29468 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 103 / Friday, May 29, 1998 / Notices

6. Epidemiology of Post-Accident Stress

in Locomotive Engineers

It is well established that individuals

who are involved in serious accidents or

other situations involving loss of life

undergo post-traumatic stress disorder

(PTSD). PTSD has been documented in

police officers, firemen, and rescue

workers, and, because of the debilitating

effects of PTSD, mandatory counseling

is often provided for individuals who

are involved in traumas. Informal

discussions with locomotive engineers

indicates that during the course of a

career most locomotive engineers

experience a traumatic grade crossing

accident. At present there is no industry

approach to PTSD in locomotive

engineers, although anecdotal

information suggests that safety may be

compromised if counseling is not

provided. However, the number of

locomotive engineers who experience

PTSD is not known, and consequently

the need for resources to address this

problem is also not known. This project

will determine the descriptive

epidemiology (incidence and

prevalence) of PTSD in locomotive

engineers so that the magnitude of the

problem can be scientifically

established.

Application Submission and Deadline

In preparing application submissions,

applicants are reminded to carefully

read this entire Notice and to comply

with all content, format and time

requirements. An original and four (4)

copies of each application should be

submitted to the following address: Ms.

Jill Shohet, Office of Research and

Development, Mail Stop 20, 400 7th St.

SW, Washington, DC 20590. Neither

electronic nor facsimile submissions

will be accepted. Applications will be

reviewed as they are received. For

applicants to receive full consideration,

applications must be received by the

FRA at the above address on or before

July 17, 1998.

Dated: May 26, 1998.

James T. McQueen,

Associate Administrator for Railroad

Development.

[FR Doc. 98–14251 Filed 5–28–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–06–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

National Highway Traffic Safety

Administration

[Docket No. NHTSA 98–3875]

Reports, Forms, and Recordkeeping

Requirements

AGENCY: National Highway Traffic

Safety Administration (NHTSA), DOT.

ACTION: Request for public comment on

proposed collections of information.

SUMMARY: This document describes

three collections of information for

which NHTSA intends to seek OMB

approval. Under new procedures

established by the Paperwork Reduction

Act of 1995, before seeking OMB

approval to collect information from the

public, Federal agencies must solicit

public comment on proposed

collections of information, including

extensions and reinstatements of

previously approved collections. Each

of the collections for which this

document requests comment has been

previously approved.

DATES: Comments must be received on

or before July 28, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments must refer to the

docket and notice numbers cited at the

beginning of this notice and be

submitted to NHTSA’s new Docket

Management Facility, located on the

Plaza Level of the Nassif Building at the

U.S. Department of Transportation,

Room PL–01, 400 Seventh Street, SW,

Washington, DC 20590–0001. Please

identify the proposed collection of

information for which a comment is

provided, by referencing its OMB

Clearance Number. The DOT Docket is

open to the public from 10 am to 5 pm,

Mondays through Fridays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Complete copies of each request for

collection of information may be

obtained at no charge from Mr. Michael

Robinson, NHTSA Information

Collection Clearance Officer, NHTSA,

400 Seventh Street, SW, Room 6123,

Washington, DC 20590. Mr. Robinson’s

telephone number is (202) 366–9456.

Please identify the relevant collection of

information by referring to its OMB

Clearance Number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995,

before an agency submits a proposed

collection of information to OMB for

approval, it must publish a document in

the Federal Register providing a 60-day

comment period and otherwise consult

with members of the public and affected

agencies concerning each proposed

collection of information. The OMB has

promulgated regulations describing

what must be included in such a

document. Under OMB’s regulations (at

5 CFR 1320.8(d)), an agency must ask

for public comment on the following:

(i) Whether the proposed collection of

information is necessary for the proper

performance of the functions of the

agency, including whether the

information will have practical utility;

(ii) The accuracy of the agency’s

estimate of the burden of the proposed

collection of information, including the

validity of the methodology and

assumptions used;

(iii) How to enhance the quality,

utility, and clarity of the information to

be collected; and

(iv) How to minimize the burden of

the collection of information on those

who are to respond, including the use

of appropriate automated, electronic,

mechanical, or other technological

collection techniques or other forms of

information technology, e.g., permitting

electronic submission of responses.

In compliance with these

requirements, NHTSA asks public

comment on the following proposed

collections of information:

49 CFR Part 552

Petitions for Rulemaking, Defect and

Noncompliance Orders

Type of request—Extension of existing

clearance.

