31684 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 103 / Tuesday, May 29, 2012 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Aviation Administration 

Withdrawal of Notice of Intent To 

Prepare an Environmental Impact 

Statement for the George Bush 

Intercontinental Airport, Houston, TX 

AGENCY: Federal Aviation 

Administration (FAA), Department of 

Transportation (DOT). 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The FAA is issuing this notice 

to advise federal, state, and local 

government agencies and the public that 

the FAA is withdrawing its Notice of 

Intent to prepare an Environmental 

Impact Statement (EIS) for proposed 

capacity improvements at the George 

Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). 

The Houston Airport System (HAS), the 

sponsor of the proposed improvements, 

has requested that the EIS be terminated 

because the need for the proposed 

capacity improvements no longer exists. 

The HAS noted that arrival and 

departure delays at IAH have been 

decreasing and stated that IAH is 

currently one of the least delayed large 

hub airports in the United States. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul 

Blackford, by mail at Federal Aviation 

Administration, Airports Division, Attn: 

Paul Blackford, ASW–650, 2601 

Meacham Boulevard, Fort Worth, Texas 

76137, email at paul.blackford@faa.gov, 

or by telephone (817) 222–5607. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On April 

9, 2009, the FAA issued a Notice of 

Intent in the Federal Register [74 FR 

16255–16256] to prepare an EIS for 

proposed airfield improvements at IAH. 

The Airport Master Plan (AMP) 

prepared by the HAS documented that 

improvements were needed to increase 

airfield capacity and reduce projected 

delays. The FAA proceeded with 

preparing the EIS in accordance with 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

of 1969, as amended. 

On July 30, 2010, the FAA received a 

letter from the HAS requesting that the 

preparation of the EIS be delayed. The 

HAS indicated that additional planning 

work was necessary to ensure that the 

assumptions used to develop the AMP 

remained valid. The HAS cited several 

reasons that contributed to their 

decision to conduct additional planning 

including the potential merger of United 

and Continental Airlines, the economic 

downturn, potential changes to aircraft 

fleet mix due to the airline merger, and 

the need to update the existing terminal 

concept. Therefore, the FAA suspended 

the preparation of the EIS and published 

a notice in the Federal Register stating 

such on September 16, 2010 [75 FR 

56653]. 

On January 3, 2012, the HAS sent a 

letter to the FAA requesting that the EIS 

be terminated. The HAS cited statistics 

that show delays at IAH have been 

decreasing, stated that they do not 

expect significant increases in the 

number of aircraft operations at IAH, 

and did not wish to pursue a new 

runway at this time. In response to the 

HAS letter, the FAA is terminating the 

EIS. 

Issued in Fort Worth, Texas, on May 16, 

2012. 

Kelvin L. Solco, 

Manager, Airports Division. 

[FR Doc. 2012–12947 Filed 5–25–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–13–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. FMCSA–2010–0027] 

Hours of Service of Drivers: RockTenn, 

Exemption Application 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of final disposition; grant 

of application for exemption. 

SUMMARY: FMCSA announces its 

decision to grant RockTenn an 

exemption from the driver hours-ofservice (HOS) provisions of the Federal 

Motor Carrier Safety Regulations 

(FMCSRs). This limited exemption is for 

RockTenn’s shipping department 

employees and occasional substitute 

commercial driver’s license (CDL) 

holders who transport paper mill 

products short distances between its 

shipping and receiving locations on a 

public road. The exemption is restricted 

to a specific route. RockTenn requested 

an exemption from the HOS regulation 

that prohibits drivers from operating 

property-carrying commercial motor 

vehicles (CMVs) after the 14th hour of 

coming on duty. This exemption will 

allow these individuals to occasionally 

work up to 16 consecutive hours and be 

allowed to return to work with less than 

the mandatory 10 consecutive hours off 

duty. 

DATES: This exemption is effective from 

April 17, 2012 (12:01 a.m.), through 

April 16, 2014 (11:59 p.m.). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Richard Clemente, FMCSA Driver and 

Carrier Operations Division, Office of 

Bus and Truck Standards and 

Operations, Telephone: 202–366–4325. 

Email: MCPSD@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Under 49 U.S.C. 31315 and 31136(e), 

FMCSA may grant an exemption from 

many of the safety regulations, 

including the HOS requirements in 49 

CFR part 395, for a two-year period if it 

finds ‘‘such exemption would likely 

achieve a level of safety that is 

equivalent to, or greater than, the level 

of safety that would be achieved absent 

such exemption’’ (49 CFR 381.305(a)). 

Request for Exemption 

Under 49 CFR 395.3(a)(2), a propertycarrying CMV driver is prohibited from 

operating a CMV on a public road after 

the end of the 14th hour after coming on 

duty following 10 or more consecutive 

hours off duty. 

RockTenn operates a paper mill 

located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, its 

principal place of business. Its shipping 

and receiving departments are on 

opposite sides of the paper mill, 

requiring driver-employees to travel on 

a public road to shuttle trailers as 

needed. These drivers utilize a public 

road—Compress Street—an average of 

forty times per day to travel between its 

manufacturing facility, and shipping 

and receiving docks. These drivers do 

not transport any material farther than 

the paper mill lots and/or Compress 

Street. The distance traveled on 

Compress Street is approximately 275 

feet in one direction, and one tractor is 

used to perform this work. 

RockTenn requires all shipping 

department CMV drivers to have the 

required 10 hours off duty prior to 

returning to work and only allows them 

to work a maximum of 14 consecutive 

hours in any given duty period. It has 

three 8-hour shifts up to 7 days a week, 

and there are two shipping employees 

on each shift. One employee drives a 

fork-lift truck loading trailers with 

finished goods, and the other operates 

the tractor shuttling trailers. These 

employees do not drive the CMV 

continuously during their shift(s). 

According to RockTenn, the problem 

arises because they use a backwardrotating shift schedule, and also on 

occasion when a shipping department 

driver does not report for work as 

scheduled. On a Monday, for example, 

if an individual worked the weekend, 

his or her shift would normally have to 

‘‘hurry back’’ within 8 hours. As a result 

of the mandatory 10 hours off-duty 

requirement, RockTenn schedules these 

drivers’ shifts to start later than other 

employees. This creates at least 2 hours 

when the company cannot load or 

transport trailers with finished goods 

due to the absence of the drivers. 


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