# Association of American Railroads — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation - **operation:** document - **citation:** 19-0007 - **title:** Association of American Railroads — Hazardous Materials Safety Interpretation - **source type:** guidance - **agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration - **status:** guidance - **official:** true - **published on:** 2019-10-09 - **effective on:** Not available - **summary:** 19-0007 response to Association of American Railroads concerning 173.242. - **machine formats:** - **json:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-19-0007.json - **markdown:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-19-0007.md - **app url:** https://regulus.evalyn.ai/document/phmsa-interpretation-19-0007 - **source url:** https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/docs/standards-rulemaking/hazmat/interpretations/72531/190007.pdf **body:** <<>> U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 OCT O fJ 2019 Robert E. Fronczak Association of American Railroads 425 Third Street SW, Suite 1000 Washington, DC 20024 Reference No. 19-0007 Dear Mr. Fronczak: This letter is in response to your April 2, 2018, email requesting clarification of the Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR Parts 171-180) regarding the phase-out schedule for DOT-111 specification tank cars in§ 173.242. Specifically, you ask what is the definition of "ethanol". On August 15, 2016, the Pipeline and Hazardous Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a final rulea to codify in the HMR certain mandates of the Fixing America's Transportation Act (FAST Act Sec. 7304). Specifically, the final rule, as required by the FAST Act, revised the phase-out schedule for all DOT-111 specification tank cars used to transport Class 3 flammable liquids, such as ethanol. For purposes of the phase-out requirement for DOT-111 specification tank cars, "ethanol" means ethanol described under an appropriate proper shipping name, to include: "UN 1170, Ethanol or Ethanol solutions"; "NA 1987, Denatured alcohol"; "UN 1987, Alcohols" or "UN 3475, Ethanol and gasoline mixture or Ethanol and motor spirit mixture or Ethanol and petrol mixture, with more than 10% ethanol." I hope this information is helpful. Please contact us if we can be of further assistance. irk eren Chief, Standards Development Branch Standards and Rulemaking Division a Hazardous Materials: FAST Act Requirements for Flammable Liquids and Rail Tank Cars, 81 FR 53935 (August 15, 2016). <<>> Dodd, Alice (PHMSA) From: Sent: To: Cc: Subject: 19--om"1 Ciccarone, Michael (PHMSA) Wednesday, February 06, 2019 9:58 AM Dodd, Alice (PHMSA) DerKinderen, Dirk (PHMSA) FW: AAR Request for Definition of Ethanol Alice, Please enter this as a new interp and assign to me. Thanks, Mike From: Fronczak, Robert Sent: Monday, April 2, 2018 1:56 PM To: Schoonover, William (PHMSA) Cc: Fronczak, Robert Subject: Ethanol Bill: I tried to call but got a busy signal. With respect to HM-251 and the phase out of tank cars carrying ethanol, what does ethanol mean? I think DOT meant alcohol NOS (which does not have the word ethanol in it) or the energy products likely to be shipped in large blocks or unit trains, but the regulation just says ethanol. 80 Federal Register No. 89 - Friday, May 8, 2015 page 26722 refers to ethanol being UN 1987. Most of the alcohol NOS transported by rail is transported under Haz Mat Response Code (HMRC) 4909152 (320,167 shipments in 2016) as UN-1987. There are 14 other alcohol NOS (including one denatured alcohol) HMRC's shipped as UN 1987. After HMRC 4909152, the next biggest volume was 473 shipments in 2016. If one looks at ethanol shipments in 2016, there are 10 HMRC's with ethanol in the proper shipping name, either ethanol or ethanol and gasoline mixture, shipped under UN-1170 or UN-3475). All of the ethanol totaled 35,937 shipments in 2016. So, one could argue that ethanol means HMRC 4909152 alcohol NOS UN-1987. Transport Canada uses the following definition: 1. UN 11 70, ETHANOL more than 24% ethanol, by volume; 2. UN1987, ALCOHOLS, N.O.S.; 1 <<>> 3. UN3475, ETHANOL AND GASOLINE MIXTURE with more than 10% ethanol, ETHANOL AND MOTOR SPIRIT MIXTURE with more than 10% ethanol, or ETHANOL AND PETROL MIXTURE with more than 10% ethanol; and In order to be harmonized, I would suggest that the U S DOT definition should agree with the Transport Canada definition. Thank you for considering my question. Bob From the Desk of• Robert E. Fronczak, P.E. Assistant Vice President Environment & Haz Mat Association of American Railroads 425 Third Street S.W.; Suite 1000; Washington , DC 20024 Phone• 202-639-2839 Fax• 202-639-2930 E-maiL RFronczak@aar.org <2018-7-24 Shane Kelly re Definition of Ethanol.doc> 2 - **truncated:** false - **body characters:** 3999