88346 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 216 / Thursday, November 7, 2024 / Notices 

1 From Internal Revenue Service’s 2024 standard 

mileage rates for self-employed and business. 

https://www.irs.gov/tax-professionals/standardmileage-rates, last accessed May 14, 2024. 

60 miles round trip). Using the IRS 

standard mileage rate of $0.67 per mile,1

each respondent is expected to incur 

approximately $40.20 in transportation 

costs. Therefore, NHTSA estimates that 

the total costs to all respondents for the 

one-time study will be approximately 

$8,040 ($40.20 × 200 respondents). 

NHTSA estimates the total annual costs 

based on an average of 67 respondents 

a year. Accordingly, NHTSA estimates 

the total annual cost to be $2,693.40 per 

year ($40.20 × 67 respondents). All 

equipment required for conduct of the 

research will be provided by NHTSA. 

The respondents will be fairly 

compensated for their participation 

without being coercive. 

Public Comments Invited: The public 

is invited to comment on any aspects of 

this information collection, including 

(a) whether the proposed collection of 

information is necessary for the proper 

performance of the functions of the 

Department, including whether the 

information will have practical utility; 

(b) the accuracy of the Department’s 

estimate of the burden of the proposed 

information collection; (c) ways to 

enhance the quality, utility and clarity 

of the information to be collected; and 

(d) ways to minimize the burden of the 

collection of information on 

respondents, including the use of 

automated collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology. 

Authority: The Paperwork Reduction 

Act of 1995; 44 U.S.C. chapter 35, as 

amended; 49 CFR 1.49; and DOT Order 

1351.29A. 

Cem Hatipoglu, 

Associate Administrator, Vehicle Safety 

Research. 

[FR Doc. 2024–25821 Filed 11–6–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials 

Safety Administration 

[Docket No. PHMSA–2024–0041 (Notice No. 

2024–13)] 

Hazardous Materials: Information 

Collection Activities 

AGENCY: Pipeline and Hazardous 

Materials Safety Administration 

(PHMSA), Department of Transportation 

(DOT). 

ACTION: Notice and request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

PHMSA is publishing a 60-day 

supplemental notice and providing an 

additional opportunity for public 

comment on its development of general 

investigative questions that may be used 

by PHMSA’s Office of Hazardous 

Materials Safety (OHMS) field 

operations personnel when investigating 

potential general safety issues. These 

questions are intended to facilitate factgathering efforts during general 

investigations related to PHMSA’s safety 

oversight responsibilities. Answering 

these questions would be voluntary and 

not impose any new reporting or 

recordkeeping requirements on 

regulated entities. Rather, the goal is to 

develop a pool of questions that can be 

tailored as appropriate based on the 

specific circumstances of a general 

investigation that is not related to the 

inspection of an individual company or 

entity for compliance with the 

hazardous materials regulations. 

DATES: Interested persons are invited to 

submit comments on or before January 

6, 2025. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

identified by the Docket Number 

PHMSA–2024–0041 (Notice No. 2024– 

13) by any of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251. 

• Mail: Docket Management System; 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 

West Building, Ground Floor, Room 

W12–140, Routing Symbol M–30, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue SE, Washington, DC 

20590. 

• Hand Delivery: To the Docket 

Management System; Room W12–140 

on the ground floor of the West 

Building, 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE, 

Washington, DC 20590, between 9 a.m. 

and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 

except Federal holidays. 

Instructions: All submissions must 

include the agency name and Docket 

Number (PHMSA–2024–0041) for this 

notice at the beginning of the comment. 

To avoid duplication, please use only 

one of these four methods. All 

comments received will be posted 

without change to the Federal Docket 

Management System (FDMS) and will 

include any personal information you 

provide. 

Requests for a copy of an information 

collection should be directed to Steven 

Andrews or Nina Vore, Standards and 

Rulemaking Division, (202) 366–8553, 

ohmspra@dot.gov, Pipeline and 

Hazardous Materials Safety 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590– 

0001. 

