from the registration and fee requirements.
Al. The answer is no. Section 107.606 excepts an agency of a political subdivision of a State
Q2. Must MCMUA develop and implement a security plan as an offeror of hazardous materials?
A2. The answer is yes. Each person, including a government agency or Indian tribe, who offers
for transportation in commerce or transports in commerce one or more of the materials listed in
$172.800(b)(1) through (7) must develop and adhere to a security plan for hazardous materials
that conforms to the requirements in Subpart I of Part 172. When the offeror functions are
performed by two or more entities, as in your case, the offerors may prepare a joint plan. Also in
necessary to enable offerors and carriers to determine the best methods for addressing en route
some cases, an offeror and a carrier may have a joint plan. The HMR provide the flexibility
security issues.
172.800
030242

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Q3. Must MCMUA provide security training to its hazmat employees?
A3. The answer is yes. Each hazmat employee as defined in § 171.8 must, at a minimum,
eceive training that provides an awareness of security risks associated with hazardous material
ransportation and methods designed to enhance transportation security. Additionally, each
hazmat employee of a person required to have a security plan must be trained concerning the
security plan and its implementation.
I trust this satisfies your inquiry.
Sincerely,
Hatte z Mittell
Hattie L. Mitchell
Chief, Regulatory Review and Reinvention
Office of Hazardous Materials Standards

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MORRIS COUNTY
muc
Corbin
MUNICIPAL UTILITIES AUTHORITY
3172 .800
Security Plans
September 17, 2003
03-0242
Mr. Edward Mazzulo
Director, Office of Hazardous Materials Standards
Research and Special Programs Administration
DHM-10
U.S. Department of Transportation
400 Seventh Street S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20590-0001
Re: Applicability of New Subparts I and H in 49 CFR Part 172 to a
Household Hazardous Waste and CESQG Waste Facility
Located at a County Solid Waste Transfer Station
Dear Mr. Mazzulo:
Op March 25, 2003, RSPA issued HM-232 Hazardous Materials: Security Requirements for
Offerors and Transporters of Hazardous Materials as a final rule. This rule created the new
Subpart H of. Part 172.
Subpart Lin- 49 CFRPart 172 and revised the hazardous materials training requirements in
*The Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority (MCMUA) would like clarification of the
applicability of these new and revised regulations to its operation of a permanent household
hazardous waste facility (HHW Facility) which it owns outright and operates along with a
hazardous waste vendor (Onyx Environmental Services, LLC, of One Eden Lane, Flanders;
paperwork, including manifests, and transport the waste to its TSDF in Flanders. The MCMUA
is billed for these labor, transportation and disposal services on a per diem, per pound basis.
..By way of background information, HHW and conditionally-exempt small quantity generator
(CESOG) waste is accepted at the MCMUA's HHW Facility, which is located on the site of its
Mount Oliva Transfer Station, 168 Gold Mine.Road, Flanders, New Jersey. The HHW Facility is
Olive Transfer Station operates as a fully permitted and licensed solid waste facility and
open only by appointment on certain Tuesday, Friday and Saturday mornings, while the Mount
operates six days a week.
CESQG waste and out-of-county residential HHW is accepted at the HHW Facility (with pre-
authorization) for a small handling fee ($1.25 per pound). In-county residents are not charged a
P.O. Box 370- Mendham, X. 07946-05%0 pated it 30 sia F. F.(g24), sis Township N. 079mu2.com - Website: www.momua.com
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Director, Office of Hazardous Materials Standards
Mr. Edward Mazzulo
U.S. Department of Transportation
Research and Special Programs Administration
SEPTEMBER 17, 2003
PAGE 2 OF 6
fee to dispose of most HHW. All waste (including HHW) that exhibits a hazard characteristic is
packaged according to its USDOT hazard class.
The MCMUA may store HHW and CESQG
waste on-Site for up to ninety (90) days, after which time it is properly labeled, paperwork is
own TSDF.
filled out (manifests) and the waste is shipped off-site by Onyx Environmental Services to its
Although the MCMUA realizes that the waste it receives is not required to be manifested and
transported by a hazardous waste transporter, for reasons that are explained below, it prefers to
were fully classified as RCRA hazardous wastes. Additionally, while the MCMUA chooses to
ship all hand CES wastes according to their respective DOT hazard classes, as if they
ship the HHW and CESQG waste according to their respective DOT hazard classes, and the
HHW Facility chooses to manage all wastes exhibiting a hazard characteristic as though they
were RCRA hazardous wastes, which includes manifesting and placarding requirements, it is
not required to do so.
should not be subject to DOT regulations, regardless of the USEPA manifest exemption.
