NYC-DEP — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation

Page 1U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration 1200 New Jersey Ave, SE Washington. D.C. 20590 JAN 2 1 2011 Mr. Mohamed Abdel Aal DEP HazMat Specialist NYC-DEP 96-05 Horace Harding Expressway HazMatUnit Corona, NY 11368 Ref. No. 11-0001 Dear Mr. Abdel Aal: This responds to your email of December 30, 2010 requesting clarification ofthe Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180). Specifically, you question the applicability of the HMR to shipments ofhazardous waste by New York City employees. You also request clarification ofthe definitions for certain terms used in the HMR and elsewhere. Your questions are paraphrased and answered as follows: Ql.) Are shipments of hazardous waste by New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYC-DEP) subject to the HMR? AI.) The answer to your question is no. As specified in § 171.1, the HMR govern the safe transportation of hazardous materials in commerce. A state agency or local jurisdiction that transports hazardous materials for governmental purposes using its own personnel is not engaged in transportation in commerce and, therefore~ is not subject to the HMR. However, if the state agency or local jurisdiction transports hazardous materials for a commercial purpose, utilizes contract personnel to transport the materials, or offers a hazardous material for transportation to a commercial carrier, then the HMR apply. Q2.) What are the definitions of commerce, transfer facility, transport vehicle and hazardous material? A2.) The definitions of commerce, hazardous material and transport vehicle, as found in § 171.8, are shown below . • Commerce means trade or transportation in the jurisdiction of the United States within a single state; between a place in a state and a place outside ofthe state; that affects trade or transportation between a place in a state and place outside ofthe state; or on a United Statesregistered aircraft . • Hazardous Material means a substance or material that the Secretary of Transportation has determined is capable ofposing an unreasonable risk to health, safety, and property when#

Page 2transported in commerce, and has designated as hazardous under section"5103 ofFederal hazardous materials transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5103). The term includes hazardous substances, hazardous wastes, marine pollutants, elevated temperature materials, materials designated as hazardous in the Hazardous Materials Table (see § 172.101), and materials that meet the defining criteria for hazard classes and divisions in Part 173 . • Transport vehicle means a cargo-carrying vehicle such as an automobile, van, tractor, truck, semitrailer, tank car or rail car used for the transportation ofcargo by any mode. Each cargocarrying body (trailer, rail car, etc.) is a separate transport vehicle. The HMR do not define the term transfer facility. For a definition oftransfer facility, please see 40 CFR § 260.10. I hope this answers your inquiry. If you need additional assistance, please contact this office at 202-366-8553. Ben Supko Acting Chief, Standards Development Branch Standards and Rulemaking Division#

Page 3Drakeford, Carolyn (PHMSA) From: INFOCNTR (PHMSA) Sent: Thursday, December 30,201012:03 PM To: Drakeford, Carolyn (PHMSA) Subject: FW: Formal Letter of interpretation 1t -Oo() , Hi Carolyn, We received the following request for a formal letter of interpretation at the Info Center. Mr. Abdel-Aal previously spoke with Adam Lucas in the HMIC. Thanks, Victoria Lehman Hazmat Info Center 202-366-1035 From: Abdel-Aal, Mohamed [mailto:MohamedA@dep.nyc.gov] Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2010 10:49 AM To: INFOCNTR (PHMSA) Subject: Formal Letter of interpretation Greetings, NYC-DEP Hazmat division is looking forward to transport hazardous materials found abandoned in the streets of NY city and storage the materials in a city's transfer facility(T. F) for proper disposal by certified contractors or transport the materials to a permitted TD5F .The whole process of chemical Identification transport and storage in (T. F) is done by 1 city employees. 50 Please address the following questions dealing with HMR found in the hazardous materials transportation law and the hazardous materials transportation regulations. 1- Does NYC-DEP II as local government" is subject to the requirements of HMR found in 49 CFR part 171 through 180 ? 2- What are the definitions of commerce, Transfer facility, Transfer Vehicle and Hazardous Materials? Thank you Mohamed Abdel Aal DEP HozMat Specialist NYC-DEP 96-05 Horace Harding Expressway HazMat Unit Corona, NY. 11368 phone # 718-230-7304 cell # 646-584-5527 fax # 718-595-4690 1#