DOT comment periods affected by interrupted mail service

Nov 7, 2001 12:00 PM

Currently, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is not receiving United States Postal Service (USPS) deliveries. It is unclear how long this will continue. DOT is advising the public that the department will take this into account, with respect to DOT rulemakings documents that have comment periods that may close before mail delivery resumes.

"We will do everything that we can to ensure that we consider comments that would otherwise have been received before the close of the comment period," DOT states. "For example, we generally have the authority to consider late-filed comments and will do so to the extent that we can. We will also take note of the date of the postmark for late-filed comments."

For adjudicatory proceedings, filing date requirements remain unchanged.

Although mail delivery by the USPS is not being accepted, deliveries are accepted from alternate delivery carriers. All package deliveries must be x-rayed and screened by the DOT Mail Room prior to their acceptance in DOT DOCKETS. The Mail Room is located on the plaza level.

In addition, where appropriate, filers are encouraged to use the Electronic Submission System on the Dockets web page www.dms.dot.gov by clicking on ES Submit and following the online instructions.