Mich., N.J., Vermont Declare HOS Waivers

Three states — Michigan, New Jersey and Vermont — have suspended parts of the federal driver hours-of-service rule due to an ongoing propane shortage.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) signed a waiver for his state that runs through Jan. 11 after starting Dec. 23. It waived the hours caps for drivers involved in propane transport, but carriers currently declared out-of-service cannot take advantage of the decision.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) said the waiver in his state runs to Jan. 10 after starting Dec. 20. His order attributed the shortage to a depletion of propane inventories due to higher-than-usual crop drying in the Midwest and Great Plains regions of the country and a pipeline outage due to maintenance.

Snyder’s emergency decree is also not available to out-of-service carriers.

Vermont’s Department of Motor Vehicles said its propane-related emergency runs until Jan. 3 after starting Dec. 20.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which enforces the HOS rule, tracks state emergency waivers on its website.