OMB Clearance Number—2127–0046.

Form Number—This collection of

information uses no standard forms.

Requested Expiration Date of

Approval—Three years after date of

expiration of existing clearance.

Summary of the Collection of

Information—49 U.S.C. section 30162

specifies that any ‘‘interested person

may file a petition with the Secretary of

Transportation requesting the Secretary

to begin a proceeding’’ to prescribe a

motor vehicle safety standard under 49

U.S.C. chapter 301, or to decide whether

to issue an order under 49 U.S.C.

section 30118(b). 49 U.S.C. 30111 gives

the Secretary authority to prescribe

motor vehicle safety standards. 49

U.S.C. section 30118(b) gives the

Secretary authority to issue an order to

a manufacturer to notify vehicle or

equipment owners, purchasers, and

dealers of the defect or noncompliance

and to remedy the defect or

noncompliance.

Section 30162 further specifies that

all petitions filed under its authority

shall set forth the facts which it is

claimed establish that an order is

necessary and briefly describe the order

the Secretary should issue.

To implement these statutory

provisions, NHTSA promulgated part
Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 103 / Friday, May 29, 1998 / Notices 29469

552 according to the informal

rulemaking provisions of the

Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C.

553 et seq.) This regulation allows the

agency to ensure that the petitions filed

under section 30162 are both properly

substantiated and efficiently processed.

Description of the Need for the

Information and Proposed Use of the

Information—Under Part 552, any

person has a statutory right to petition

the agency to issue an order under

section 30162. When NHTSA receives

such a petition, the agency’s technical

staff reviews the petition to determine

whether there is a reasonable possibility

that the requested order will be issued

at the end of the appropriate

proceeding. If the agency reaches such

a conclusion, the petition is granted and

NHTSA promptly commences the

appropriate proceeding to issue the

order. The petition is denied if NHTSA

cannot conclude that there is a

reasonable possibility that the order will

be issued at the end of the appropriate

proceeding. NHTSA is required to grant

or deny any petitions within 120 days

after agency receipt of the petition (49

U.S.C. 30162(d)). NHTSA uses the

information in the petition, together

with other information it may have or

obtain, to decide whether to grant or

deny the petition.

Absent part 552, any person would

still have a statutory right to file a

petition requesting the agency to issue

an order. The difference would be that

the person preparing the petition would

not know how to properly file such a

petition and what information should be

included in the petition. Further,

without part 552, it would take the

agency much longer to evaluate these

petitions. Some of the petitions for

rulemaking filed under part 552 ask for

complex technical changes to our safety

standards that require the agency to

conduct testing or other research to

learn if the petitions’ allegations are

accurate. If these petitions were not

filed in accordance with some specified

uniform procedures, the agency would

not be able to meet the 120 day statutory

deadline for granting or denying the

petitions.

Description of the Likely Respondents

(Including Estimated Number and

Proposed Frequency of Response to the

Collection of Information)—Under part

552, any person has a statutory right to

petition the agency to issue an order

under section 30162. Petitions may be

filed by any person, including private

individuals and small or large

businesses. The requirements are the

same no matter who files the petition.

NHTSA does not require any person

to file a petition under part 552.

Therefore, whether to file a petition, and

the frequency of petitions filed, is

entirely at the discretion of each

petitioner.

Estimate of the Total Annual

Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden

Resulting from the Collection of

Information—

NHTSA estimates that there are no

more than 100 of these petitions filed

annually. In most years fewer than this

number of petitions are filed. However,

we will use this higher total to ensure

that this estimate does not understate

the burden for the public.

Frequently, the petitions filed under

Part 552 consist of no more than one

typewritten page. NHTSA believes very

little total time is needed to prepare

these petitions. However, some of the

petitions set forth lengthy technical

arguments and may require several

hours to prepare. Overall, NHTSA

estimates that the average length of time

needed to prepare and file these

petitions is one hour. Multiplying this

one hour by the 100 petitions filed each

year, we estimate that the burden

associated with these petitions is 100

hours each year.

49 CFR Part 557

Petitions for Hearings on Notifications

and Remedy on Defects

Type of Request—Extension of

existing clearance.

OMB Control Number—2127–0039.

Form Number—This collection of

information uses no standard forms.

Requested Expiration Date of

Approval—Three years after date of

expiration of existing clearance.

