The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) on May 12 proposed deregulatory changes for the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in response to the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) request for public assistance in identifying rules to be rescinded.
Any regulations currently in effect were open for comments.
“By repealing burdensome regulations, completing deregulatory actions, engaging in transformational regulatory change at FRA, repealing a burdensome regulation at EPA, and ensuring a cost-effective transition from directives to regulation at TSA, OMB can begin to actualize meaningful regulatory burden reduction,” ASLRRA said in its comments (download below).
Among the ASLRRA-proposed changes, by agency:
- FRA: ASLRRA said that the final rules on both Signal Employee Certification and Dispatcher Certification should be “formally repealed.” They are “not justified with negative cost-benefits ratios of 8:1 and 3:1 respectively, nor are they congressionally mandated or consistent with Executive Order 14192 – Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation,” according to the Association. “The rules also require a railroad to certify contractors, which is unworkable with existing regulations, including the drug and alcohol regulations at Part 219.” Also to be repealed: the final rule establishing Emergency Escape Breathing Apparatus (EEBA) standards. ASLRRA said it was issued with up to a $107 million cost to the industry “with no quantifiable benefits, inconsistent with the policies for sound cost-benefit analysis delineated in DOT Order 2100.7, Ensuring Reliance Upon Sound Economic Analysis in Department of Transportation Policies, Programs, and Activities,” and EEBA suppliers told industry representatives that they are unable to fill orders before the first compliance deadline for Class I and Class II railroads. The Train Crew Size final rule, “which mandates a minimum number and location of crew members,” should also be repealed, ASLRRA said, and modified “to reduce the burden on short line railroads.” At the very least, the Association noted, the rule should be stayed pending the outcome of litigation by ASLRRA and the Association of American Railroads. Finally, ASLRRA said the FRA should finalize the Training, Qualification, and Oversight for Safety-Related Railroad Employees rule, and issue a final rule on Amendments to Brake System Safety Standards Governing Operations Using an Electronic Air Brake Slip System.
- EPA: ASLRRA requested the repeal of a “burdensome regulation” at EPA. “EPA’s final rule on Additions to List of Categorical Non-Waste Fuels … determined that creosote-treated railroad ties were a non-waste fuel, but only when combusted in units designed to burn specific fossil fuels involved in fulfilling a contaminant comparison requirement EPA had previously adopted,” according to the Association. “Restrictions that limit the burning of certain railroad ties or other non-waste, non-hazardous secondary materials for energy recovery run counter to the policy behind EPA’s expansion of the categorical nonhazardous secondary materials list to include materials beneficially and economically reused as fuels. EPA has supported the burning of railroad ties in cogeneration facilities by clarifying that such use does not constitute solid waste disposal. Yet, the final rule incorporated restrictions based on the contaminant comparison test, that impose prohibitive costs with no corresponding benefit. These restrictions may lead to millions of railroad ties being disposed in landfills, resulting in unnecessary burdens and costs, as well as increased greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., methane). EPA should amend 40 C.F.R. Part 241 to remove unsupportable restrictions on NonHazardous Secondary Materials.”
- TSA: ASLRRA requested that a “cost effective transition from directives to regulation.” Beginning in June 2022, it said, TSA issued security directives requiring some Class II and III railroads to meet requirements related to reporting cyber security incidents, performing cyber vulnerability assessments, and developing ongoing cyber security implementation and incident response plans. In parallel, TSA initiated a rulemaking process for Enhancing Surface Cyber Risk Management “that proposes similar requirements on Class II and III railroads via a traditional rulemaking process,” the Association said. “OMB has the opportunity to ensure that this rulemaking process, structured as it is to replace existing directives functioning as regulation, avoids prescriptive requirements related to particular technology systems, is applied only to Class II and III railroads for which operational disruption could have significant national security implications, and allows Class II and III railroads to most efficiently target their limited security resources.”
ASLRRA concluded by thanking the OMB for its “efforts in identifying existing regulations, guidance, paperwork requirements, and other regulatory obligations that can be modified or rescinded, consistent with federal law, to achieve meaningful burden reductions while continuing to meet existing statutory obligations and ensure the safety of transportation by rail.”