Docket: For access to the dockets to 

read background documents or 

comments received, go to http://

www.regulations.gov or DOT’s Docket 

Operations Office (see ADDRESSES). 

Privacy Act: In accordance with 5 

U.S.C. 553(c), DOT solicits comments 

from the public to better inform its 

rulemaking process. DOT posts these 

comments, without edit, including any 

personal information the commenter 

provides, to www.regulations.gov, as 

described in the system of records 

notice (DOT/ALL–14 FDMS), which can 

be reviewed at www.dot.gov/privacy. 

Confidential Business Information: 

Confidential Business Information (CBI) 

is commercial or financial information 

that is both customarily and actually 

treated as private by its owner. Under 

the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 

(5 U.S.C. 552), CBI is exempt from 

public disclosure. If your comments 

responsive to this notice contain 

commercial or financial information 

that is customarily treated as private, 

that you actually treat as private, and 

that is relevant or responsive to this 

notice, it is important that you clearly 

designate the submitted comments as 

CBI. Please mark each page of your 

submission containing CBI as 

‘‘PROPIN.’’ PHMSA will treat such 

marked submissions as confidential 

under the FOIA, and they will not be 

placed in the public docket of this 

notice. Submissions containing CBI 

should be sent to Steven Andrews or 

Nina Vore, Standards and Rulemaking 

Division and addressed to the Pipeline 

and Hazardous Materials Safety 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590– 

0001 or ohmspra@dot.gov. Any 

commentary that PHMSA receives 

which is not specifically designated as 

CBI will be placed in the public docket 

for this notice. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Steven Andrews or Nina Vore, 

Standards and Rulemaking Division, 

(202) 366–8553, ohmspra@dot.gov, 

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety 

Administration, U.S. Department of 

Transportation, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue SE, Washington, DC 20590– 

0001. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 216 / Thursday, November 7, 2024 / Notices 88347 

1 89 FR 50045 (Jun. 12, 2024) 

I. Background 

A. Initial 60-Day Notice 

On June 12, 2024,1 PHMSA published 

a 60-day notice to give the public the 

opportunity to comment on an 

information collection request seeking 

approval from the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) for a list of general 

investigation questions. PHMSA 

received seven (7) sets of comments 

from six (6) commenters on the 60-day 

notice. PHMSA is publishing this 

supplemental 60-day notice to address 

stakeholder comments (received from 

the initial 60-day notice), revise certain 

questions below based on feedback 

received, and clarify the intent of the 

information collection request. 

Specifically, PHMSA received 

comments from the following entities: 

Commenter name Docket No. 

Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) ............................................................. https://www.regulations.gov/comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0008. 

Council on Safe Transportation of Hazardous Articles (COSTHA) ......... https://www.regulations.gov/comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0005. 

Dangerous Goods Advisory Council (DGAC) .......................................... https://www.regulations.gov/comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0002. 

https://www.regulations.gov/comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0003. 

Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA) ........................ https://www.regulations.gov/comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0007. 

International Vessel Operators Dangerous Goods Association 

(IVODGA).

https://www.regulations.gov/comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0006. 

Smart TD .................................................................................................. https://www.regulations.gov/comment/PHMSA-2024-0041-0004. 

B. Response to Comments 

ALPA provided comments suggesting 

that PHMSA should include questions 

about the adoption of a Safety 

Management System (SMS) and Safety 

Risk Assessment (SRA). COSTHA and 

IVODGA emphasized that some of the 

proposed questions might be beyond the 

shipper’s operational scope, potentially 

asking for information outside the 

shipper’s expertise, or lacking in clarity 

regarding the information sought by 

PHMSA. COSTHA and IVODGA also 

provided comments and proposed edits 

to the individual general investigation 

questions. DGAC expressed concerns 

that the general investigation questions 

lacked specificity and clarity in 

identifying the information PHMSA 

aims to collect to address safety issues. 