Summary of the Collection of

Information—NHTSA’s statutory

authority at 49 U.S.C. sections 30118(e)

and 30120(e) specifies that, ‘‘on petition

of any interested person,’’ NHTSA may

hold hearings to determine whether a

manufacturer of motor vehicles or motor

vehicle equipment has met its obligation

to notify owners, purchasers, and

dealers of vehicles or equipment of a

defect or noncompliance and to remedy

a defect or noncompliance for Federal

Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for

some of the products the manufacturer

produces.

To address these areas, NHTSA has

promulgated 49 CFR part 557, Petitions

for Hearings on Notification and

Remedy of Defects, which adopts a

uniform regulation that establishes

procedures to provide for submission

and disposition of petitions, and to hold

hearings on the issue of whether the

manufacturer has met its obligation to

notify owners, distributors, and dealers

of safety related defects or

noncompliance and to remedy the

problems by repair, repurchase, or

replacement.

Description of the Need for the

Information and Proposed Use of the

Information—NHTSA never requires

any person to file a petition under Part

557. Filing a petition, and providing the

information is done entirely at the

discretion of the petitioner.

Description of the Likely Respondents

(Including Estimated Number, and

Proposed Frequency of Response to the

Collection of Information)—NHTSA

estimates that approximately 21

petitions are filed per year. Since

petitions are filed entirely at the

discretion of the petitioner, each person

may file as few or as many petitions as

it chooses.

Estimate of the Total Annual

Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden

Resulting from the Collection of

Information—Annual costs to the

petitioners can be estimated as follows:

About 21 petitions for hearings on

notification and remedy of defects are

filed each year. Based on the length of

the petitions (usually 3–4 typewritten

pages) and the amount of

documentation included, NHTSA

estimates that it would take a petitioner

about one hour to prepare one of these

petitions. Multiplying this one hour

burden by the 21 petitions filed

annually yields an estimated annual

burden of 21 hours for the petitioners

under part 557. If we assume a value of

$20 per hour, the annual cost of

preparing these petitions is about $42.

Adding in the postage cost of $6.72 (21

petitions, at a cost of 32 cents to mail

each one), we estimate that it costs

petitioners about $427 annually to

prepare and submit these petitions for

hearings on notification and remedy of

defects.

There are no recordkeeping costs to

the petitioners.

49 CFR Part 512

Confidential Business Information

Type of Request—Extension of

existing clearance.

OMB Control Number—2127–0025.

Form Number—This collection of

information uses no standard forms.

Requested Expiration Date of

Approval—Three years from date of

approval.

Summary of the Collection of

Information—NHTSA’s statutory

authority at 49 CFR chapter 301

prohibits, with certain exceptions, the

agency from making public confidential

information which it obtains. On the

other hand, the Administrative

Procedure Act requires all agencies to
29470 Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 103 / Friday, May 29, 1998 / Notices

1The date of consummation under normal

circumstances would be July 6, 1998 (60 days after

WSOR’s certification to the Board that it had

complied with the Board’s rule at 49 CFR

1150.42(e)). The Board, in a concurrently issued

decision in this proceeding, has at the request of

WSOR waived, in part, the 60-day period to allow

consummation on June 1, 1998.

make public all non-confidential

information upon request. (5 U.S.C.

section 552) and all agency rules to be

supported by substantial evidence in the

public record (5 U.S.C. section 706). It

is therefore very important for the

agency to promptly determine whether

or not information it obtains should be

accorded confidential treatment.

NHTSA therefore promulgated 49

CFR part 512 Confidential Business

Information to establish the procedure

by which NHTSA will consider claims

that information submitted to the

agency, or which it otherwise obtains, is

confidential business information.

Because of part 512, both NHTSA and

the submitters of information for which

confidential treatment is requested are

now able to ensure that confidentiality

requests are properly substantiated and

expeditiously processed.

Description of the Need for the

Information and Proposed Use of the

Information—Confidential information

is obtained by the agency for use in all

of its activities. These include

investigations, rulemaking actions,

program planning and management, and

program evaluation. The confidential

information is needed to ensure the

agency has all the relevant information

for decision making in connection with

these activities.

If part 512 were not in existence, the

agency would still get this confidential

information, either provided voluntarily

by the manufacturers or through its

information gathering powers. The only

difference would be that the

determinations of whether the

information should be accorded

confidential treatment would be more

expensive and time consuming for both

the manufacturers and the agency.