Thus, because the wastes do not meet any DOT criteria, the waste
By way of background information on RCRA hazardous waste as it pertains to HHW and
CESQG waste, household waste, including HHW, is exempt from federal hazardous waste
hazardous waste (see 40 CFR 261.4(b)(1)). Programs that collect HHW do not need a Subtitle
regulations under RCRA Subtitle C. Therefore, HHW is not regulated under RCRA as a
hazardous waste transportation regulations. No quantity of HHW nor length of time of
C permit or EPA identification number, and HHW can be transported without following
accumulation triggers the Subtitle C requirements.
The household waste exemption applies to HHW through its entire management cycle. The
consolidated with other household waste.
waste collected through an HHW collection program does not lose its exemption by being
requirements.
Like HHW, CESQG waste is exempt from most of the federal hazardous waste
No Subtitle C permit nor EPA identification number is needed, and CESQG
requirements.
waste can be transported without following the federal hazardous waste transportation
1,000 kilograms (about 2,200 pounds) of hazardous waste at their facility at one time, and they
In general, CESQGs must comply with two requirements. They do not store more than
send their hazardous waste to a recycling facility, a hazardous waste facility, or a facility
permitted, licensed or registered by the state to manage municipal or industrial solid waste.
These CEsQGs may send their hazardous waste to HHW collection programs that are state-
permitted, licensed or registered to manage municipal or industrial solid waste. Because
CESQG waste is conditionally-exempt throughout its management cycle, collection programs
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Mr. Edward Mazzulo
Research and Special Programs Administration
Director, Office of Hazardous Materials Standards
U.S. Department of Transportation
PAGE 3 OF 6
SEPTEMBER 17, 2003
subject to requirements imposed by states through their municipal or industrial waste permit,
managing CESQG waste are not covered by the federal hazardous waste regulations, but are
license or registration programs.
Although HHW and CESQG waste are exempt from most federal hazardous waste
requirements, the EPA recommends that sponsors of HHW collection programs manage the
licensed hazardous waste facility.
collected waste as Subtitle C hazardous waste - that is, it should be managed at a recycling or
The EPA also recommends that HHW collection programs use licensed hazardous waste
transporters who will properly identify, label, manifest and transport the collected wastes for
subcontract the operation of its HHW Facility to a private vendor (currently, Onyx Environmental
recycling, treatment or disposal. Because of these recommendations, the MCMUA decided to
Services, LLC), in order to permit them to properly categorize and ship the waste.
My three questions to you are as follows:
the fact that it manifests much of the HHW and CESQG waste that it accepts at its HHW
1. Is the MCMUA is required to register as an "offeror" of hazardous materials due to
Facility?
The USDOT regulations state:
transport hazardous wastes in the quantities that require registration. All hazardous wastes
Hazardous waste generators are subject to the registration requirement if they offer or
subject to the Hazardous Waste Manifest Requirements of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency are hazardous materials. In July 2000 the number of hazardous waste generators
registration of all persons who offer or transport a quantity of hazardous materials that requires
required to register significantly increased when the regulations were revised to require
placarding (see 49 CFR Part 172, Subpart F, for placarding requirements).
Any person who performs any of the activities of an offeror, which include signing the
egister. Depending on the type of packaging (container) and the amount of waste bein
hipping paper (hazardous waste manitest), tor a quantity that requires placarding mus
removed at one time, even generators of relatively small quantities of hazardous waste may be
subject to the registration requirement.
other than Division 6.2 or Class 9 materials (which do not require placarding) in bulk
A hazardous waste generator must register if it: offers or transports any amount of a waste
packagings (for example, a cargo tank, a tank car, or a bulk transport vehicle); or offers or
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Director, Office of Hazardous Materials Standards
Mr. Edward Mazzulo
Research and Special Programs Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
PAGE 4 OF 6
SEPTEMBER 17, 2003
equal to or greater than 3,500 gallons or 468 cubic feet, or offers or transports hazardous waste
transports any amount of a Division 6.2 or Class 9 material in bulk packagings with capacities
in other than bulk packagings (any container with a capacity of less than 119 gallons, for
example, a 55 gallon drum) if a single shipment contains 1,000 pounds or more of one or more
classes of hazardous waste that require p/acarding. Please note that it is the amount of material
requirement for the generator, not the amount of material that is contained in total on the truck
being removed from a site in non-bulk packagings at one time that triggers the registration
part of which may have been shipped by another hazardous waste generator.