However, after receiving clarification 

from PHMSA on the intent of the 

information collection request, DGAC 

expressed willingness to review and 

comment on a supplemental notice. 

HCPA stated that PHMSA did not 

specify the selection criteria for 

respondents or how they should 

respond and questioned the relevance of 

the questions to investigations. HCPA 

also questioned PHMSA’s assertion that 

there is no ‘burden cost’ associated with 

this information collection request. 

Lastly, Smart TD expressed support for 

a streamlined inspection and 

standardized investigation process. 

In this 60-day supplemental notice, 

PHMSA is reaffirming that the questions 

outlined in this information collection 

request are intended to be used to 

engage in voluntary discussions with 

stakeholders regarding important safety 

issues that are not related to any specific 

inspection or enforcement actions. The 

purpose of this information collection 

request is to allow PHMSA to engage 

with our stakeholders on a voluntary 

basis to discuss potential safety issues 

across a particular industry sector (e.g., 

the transportation of hazardous 

materials by vessel, etc.) or process (e.g., 

the production of organic peroxides, 

etc.). Compliance with the Paperwork 

Reduction Act (PRA) is required even if 

an information collection request is 

voluntary. One example of a scenario 

where PHMSA might use these general 

investigation questions is when there 

are unexplained incidents on vessels 

suspected of involving the 

transportation of hazardous materials. 

Having a list of pre-approved questions 

would enable PHMSA to proactively 

engage with the shippers associated 

with those vessels, and still comply 

with PRA requirements. Information 

obtained from this outreach could assist 

PHMSA in identifying potential actions 

to help safeguard the operators of these 

vessels. 

PHMSA is also clarifying that the 

questions presented in this information 

collection request are not intended to be 

used by field operations staff when 

conducting routine investigations or 

inspections of individual companies for 

compliance with the Hazardous 

Materials Regulations (HMR; 49 CFR 

parts 171 through 180). Questions 

involving inspections and investigations 

used to determine compliance with the 

HMR are not subject to the PRA (see 5 

CFR 1320.4). This exception to the PRA 

excludes information collected in 

response to, among other things, a 

federal civil action or ‘‘during the 

conduct of an administrative action, 

investigation, or audit involving an 

agency against specific individuals or 

entities.’’ 

Finally, in this 60-day supplemental 

notice PHMSA has reviewed and 

revised—where appropriate—the 

questions that are part of this 

information collection request based on 

internal review and comments received 

to the initial 60-day notice. PHMSA is 

also clarifying the HCPA comment on 

‘‘burden cost,’’ explaining that this term 

refers to the upfront capital costs the 

public incurs to comply with a Federal 

information collection request. This 

includes expenses for equipment, 

software, or other resources necessary to 

fulfill the requirements of an 

information collection request. As the 

responses to the questions outlined in 

this information collection request are 

voluntary and simply involve answering 

questions presented, there are no 

upfront capital costs associated with 

this information collection request. In 

this 60-day supplemental notice, 

PHMSA is proposing a maximum 

number of respondents, responses, and 

burden hours associated with this 

information collection request. PHMSA 

may reach out to respondents via 

telephone or email to voluntarily 

request answers to relevant questions 

mentioned in this notice. 

C. Summary of Revised Questions in 

This 60-Day Supplemental Notice 

PHMSA received comments from 

ALPA, COSTHA, HCPA, and IVODGA 

suggesting revisions to the questions in 

the initial 60-day notice. ALPA 

proposed adding air-related questions to 

the safety section, focusing on Safety 

Risk Assessment (SRA) and mitigating 

the risks associated with transporting 

hazardous materials by air. Both 

COSTHA and IVODGA provided 

comments suggesting revisions to the 

individual questions in the initial 60- 

day notice. Examples of these revisions 

included inquiring about the elements 

of a security plan, clarifying a question 

about validation processes, and 

specifying what PHMSA means by 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
88348 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 216 / Thursday, November 7, 2024 / Notices 

‘‘entities.’’ Lastly, HCPA suggested 

replacing the word ‘‘see’’ in the list of 

questions with ‘‘ships or receives.’’ 

