North Dakota governor latest opponent of new FMCSA emergency exemption guidelines

Add North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to the list of those in opposition to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association’s new rule that would reduce the regulatory relief window during emergency exemptions.

The rule is set to take effect on Tuesday, Dec. 12 and would allow emergency exemptions to remain in effect only for 14 days. The current rule allows for a 30-day window.

OOIDA filed its formal comments in October when FMCSA first announced a rule that would have reduced that window to just five days. After reviewing OOIDA’s and other similar comments, FMCSA came to the 14-day conclusion.

Burgum recently spoke with Land Line Now and explained the rationale behind his opposition to this new ruling.

“Let’s start at the top, which is federal overreach,” Burgum said. “The idea that the federal government thinks it can come up with these more restrictive, heavy red tape and heavy-handed regulations when there’s no basis from a safety standpoint or any other standpoint. What we see is this constant encroachment of more and more federal regulations.”

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum explains why he’s pushing back against FMCSA’s new rule that cuts state emergency waivers down to 14 days #ListenNowhttps://t.co/DmBlIIrZb0 pic.twitter.com/rlCC2SU2vD

— Land Line Now (@Land_Line_Now) December 5, 2023

A commonsense approach has proved beneficial in North Dakota, he added.

“Sometimes you have to ask yourself what problem is the federal government trying to fix,” Burgum said. “In this case, I don’t even see a problem. It certainly doesn’t exist in our state.”

He also noted that with the sheer amount of land in the state as well as its substantial agricultural economy, the new ruling would have an extreme impact there.

“We’re the size of all six New England states,” Burgum said. “We’re very rural but highly productive in terms of energy and agriculture. If we get a late blizzard in the fall and have a wet crop, we have to haul propane. There’s no pipeline in the state to move that propane around, so it has to be hauled by truck. This is just one example of why we have to have flexibility on a state-to-state basis.”

Burgum said of the 28 emergency waivers issued during his seven years in office, 19 were issued for a period of more than 14 days.

“One thing we’ll be doing is reaching out to other governors to make sure they’re aware of this and it’s on their radar,” he added. “Our industries don’t operate unless our trucks are moving and we’re giving truck drivers a chance to do their job. It affects our economy almost instantly.” LL

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