According to 49 CFR 107.606,
(a) The following are excepted from the requirements of Subpart G (Registration of Persons
Who Offer or Transport Hazardous Materials):
(1) An agency of the Federal government.
(2) A State agency.
(3) An agency of a political subdivision of a State.
(4) An employee of any of those agencies in paragraphs (a)(1) through (a)(3) of this
section with respect to the employee's official duties.
(5) A hazmat employee (including, for purposes of this subpart, the owner-operator of a
time of those activities is leased to a registered motor carrier under a 30-day or
motor vehicle that transports in commerce hazardous materials, if that vehicle at the
longer lease as prescribed in 49 CFR Part 376 or an equivalent contractual
agreement).
The Morris County Municipal Utilities Authority should be excepted from the requirements of
of a political subdivision of a State."
registering as a hazmat offeror as it is a county agency and, therefore, operates as an "agency
the "offeror" of the hazardous materials is the MCMUA's vendor, Onyx Environmental Services,
Additionally, because the MCMUA actually performs no "offeror" or "transporter" functions,
• packaging, labeling, transporting and recycling and/or disposing of the HHW and CESO
vith which the MCMUA subcontracts the labor required to operate the HHW Facility, in additio
waste.
Lastly, although the MCMUA chooses to manifest the HHW and CESQG waste it receives at
the HHW Facility, the wastes are not hazardous materials and are thus exempt under federal
"hazardous" wastes, even though they may exhibit hazard characteristics.
hazardous waste requirements and USDOT requirements, as they are "solid" wastes, not
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Mr. Edward Mazzulo
Director, Office of Hazardous Materials Standards
Research and Special Programs Administration
U.S. Department of Transportation
SEPTEMBER 17, 2003
PAGE 5 OF 6
2. Does the MCMUA need a security plan as an offeror of hazardous materials?
I understand that the answer to this question is based upon the registration criteria.
a security plan:
49 CFR Part 172.800 lists the seven types of hazardous materials/shipments that will require
(1) Highway route-controlled quantity of radioactive material.
(2) More than 25 kg of Division 1.1, 1.2 or 1.3 explosives.
(3) More than 1 L of a material poisonous by inhalation in hazard zone A.
(4) Bulk packaging with a capacity of 13,248 L (3,550 gallons) or greater for liquids or gases,
or more than 13.24 cubic meters (468 cubic feet) for solids.
(5) A shipment of 2,268 kg (5,000 lbs.) in non-bulk packaging for which placards are
required
(6) A select agent or toxin regulated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
under 42 CFR Part 73.
(7) A quantity of hazardous material that requires placarding.
Because neither HHW nor CESQG waste shipments from the HHW Facility "require"
placarding, I believe thai the MCMUA should be exempted from complying with the security
plan requirements (please be advised that Onyx Environmental Services does have its own
security plan, as it packages, labels, manifests and transports the waste directly to its own
TSDF in Flanders, New Jersey).
In addition, the actual "offeror" and "transporter" of the waste is Onyx Environmental
Services, who does have a security plan.
hazardous materials?
3. Does the MCMUA need to provide hazmat security training as an offeror of
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Mr. Edward Mazzulo
Research and Special Programs Administration
Director, Office of Hazardous Materials Standards
U.S. Department of Transportation
SEPTEMBER 17, 2003
PAGE 6 OF 6
Answers to all of the above questions appear to depend upon whether the MCMUA is
aterials that the MCMUA manages at its HHW Facility are deemed hazardous materials solel
ctually an offeror of hazardous materials, which will depend, in turn, upon whether the wast
because they are manifested when shipped off-site, or are exempted from the federal
wastes (solid, not hazardous, wastes).
hazardous waste requirements and USDOT regulations because they are HHW and CESGQ
Thank you in advance for your responses to the above questions, as it is the MCMUA's
intent to be in full compliance with all applicable regulatory requirements at all times.
Rome s
see. Pala
Hazardous Waste Coordinator
Laura M. Macpherson
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