In response to comments from ALPA, 

PHMSA has added questions on SRAs 

and mitigating the risk of transporting 

hazardous materials by air to this 60-day 

supplemental notice. PHMSA has also 

revised questions based on input 

received from COSTHA and IVODGA to 

account for multiple incidents, inquire 

about elements of a security plan, and 

clarify a question about validating 

processes. PHMSA has chosen to retain 

the current terminology for ‘‘entities,’’ 

as it offers a comprehensive framework 

that ensures inclusivity and broad 

applicability. In response to the HCPA 

comment, PHMSA has in this 60-day 

supplemental notice replaced the word 

‘‘see’’ with ‘‘ships or receives’’ to 

provide greater clarity to these 

questions. Additionally, in this 60-day 

supplemental notice PHMSA has 

included a question at the end of each 

section to allow entities being 

questioned to provide any additional 

information that may help identify the 

circumstances of the safety issue. 

Finally, in this 60-day supplemental 

notice PHMSA has also revised the 

registration question to ask about both 

PHMSA and Federal Motor Carrier 

Safety Administration (FMCSA) 

registration. 

D. Supplementary Information 

The PRA requires Federal agencies to 

minimize paperwork burden on 

regulated entities and receive approval 

from OMB for any information 

collection requirements. 

The development of these general 

investigation questions does not directly 

impose any new information collection 

requirements on the regulated 

community. PHMSA is seeking 

comments on the information collection 

burden of proposed general questions 

that agency investigators may use 

during general safety investigations. 

These voluntary questions would be 

designed to gather information about 

potential safety issues without imposing 

significant new information collection 

burdens on the public. 

The use of such general investigation 

questions would allow the agency to 

carry out its statutory responsibilities to 

protect public safety while minimizing 

the paperwork burden on regulated 

entities. These questions would not 

require entities to provide specific 

reports or maintain additional records, 

but would simply facilitate the 

gathering of relevant facts during 

general safety investigations not 

associated with determining compliance 

with the HMR for a specific entity. The 

agency intends to develop a pool of 

questions that could be tailored as 

needed based on the specific 

circumstances of each general safety 

investigation. Examples may include 

questions about general industry 

operating procedures, training practices, 

incident reporting, hazard analysis, and 

other safety-related topics. No new data 

collection instruments or generalized 

surveys are proposed at this time. 

This notice outlines PHMSA’s intent 

to develop general investigation 

questions focused on safety that can be 

tailored as needed. It clarifies that no 

new reporting requirements or 

recordkeeping burdens are being 

imposed through this process. The 

notice demonstrates how this effort is 

meant to facilitate the agency’s 

enforcement responsibilities while 

minimizing paperwork impacts, which 

can support compliance with the PRA. 

Section 1320.8(d), title 5, Code of 

Federal Regulations (CFR) requires 

PHMSA to provide interested members 

of the public and affected agencies an 

opportunity to comment on information 

collection and recordkeeping requests. 

This notice identifies an information 

collection request PHMSA will be 

submitting to OMB. 

II. General Investigation Questions To 

Be Submitted to OMB for Approval 

Listed below are the general 

investigation questions that PHMSA 

plans to submit to OMB for approval: 

1. Introduction Questions 

a. What are your typical operations? 

Can you provide a general overview? 

b. To the best of your knowledge, was 

a hazardous material involved in your 

operations? 

c. If yes, please provide the proper 

shipping name. 

d. Is there any other information you 

would like to share on this topic? 

