“We continue to see strong compliance rates across the country that improve weekly, but we are mindful of the unique work our agriculture community does and will use the following 90 days to ensure we publish more helpful guidance that all operators will benefit from,” said FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez.
Additionally, during the 90-day waiver period, FMCSA will publish final guidance on both the agricultural 150 air-mile hours-of-service exemption and personal conveyance. FMCSA will continue its outreach to assist the agricultural industry and community regarding the ELD rule.
In mid-December, more than 3 million commercial truckers were subject to the ELD mandate, however, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) successfully lobbied the DOT to grant drivers of livestock trucks a 90-day reprieve due to the nature of the freight they haul. That reprieve was set to expire March 18. During the initial 90-day waiver period, lobbying went on in favor of and against the mandate as both sides weighed in on electronically enforcing HOS rules that limit driving time to 11 hours per day and limit drivers from being on duty for more than 14 hours during a 24-hour period. Once those limits are reached, drivers must immediately pull over and wait 10 hours before resuming their trip. This may be inconvenient for a typical truck driver but will cause more issues for livestock haulers whose top priority is the welfare of their load.
“They’ve applied a one-size-fits-all solution,” Michael Formica, assistant vice president and legal counsel, domestic policy for the NPPC, told MEAT+POULTRY.
“There is a lot of pressure that if they give us one they’re going to have to grant many more,” Formica said. However, Formica pointed out, the driver pulling a trailer full of feed that would be required to pull over after hitting the HOS threshold doesn’t have the burden of considering the well-being of scores of animals that livestock haulers have.
“If worse comes to worst and your truck full of corn has to sit on the side of the road for 10 hours, it’s annoying but it’s not the end of the world,” Formica said. “It’s not a truck full of pigs or a truck full of cattle.”
US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue applauded Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao’s decision to issue the extension.
“The ELD mandate imposes restrictions upon the agriculture industry that lack flexibility necessary for the unique realities of hauling agriculture commodities,” Perdue said. “If the agriculture industry had been forced to comply by the March 18 deadline, live agricultural commodities, including plants and animals, would have been at risk of perishing before they reached their destination. The 90-day extension is critical to give DOT additional time to issue guidance on hours-of-service and other ELD exemptions that are troubling for agriculture haulers.
“Current ELD technologies do not recognize the hours-of-service exemptions for agriculture that are in federal law. This is a classic example of a one-size-fits-all federal regulation that ignores common sense to the detriment of sectors like agriculture.
“I applaud Secretary Chao for recognizing these obstacles and giving extra time for compliance while DOT issues guidance. While public safety is a critical concern for all of trucking, the safety of living agricultural commodities in transport must also be considered.”
The waiver and guidance will be published in the Federal Register.
For more information on ELDs please visit: www.fmcsa.dot.gov/eld