Description of the Likely Respondents

(Including Estimated Number, and

Proposed Frequency of Response to the

Collection of Information—The number

of potential submitters of claims for

confidential treatment of information is

3,000. This includes 1,000 vehicle

manufacturers and 2,000 equipment

manufacturers. The decision whether to

request confidential treatment of

information provided to NHTSA is

entirely at the discretion of the

manufacturer. In a typical year, NHTSA

receives about 150 requests for

confidential treatment of information,

almost all of which are from large

businesses.

Estimate of the Total Annual

Reporting and Recordkeeping Burden

Resulting from the Collection of

Information—As earlier stated, in a

typical year, NHTSA receives about 150

requests for confidential treatment of

information. Almost all of these requests

come from large businesses. The

justification for a request for

confidential treatment consists of

several statements and a certification by

a responsible corporate official. In the

case of submissions by large

manufacturers, (which may consist of

thousands of pages of information),

NHTSA estimates it would take 4 hours

to do the necessary background check to

be able to submit the required

justification. On the other hand, the

typical small business that submits a

single blueprint should need only about

5 minutes to fully comply with the

regulation. To ensure that this estimate

does not understate the burden the

agency has assumed that all

confidentiality requests are submitted

by large manufacturers. Since they are

not required to keep copies of the

information provided to NHTSA, there

are no recordkeeping costs to the

manufacturers. The total burden hours

associated with this collection of

information is estimated at 600 hours.

Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3506(c); delegation of

authority at 49 CFR 1.50.

Issued: May 22, 1998.

John Womack,

Acting Chief Counsel.

[FR Doc. 98–14250 Filed 5–28–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4910–59–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

Sunshine Act Meeting

Board Voting Conference

TIME & DATE: 1:00 p.m., Monday, June 8,

1998.

PLACE: Hearing Room, Surface

Transportation Board, 1925 K Street,

NW, Washington, D.C. 20423.

STATUS: The Board will meet to discuss

among themselves the agenda item

listed below. Although the conference is

open for public observation, no public

participation is permitted.

MATTERS TO BE DISCUSSED: Finance

Docket No. 33388, CSX Corporation

And CSX Transportation, Inc., Norfolk

Southern Corporation And Norfolk

Southern Railway Company—Control

And Operating Leases/Agreements—

Conrail Inc. And Consolidated Rail

Corporation.

CONTACT PERSONS FOR MORE

INFORMATION: Dennis Watson, Office of

Congressional and Public Services,

Telephone: (202) 565–1594, TDD: (202)

565–1695.

Vernon A. Williams,

Secretary.

[FR Doc. 98–14469 Filed 5–27–98; 3:24 pm]

BILLING CODE 4915–00–P

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Surface Transportation Board

[STB Finance Docket No. 33571]

Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co.—

Lease and Operation Exemption—Soo

Line Railroad; Company d/b/a

Canadian Pacific Railway

The Wisconsin & Southern Railroad

Co. (WSOR), an existing Class III rail

carrier, has filed a notice of exemption

under 49 CFR 1150.41 to lease from the

Soo Line Railroad Company d/b/a

Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), and to

operate a line of railroad known as the

Waterloo Spur, extending from milepost

132.11 at Watertown, WI, to milepost

164.61 at Madison, WI, a total of 32.5

miles.

Pursuant to 49 CFR 1150.42(e), WSOR

certified on May 7, 1998, that its annual

revenues exceed $5 million and that it

has, as of March 20, 1998, served the

national offices of the labor unions with

a copy of a notice of its intent to

undertake this transaction and posted

such notice at the workplace of the

employees on the affected lines on

March 23, 1998.

The transaction is expected to be

consummated on or after June 1, 1998.1

If the notice contains false or

misleading information, the exemption

is void ab initio. Petitions to revoke the

exemption under 49 U.S.C. 10502(d)

may be filed at any time. The filing of

a petition to revoke will not

automatically stay the transaction.

An original and 10 copies of all

pleadings, referring to STB Finance

Docket No. 33571 must be filed with the

Surface Transportation Board, Office of

the Secretary, Case Control Unit, 1925 K

Street, NW, Washington, DC 20423–

0001. In addition, a copy of each

pleading must be served upon Robert A.

Wimbish, Rea, Cross & Auchincloss,

Suite 570, 1707 L Street, NW,

Washington, DC 20036.

Board decisions and notices are

available on our website at

‘‘WWW.STB.DOT.GOV.’’