Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 133 / Tuesday, July 14, 2009 / Notices 34073 

NEW SPECIAL PERMITS—Continued 

Application 

No. 

Docket 

No. Applicant Regulation(s) affected Nature of special permits thereof 

14878–N .... .................... Humboldt County Waste 

Management Authority, 

Eureka, CA.

49 CFR 172.102 Special 

Provision 130.

To authorize the transportation in commerce of certain 

dry batteries in packaging without protecting against 

short circuits. (mode 1) 

14881–N .... .................... United Parcel Service, Atlanta, GA.49 CFR 172.404(b) ............ To authorize the transportation in commerce of small 

unpalletized packages in an overpack (reusable, collapsible consolidation bins) without hazard warning 

labels on the overpack. (modes 1, 2) 

14883–N .... .................... Structural Composites Industries (SCI), Pomona, 

CA.

49 CFR 173.302a and 

173.304a.

To authorize the manufacture, marking, sale and use 

of non-DOT specification fully wrapped carbon-fiber 

reinforced aluminum lined cylinders. (modes 1, 2, 3, 

4) 

[FR Doc. E9–16517 Filed 7–13–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–60–M 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. FMCSA–2008–0078] 

Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) 

Standards; Rotel North American 

Tours, LLC; Amendment of Exemption 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of final disposition. 

SUMMARY: FMCSA announces its 

decision to grant Rotel North American 

Tours, LLC (Rotel), amendment of its 

existing exemption that permits 22 

named drivers, employed by Rotel and 

possessing German CDLs, to operate 

commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) in 

the U.S. without a CDL issued by one 

of the States. The Rotel roster of its 22 

exempt drivers is amended to permit 

three new Rotel drivers to be substituted 

for three drivers no longer employed by 

Rotel. The new Rotel drivers are subject 

to all the terms and conditions of the 

current exemption, including its 

expiration date of July 30, 2010. 

DATES: This exemption is effective upon 

publication and expires on July 30, 

2010. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Robert F. Schultz, Jr., FMCSA Driver 

and Carrier Operations Division, Office 

of Bus and Truck Standards and 

Operations: Telephone: 202–366–4325. 

E-mail: MCPSD@dot.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Section 4007 of the Transportation 

Equity Act for the 21st Century (Pub. L. 

105–178, 112 Stat. 107, June 9, 1998) 

amended 49 U.S.C. 31315 and 31136(e) 

to provide FMCSA authority to grant 

exemptions from its motor carrier safety 

regulations, including the HOS rules. 

The procedure for requesting an 

exemption is prescribed in 49 CFR part 

381. FMCSA must publish a notice of 

each exemption request in the Federal 

Register (49 CFR 381.315(a)). The 

Agency must provide the public an 

opportunity to inspect the information 

relevant to the application, including 

any safety analyses that have been 

conducted, and to comment on the 

request. 

The Agency must review the safety 

analyses and public comments. Then it 

may grant the exemption for up to 2 

years if it finds ‘‘such exemption would 

likely achieve a level of safety that is 

equivalent to, or greater than, the level 

that would be achieved absent such 

exemption’’ (49 CFR 381.305). The 

decision of the Agency must be 

published in the Federal Register (49 

CFR 381.315(b)) with the reason for 

denying or, in the alternative, the 

specific person or class of persons 

receiving the exemption, and the 

regulatory provision or provisions from 

which the exemption is granted. The 

notice must also specify the effective 

period of the exemption and its terms 

and conditions. 

Rotel provides seasonal motorcoach 

tours for non-English speaking tourists. 

The service is unique because the 

drivers of these buses serve as the tour 

guides, providing oral commentary to 

the passengers in their native language, 

usually German. Rotel states that none 

of the States of the U.S. will issue CDLs 

to these drivers because they are not 

State residents. Until recent years, Rotel 

drivers were able to obtain a 

nonresident CDL from certain States. 

Rotel asserts that without the exemption 

from the requirement that its drivers 

have a CDL issued by a State, it would 

have to terminate these tour operations. 

