§387.9 Financial Responsibility,
Minimum Levels
Guidance: Gasoline is a listed hazardous material
in the table found at 49 CFR
172.101. §387.9 requires
for-hire and private motor carriers transporting any quantity of oil in
interstate or foreign commerce to have a minimum $1,000,000 of financial
responsibility coverage. The Clean Water Act of 1973, as amended, declares that
gasoline is
an "oil," not a "hazardous substance."
The $1,000,000 coverage also applies to for-hire and private motor carriers
transporting gasoline "in-bulk" in intrastate commerce.
Question 2: Is a motor carrier
transporting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in any quantity required to have
$1,000,000 or $5,000,000 of financial responsibility coverage?
Guidance: Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a
flammable compressed gas. All transportation of LPG in containment systems with
capacities in excess of 3,500 water gallons requires $5 million financial
responsibility coverage. Interstate and foreign commerce movements of LPG in
containment systems not in excess of 3,500 water gallons requires $1 million
coverage. Intrastate movements of LPG in those smaller containment systems are
subject only to state financial responsibility requirements.
Question 3: What is the definition
of a "hopper type" vehicle as indicated in §387.9?
Guidance: A "hopper type" vehicle is one
which is capable of discharging its load through a bottom opening without tilting.
This vehicle type would also include belly dump trailers. Rear dump trailers
and roll-off containers do not meet the definition of a bottom discharging
vehicle.
Question 4: What
level of insurance is required for a carrier operating a multi-compartment
cargo tank that is transporting a hazardous substance, where each compartment
is less than 3,500 water gallon capacity, and the total capacity is greater
than 3,500 water gallons capacity?
Guidance: $5,000,000 of insurance
is required. The table in § 387.9
requires that amount of coverage for hazardous substances transported in
"cargo tanks, portable tanks, or hopper-type vehicles with capacities in
excess of 3,500 water gallons." The transporting vehicle must have "a
gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 or more pounds." Section 171.8 of
title 49, C.F.R., defines a "cargo tank motor vehicle" as a motor
vehicle with one or more cargo tanks permanently attached to or forming an
integral part of the motor vehicle. Additionally, the use of the plural to
describe the tanks and the singular to describe the truck implies that the
standard is met if several tanks with a combined capacity of 3,500 water gallons
are transported on the same vehicle. This is consistent with the purpose of the
financial responsibility requirement - in this case, to protect the public from
financial loss following an accidental release of hazardous material - because
all of the compartments in a single tank trailer could be damaged in one crash.
Here, the compartments on the vehicle have a total capacity of greater than
3,500 water gallons,
therefore $5,000,000 of insurance is required.
Question 5: What
level of insurance is required for a motor carrier operating a tube trailer
where the cylinders are manifolded together.
Each separate cylinder has a capacity less than 3,500 water gallons, but the
total capacity of all the cylinders on the vehicle is in excess of 3,500 water
gallons.
Guidance: $5,000,000 of insurance is required, for the reasons given above. The table in § 387.9 refers to "in bulk Division 2.1 or 2.2 materials." The definition of in bulk in § 387.5 includes "the transportation, as cargo, of property . . . in containment systems with capacities in excess of 3,500 water gallons." In this case, a group of cylinders manifolded together qualify as "containment systems." As in Guidance A, the table describes the vehicle in the singular. As long as the containment systems transported on a single vehicle have a total capacity of at least 3,500 water gallons, $5,000,000 of insurance is required.