2. General Hazardous Materials 

(Hazmat) Information 

a. Can you describe the hazardous 

materials in transportation you normally 

ship or receive? 

i. How often do you ship or receive 

them? 

ii. Are you shipping them? 

iii. Are you storing them? 

iv. Is there any other information you 

would like to share on this topic? 

b. Are there any specific requirements 

for the condition of the hazardous 

material that must be followed before 

the identified material is transported? 

c. Have these conditions been 

verified? If so, what was the method 

used? 

d. Are there modal-specific (rail/air/ 

vessel/highway) requirements for this 

hazardous material that you follow? If 

so, what are they? 

e. Do the carriers accepting your 

hazardous material have any concerns/ 

special accommodations when receiving 

your hazardous material? 

f. Do shipping agents (e.g., insurance 

companies, shippers, freight forwarders, 

etc.) have specific requirements when 

accepting your hazardous material? 

g. Which hazard class(es) of 

hazardous materials in transportation do 

you routinely ship or receive? 

h. Is there any other information 

related to the hazardous materials that 

you ship and/or receive that you would 

like to share? 

3. Hazardous Material Training 

a. Which employees/departments are 

trained to be able to handle this 

hazardous material? 

b. Who conducts this training? 

c. When was the last time training 

was provided? 

d. How do you determine who needs 

training? 

e. Is there any other information you 

would like to share on this topic? 

4. Safety 

a. What have you or your industry 

done to mitigate risk around the 

hazardous material involved in the 

incident? 

b. What solutions have been found to 

be helpful during hazardous materials 

incidents? 

c. How would you handle a hazardous 

material found to be damaged or not 

properly packaged? 

d. Are there any special requirements 

in place or instructions when hazardous 

materials are present? 

e. Do you implement a Safety 

Management System (SMS) at your 

facility? 

f. Do you implement a Safety Risk 

Assessment (SRA) at your facility? For 

example, for items being transported in 

the cargo compartment of an aircraft, do 

you implement the recommendations 

found in Advisory Circular 120–121 

‘‘Safety Risk Management Involving 

Items in Aircraft Cargo Compartments’’ 

published September 1, 2021? 

g. What have you or your industry 

done to mitigate risk around the 

hazardous material being shipped? 

h. Is there any other information you 

would like to share on this topic? 

5. Emergencies/Incidents 

a. Do you have the means to contain 

the hazardous material if there is an 

accident or an incident? 

b. What remediation companies are 

potentially contracted at this location or 

by this company? 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 216 / Thursday, November 7, 2024 / Notices 88349 

c. Does your operation require a 

hazmat security plan? If so, what 

elements of a security plan are 

implemented? 

d. Is there any other information you 

would like to share on this topic? 

6. Industry Process/SOPs 

a. What other companies are you 

utilizing when transporting hazardous 

materials? Can you offer a point of 

contact to gather information about this 

company’s transportation of this 

hazardous material (or materials)? 

b. What are the locations of your 

hazardous materials operations? 

c. Can you share the Standard 

Operation Procedures (SOP) for the 

handling of hazardous materials at your 

company? 

d. Are you familiar with registration 

requirements? 

e. Are you required to obtain a 

PHMSA or Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA) registration? 

f. Who signs and prepares shipping 

papers? 

g. Do you transport any hazardous 

materials in compliance with an 

approval or special permit? 

h. Do you have any type of validation 

process that confirms compliance with 

the HMR prior to making hazardous 

material shipments? 

i. Is there any other information you 

would like to share on this topic? 

7. Carriers/Shippers/Testers/ 

Manufacturers 

a. Do you manufacture any hazardous 

material packaging? 

b. Are any other entities involved 

with the preparation, handling, or 

transportation of hazardous materials? 

c. Is there any other information you 

would like to share on this topic? 

8. Packaging 

a. Where do you purchase hazardous 

materials packaging? 

b. Is the product loaded at any 

specific temperature/pressure? 

c. What types of packaging do you 

routinely ship or receive for hazardous 

materials transportation? Including 

bulk, non-bulk, and/or cylinders. 

d. At what interval are you having the 

package tested? Who performs this 

function? Are there records? 

e. How are you closing the packages? 