Complete details of Rotel’s operations, 

including the names of the drivers, can 

be found in its original application, 

dated August 27, 2007, which is 

contained in the docket of this notice. 

On July 30, 2008, FMCSA granted, 

after notice and comment, Rotel’s 

request to allow 22 drivers, each 

holding a German CDL, to operate Rotel 

motor coaches in the U.S. without a 

CDL issued by one of the States as 

required by 49 CFR 383.23 (73 FR 

44313). FMCSA found that these 

drivers, operating specialty tour buses 

in the U.S., would ‘‘likely achieve a 

level of safety that is equivalent to, or 

greater than, the level that would be 

achieved absent such exemption,’’ in 

accordance with 49 CFR 381.305. The 

two-year exemption expires on July 30, 

2010. 

Comments 

On May 5, 2009, FMCSA published 

notice of this application to withdraw 3 

Rotel drivers previously approved for 

this exemption but no longer employed 

by Rotel, Jens Radloff, Christian Hafner, 

and Ludwig Gerlsberger, and to 

substitute 3 new drivers, Klaus Endres, 

Sebastian Nicki, and Karl-Heinz 

Schmitz, in their place on the roster of 

exempt Rotel drivers. The Agency asked 

for public comment (74 FR 20776). No 

comments were submitted to the docket. 

FMCSA Decision 

The FMCSA has evaluated Rotel’s 

application for amendment. The Agency 

grants Rotel’s request that three former 

Rotel drivers, originally approved for 

this exemption, Jens Radloff, Christian 

Hafner, and Ludwig Gerlsberger be 

dropped from the roster of exempt 

drivers. The Agency believes that the 

three new drivers, Klaus Endres, 

Sebastian Nicki, and Karl-Heinz 

Schmitz, are qualified to replace the 

drivers dropped from the Rotel roster. 

Like the other 19 Rotel drivers already 

operating under the exemption, the 

three new drivers are non-residents of 

the U.S. and holders of German CDLs. 

The FMCSA finds that they possess 

sufficient knowledge, skills, and 

experience to ensure a level of safety 

that is equivalent to, or greater than, the 

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34074 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 133 / Tuesday, July 14, 2009 / Notices 

level of safety that would be obtained by 

complying with the requirement for a 

U.S. CDL. Therefore, FMCSA hereby 

grants exemption for the balance of the 

two-year period of the exemption which 

ends on July 30, 2010. The three new 

Rotel drivers are subject to the terms 

and conditions of the original Rotel 

exemption. 

Interested parties possessing 

information that would demonstrate 

that any or all of these 22 drivers are not 

achieving the requisite statutory level of 

safety should immediately notify the 

FMCSA. The Agency will evaluate any 

such information, and, if safety is being 

compromised or if the continuation of 

the exemption is not consistent with 49 

U.S.C. 31315(b)(4) and 31136(e), will 

take immediate steps to revoke the 

exemption of the driver(s) in question, 

as well as Rotel’s exemption if 

warranted. 

Issued on: July 2, 2009. 

Larry W. Minor, 

Associate Administrator for Policy and 

Program Development. 

[FR Doc. E9–16586 Filed 7–13–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4910–EX–P 

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION 

Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration 

[Docket No. FMCSA–2005–21254] 

Qualification of Drivers; Exemption 

Applications; Vision 

AGENCY: Federal Motor Carrier Safety 

Administration (FMCSA), DOT. 

ACTION: Notice of renewal of 

exemptions; request for comments. 

SUMMARY: FMCSA announces its 

decision to renew the exemptions from 

the vision requirement in the Federal 

Motor Carrier Safety Regulations for 7 

individuals. FMCSA has statutory 

authority to exempt individuals from 

the vision requirement if the 

exemptions granted will not 

compromise safety. The Agency has 

concluded that granting these 

exemption renewals will provide a level 

of safety that is equivalent to, or greater 

than, the level of safety maintained 

without the exemptions for these 

commercial motor vehicle (CMV) 

drivers. 

