The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) initiating a comprehensive review of its Hazardous Materials Regulations (HMR). The ANPRM solicits feedback on whether any HMR requirement, PHMSA rulemaking and program procedures, letters of interpretation, guidance documents, or “other material implementing those regulations” should be repealed or amended “to eliminate undue burdens on the identification, development, and use of domestic energy resources and to improve government efficiency.” PHMSA is also seeking stakeholder input on whether any widely used Special Permits “with established safety records” should be adopted into the HMR for wider applicability. Comments are due August 4, 2025.

This action (together with its companion ANPRM similarly addressing PHMSA’s Pipeline Safety Regulations) provides all stakeholders who ship hazardous materials, including manufacturers, retailers, transportation logistics providers, carriers (including railroads, truckers, and airlines), waste disposal companies, and stakeholders in the energy supply chain, with a unique opportunity to advocate for regulatory changes to reduce costs in delivering essential products while maintaining public safety.

Key Takeaways

• What Happened? To further the Trump administration’s deregulatory efforts and increase domestic energy resources, PHMSA requests stakeholder feedback on potential reform of the HMR. This request includes information on any letters of interpretation, guidance documents, or other materials that implement the regulations. The goal is to eliminate undue burdens on all stakeholders who ship hazardous materials, reduce burdens on domestic energy resources, and improve government efficiency. This is the latest in a series of priority actions PHMSA is taking to implement the President’s “Unleashing American Energy” and “Unleashing Prosperity through Deregulation” Executive Orders.
• Who’s Impacted? Anyone who offers hazardous materials for transportation or who transports hazardous materials into, out of, or through the U.S. This includes manufacturers, retailers, transportation logistics providers, carriers (including railroads, truckers, and airlines), waste disposal companies, and stakeholders in the energy supply chain, such as transporters by rail, vessel, highway, and air of crude oil, radioactive materials (including nuclear fuel and waste products), critical minerals, explosives used in energy production activity, chemicals used in refinery processes, and waste products from energy exploration and production activity.
• Next Steps? The administration requests written feedback by August 4, 2025. Comments will help inform the PHMSA rulemaking process, which aims to revise or eliminate unduly burdensome regulations related to hazardous materials. 

Background

To fulfill the administration’s directives, PHMSA requests feedback focused on the identification of regulatory provisions within the Hazardous Materials Rulemaking Procedures and Program Procedures, the HMR, or implementing guidance including letters of interpretation, guidance, and “other materials implementing those regulations,” that pose an undue burden. Specifically, PHMSA seeks feedback on widely used hazardous material Special Permits with established safety records for conversion into deregulatory provisions with broader applicability. Furthermore, PHMSA welcomes feedback on potential opportunities to enhance efficiency in the petition process and whether to amend the HMR to require mandatory regulatory reviews.

The feedback should identify the nature and magnitude of the burdens, including identification of the regulated entities, their associated compliance costs, and implementation challenges. Potential amendments, including rescission, the resulting anticipated change in compliance costs, and the technical feasibility, reasonableness, cost-effectiveness, and practicability of the amendments, are welcomed. Lastly, PHMSA seeks feedback on PHMSA compliance practices concerning the National Environmental Policy Act and Special Permits with established safety records that could improve government efficiency if codified in PHMSA’s HMR.

A companion to PHMSA's request for feedback on the Pipeline Safety Regulations (PSR), this request for feedback on the HMR provides a unique opportunity to influence the revocation or reform of “any” regulation, policy, or other administrative document within PHMSA’s hazardous materials regulatory purview. For parties subject to PHMSA’s PSR and HMR, the combination of these requests will have a significant impact, such that the coordination of comments should be considered.

Conclusion

PHMSA’s ANPRM is a key step in the Department of Transportation’s effort to comply with President Trump’s deregulatory emphasis to decrease regulation and increase American energy production. It provides stakeholders the opportunity to identify HMR or other PHMSA hazardous materials regulations and guidance that are unduly inhibitive, inconsistent with statutory authority, no longer necessary, or otherwise warrant reform. PHMSA stakeholders should take advantage of this unique opportunity to help improve or otherwise revoke regulations governing hazardous materials.

Lauren Carlsen contributed to this article