On June 5, 2012, Bloomberg published an article regarding a recent rule change released by the U.S. Department of Transportation meant to clarify the number of hours that fracking truck drivers are allowed to work per day. These truck drivers typically transport large amounts of water and sand that are used by oil and gas field companies in the hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) process. The fracking process entails the creation of fractures in rocks through the injection of liquid. This in turn creates bigger fissures that allow for a greater amount of oil and gas to flow out to the surface.

The June 5, 2012 rule clarification from the U.S. Department of Transportation states that the amount of time a truck driver waits while materials such as sand and water are unloaded from their vehicles to the well site does count toward the amount of time the driver can work per day. This amount of time cannot exceed 14 hours of work daily. Furthermore, the government states that fracking drivers cannot make use of an exception to extend the amount of on-duty hours they can work per day. This specific exception is actually only intended for those who manage special oil field service machinery, such as pumps.

See the full Bloomberg article at:

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-05/fracking-trucks-hauling-sand-subject-to-workday-limit-u-s-says.html

See the definition of “fracking” from Investopedia at:

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fracking.asp#axzz1xiCXNgUZ

See the June 5, 2012 rule clarification from the U.S. Department of Transportation at:

http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/administration/rulemakings/notices/OilField-Exception.aspx