DATES: This decision is effective August 

10, 2009. Comments must be received 

on or before August 13, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

bearing the Federal Docket Management 

System (FDMS) Docket ID FMCSA– 

2005–21254, using any of the following 

methods. 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Mail: Docket Management Facility; 

U.S. Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue, SE., West Building 

Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

• Hand Delivery or Courier: West 

Building Ground Floor, Room W12–140, 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., 

Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 5 

p.m., Monday through Friday, except 

Federal Holidays. 

• Fax: 1–202–493–2251. 

Each submission must include the 

Agency name and the docket number for 

this Notice. Note that DOT posts all 

comments received without change to 

http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information included in a 

comment. Please see the Privacy Act 

heading below. 

Docket: For access to the docket to 

read background documents or 

comments, go to http:// 

www.regulations.gov at any time or 

Room W12–140 on the ground level of 

the West Building, 1200 New Jersey 

Avenue, SE., Washington, DC, between 

9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays. The 

FDMS is available 24 hours each day, 

365 days each year. If you want 

acknowledgment that we received your 

comments, please include a selfaddressed, stamped envelope or 

postcard or print the acknowledgement 

page that appears after submitting 

comments on-line. 

Privacy Act: Anyone may search the 

electronic form of all comments 

received into any of our dockets by the 

name of the individual submitting the 

comment (or of the person signing the 

comment, if submitted on behalf of an 

association, business, labor union, etc.). 

You may review the DOT’s complete 

Privacy Act Statement in the Federal 

Register published on April 11, 2000 

(65 FR 19476). This information is also 

available at http://www.regulations.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. 

Mary D. Gunnels, Director, Medical 

Programs, (202) 366–4001, 

fmcsamedical@dot.gov, FMCSA, 

Department of Transportation, 1200 

New Jersey Avenue, SE., Room W64– 

224, Washington, DC 20590–0001. 

Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

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

FMCSA may renew an exemption from 

the vision requirements in 49 CFR 

391.41(b)(10), which applies to drivers 

of CMVs in interstate commerce, 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 that would be achieved 

absent such exemption.’’ The 

procedures for requesting an exemption 

(including renewals) are set out in 49 

CFR part 381. 

Exemption Decision 

This notice addresses 7 individuals 

who have requested a renewal of their 

exemption in accordance with FMCSA 

procedures. FMCSA has evaluated these 

7 applications for renewal on their 

merits and decided to extend each 

exemption for a renewable two-year 

period. They are: 

Andrew B. Clayton 

Dean A. Maystead 

Thomas D. Reynolds 

Kenneth D. Daniels 

Donald L. Murphy 

Donald M. Jenson 

Carl V. Murphy, Jr. 

These exemptions are extended 

subject to the following conditions: (1) 

That each individual have a physical 

examination every year (a) by an 

ophthalmologist or optometrist who 

attests that the vision in the better eye 

continues to meet the standard in 49 

CFR 391.41(b)(10), and (b) by a medical 

examiner who attests that the individual 

is otherwise physically qualified under 

49 CFR 391.41; (2) that each individual 

provide a copy of the ophthalmologist’s 

or optometrist’s report to the medical 

examiner at the time of the annual 

medical examination; and (3) that each 

individual provide a copy of the annual 

medical certification to the employer for 

retention in the driver’s qualification 

file and retain a copy of the certification 

on his/her person while driving for 

presentation to a duly authorized 

Federal, State, or local enforcement 

official. Each exemption will be valid 

for two years unless rescinded earlier by 

FMCSA. The exemption will be 

rescinded if: (1) The person fails to 

comply with the terms and conditions 

of the exemption; (2) the exemption has 

resulted in a lower level of safety than 

was maintained before it was granted; or 

(3) continuation of the exemption would 

not be consistent with the goals and 

objectives of 49 U.S.C. 31136(e) and 

31315. 

Basis for Renewing Exemptions 

Under 49 U.S.C. 31315(b)(1), an 

exemption may be granted for no longer 

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