FMCSA regional emergency extended, again

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is again extending a regional fuel emergency covering eight states.

Motor carriers and drivers providing emergency assistance in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming are now granted relief from the maximum driving time for property-carrying vehicles through April 16.

The emergency was first issued in December 2022 following the unexpected shutdown of the Suncor refinery in Commerce City, Colo., combined with severe winter storms and high demand that made it difficult to obtain necessary fuel for the affected states, says the FMCSA emergency.

The order was amended on Dec. 31, 2022, then extended and amended on Jan. 17 and extended again on Feb. 14. It was set to expire on March 17 before the most recent extension which enforces the waiver through mid-April.

Conditions and restrictions of the emergency order are as follows:

• Nothing in this extension is a waiver of or exemption from an applicable requirement of any portion of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations.
• Motor carriers or drivers subject to an out-of-service order are not eligible from this relief until that order has been rescinded in writing by the issuing jurisdiction.
• Direct assistance terminates when the motor carrier dispatches a driver or commercial motor vehicle to another location to begin operations in commerce.
• When a driver is moving from emergency relief efforts to normal operations, a 10-hour break is required when the total time a driver is engaged in emergency relief efforts, or in a combination of emergency relief and normal operations, equals or exceeds 14 hours.

FMCSA said it intends to “continually review” the status of this extension and may modify, extend or terminate as conditions warrant. LL

More Land Line news.