Oil-Field Specialty Trucks HOS Exemption Should Be Extended to Others, Carriers Say

By Eric Miller, Staff Reporter

This story appears in the Oct. 15 print edition of Transport Topics.

An hours-of-service waiting time exemption for drivers of “specially constructed” oil-field operations trucks should be extended to include such other oil and gas operations trucks such as those that deliver sand and water, several motor carriers and trade association officials told federal regulators.

The comments were made in response to an oil-field exemption from driver hours-of-service regulations that specifically excluded drivers delivering sand and water.

Many of the more than 70 written comments filed earlier this month in response to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s June 5 hours-of-service oil-field exemption “guidance” notice mirrored those of Tim Rich, U.S. Division transportation supervisor for Canadian hydraulic fracturing operator Calfrac Well Services.

“We believe that the FMCSA’s decision to exclude the applicability of the waiting-time exemption for commercial motor vehicles that are used to transport supplies such as sand and water to and from a well site will have a negative impact on the oil-field service industry and the economy as a whole, and, more importantly, will not address the health, safety and environmental goals that underlie the exclusion,” Rich wrote.

The agency’s guidance allows the exemption for drivers of trucks that are “specially constructed for use at oil and gas sites” and whose operators require “extensive” training for the use of equipment.

“The notice specifically singles out sand and water trucks as being excluded from eligibility to use the exception, based on the assumption that these vehicles are not specially constructed for use at oil and gas well sites,” wrote Curtis Gurley, general counsel of the Aztec Well Servicing Co., Aztec, N.M.

Aztec’s trucks actually are specially constructed to make their way over many miles on rough roads to well sites and have specialized hoses and other equipment, Gurley said.

If Aztec drivers are not permitted to use the waiting-time exemption, all its costs will increase, the company said.

Likewise, Samuel Lansberry, president of the Samuel J. Lansberry Trucking Co., Woodland, Pa., which hauls sand for the gas-well fracking process in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, said it’s not uncommon for truck drivers to spend six to eight hours a day waiting at well sites.

“The fact of the matter is that these well-trained drivers are spending a great amount of time resting in their trucks while holding inventory in storage, and they are deserving of the oil/gas well exemption to the hours-of-service regulation as much as any person on a well service crew,” Lansberry wrote.

American Trucking Associations said that while an update to the prior decades-old oil-field exemption is needed, the June FMCSA guidance is “ill-defined” and

“confusing” and should be withdrawn and submitted to the rulemaking process.

ATA said the exemption requirement for “specialized equipment” and “special training” should be replaced with one “based upon adequate rest.”

“The solution is to allow drivers to leverage the already-existing places such as bunkhouse and sleeper berths where rest can be acquired,” wrote Boyd Stephenson, director of hazardous materials policy for ATA.

Other trade associations — including the National Association of Manufacturers, Colorado Motor Carriers Association, Motor Carriers of Montana and Wyoming Trucking Association — also asked for FMCSA to rescind the guidance and further study the issue to better understand oil and gas operations.

“To our knowledge, there has been no information or data provided to justify this regulatory guidance,” Sheila Foertsch, managing director of the Wyoming Trucking Association, wrote. “There has also been no information regarding cost analysis between the perceived benefits of this guidance and the carriers and energy industries that will be affected by the greatly increased cost to their operations.”

FMCSA also heard from the energy industry, including Halliburton Energy Services Inc., Duncan, Okla., which asked the agency to extend the exemption to “all drivers permanently dedicated to servicing the oil and natural gas industry that are eligible for the 24-hour reset rest.”

Halliburton said it believed that FMCSA “inadvertently issued the regulatory guidance without a full comprehension of the operations of the oil and natural gas services industry.”

“Support vehicles such as chemical floats, crane trucks, sand trucks, water trucks and acid transports are an integral part of the down-hole delivery process,” wrote Johnny Cathey, of Halliburton’s fleet safety and compliance division. “Drivers of these vehicles are also specially trained in the operation of the complex, specially constructed commercial motor vehicles of which these types of vehicles support.”

The International Association of Drilling Contractors, the Pipe Line Contractors Association and the Association of Energy Service Companies also asked FMCSA to reconsider its guidance and extend the exemption to truck drivers whose businesses support oil-field operations.

“Realizing the substantial impact of this change on not only oil-field transporters but the overall oil and gas industry, it is unwise and unfair to proceed with guidance of this nature without having an understanding of the impacts,” wrote Kenny Jordan, executive director of the Association of Energy Service Companies.