Which tools or other equipment are 

used? 

f. Is there any other information you 

would like to share on this topic? 

III. Data 

The estimated reporting burdens 

associated with this information 

collection are as follows: 

OMB Control Number: None. 

Form Number: None. 

Type of Review: Regular submission. 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

1,000. 

Estimated Number or Responses: 

1,000. 

Estimated Time per Response: 30 

minutes. Information will be collected 

on a voluntary basis to address potential 

safety issues identified by PHMSA 

investigators. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 500. 

Estimated Burden Cost: $0. 

IV. Request for Comments to This 60- 

Day Supplemental Notice 

Comments are invited on: (1) whether 

the proposed collection of information 

is necessary for the proper performance 

of the functions of the agency, including 

whether the information shall have 

practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the 

agency’s estimate of the burden 

(including hours and cost) of the 

proposed collection of information; (3) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on respondents, including through the 

use of automated collection techniques 

or other forms of information 

technology. 

Comments submitted in response to 

this 60-day supplemental notice will be 

summarized and/or included in the 

request for OMB approval of this 

information collection; they also will 

become a matter of public record. 

Issued in Washington, DC on November 4, 

2024, under authority delegated in 49 CFR 

1.97. 

Alexander Ronald Wolcott, 

Acting Chief, Regulatory Review and 

Reinvention Branch, Office of Hazardous 

Materials Safety. Pipeline and Hazardous 

Materials Safety Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2024–25875 Filed 11–6–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–60–P 

DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS 

AFFAIRS 

Notice of Request for Information on 

the Department of Veterans Affairs 

Dental Hygienist Standard of Practice 

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs. 

ACTION: Request for information. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans 

Affairs (VA) is requesting information to 

assist in developing a national standard 

of practice for VA Dental Hygienists. VA 

seeks comments on various topics to 

help inform VA’s development of this 

national standard of practice. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before January 6, 2025. 

ADDRESSES: Comments must be 

submitted through https://

www.regulations.gov/. Except as 

provided below, comments received 

before the close of the comment period 

will be available at https://

www.regulations.gov/ for public 

viewing, inspection, or copying, 

including any personally identifiable or 

confidential business information that is 

included in a comment. We post the 

comments received before the close of 

the comment period on the following 

website as soon as possible after they 

have been received: https://

www.regulations.gov/. VA will not post 

on https://www.regulations.gov/ public 

comments that make threats to 

individuals or institutions or suggest 

that the commenter will take actions to 

harm the individual. VA encourages 

individuals not to submit duplicative 

comments. We will post acceptable 

comments from multiple unique 

commenters even if the content is 

identical or nearly identical to other 

comments. Any public comment 

received after the comment period’s 

closing date will not be considered. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ethan Kalett, Office of Regulations, 

Appeals and Policy (10BRAP), Veterans 

Health Administration, Department of 

Veterans Affairs, 810 Vermont Avenue 

NW, Washington, DC 20420, 202–461– 

0500. This is not a toll-free number. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Authority 

Chapters 73 and 74 of 38 U.S.C. and 

38 U.S.C. 303 authorize the Secretary to 

regulate VA health care professions to 

make certain that VA’s health care 

system provides safe and effective 

health care by qualified health care 

professionals to ensure the well-being of 

those Veterans who have borne the 

battle. 

On November 12, 2020, VA published 

an interim final rule confirming that VA 

health care professionals may practice 

their health care profession consistent 

with the scope and requirements of their 

VA employment, notwithstanding any 

State license, registration, certification, 

or other requirements that unduly 

interfere with their practice. 38 CFR 

17.419; 85 FR 71838. Specifically, this 

rulemaking confirmed VA’s current 

practice of permitting VA health care 

professionals to deliver health care 

services in a State other than the health 

care professional’s State of licensure, 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1