Bret4207 Answer to your question

On 2/8 MF Poor said;
If it has gas in it, you aren't allowed to haul a plastic container of gas in a commercial vehicle.
And you said;
Could you please provide the statute on that from the FMCSR?
My thoughts are...........

As I have told you in the past DOT has some very strict guidelines on Gasoline. Metal cans is not one of them to my knowledge but there are some guidelines that just went into effect or are about to that I have heard about but do not keep up with it because it does not envolve me.

The rules I know of allow Plastic jerrican: 3H1 or 3H2 per §173.201 and §173.202
3 – Jerrican
H - Plastic
1 – Non removeable head
2 – Removeable head

Where it gets complicated is OSHA rules intertwine but even they have released a statement saying while it is a voliation tickets would not be issued.
So as far as I know plastic cans are allowed. They must have the words Gas or Gasoline on them and they must be red.

Where it gets REAL complicated is when gas is mixed with ethanol. Pure Gasoline is a Class 3 Packing Group II material. Gasoline mixed with alcohol is a Class 3 Packing Group I material per §172.101 HAZARDOUS MATERIALS TABLE


So under §173.6 Materials of trade exceptions the general public and people that use Hazardous Materials in their line of work are allowed some exemptions from the hauling rules like paper work and such.
If we look at §173.6(a)(1)(ii) 30 kg (66 pounds) or 30 L (8 gallons) for a Packing Group II, Packing Group III, or ORM-D material;

But once we mix gasoline with alcohol the rules change.
§173.6(a)(1)(i) 0.5 kg (1 pound) or 0.5 L (1 pint) for a Packing Group I material;

So as you can see they allow pure gasoline to be hauled in containers up to 8 gallons because it is a packing group II material but gasoline mixed with alcohol can only be hauled in containers of 1 pint and still fall under the exemption.

So to answer your question. Plastic 5 gallon cans are allowed but you can not fill they with E10 gasoline and haul them home without proper shipping papers.
I wonder how many follow that rule.

And to think that a bunch of sane people actually vote for these idiots to make up the rules.

They aren't elected; EPA Administrator is appointed and the flunkies are Civil Service Employees.

John, thanks. That the type of thing that no one at DOT probably ever even considered. As I read that, even metal cans would be verbotten over a pint. I was wondering if there'd been a change since I retired. Peopel stil stop at my home and ask questions, they won't go ask a guy that's up on this stuff. Weird.

It's not EPA Tommy, it's USDOT and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration ( Alliance?). It's made up of bureaucrats, law enforcement and INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES. Believe it or not, a lot of the "rules" that make no real sense come from the last group. I know for a fact they were the guys that started the last big HOS rules changes 5 years back or so.