Hauling dangerous cargo - feds drag their feet.

• Author: Reed, James B.
• Position: Laws on transporting hazardous materials - Includes list of states and organizations which participated in the Alliance for Uniform Hazmat Transportation Procedures

A proven system for regulating the movement of hazardous materials is not yet in place. It's the feds again.

More public safety and lower administrative costs. What government agency wouldn't jump on a program promising that? The Office of Motor Carriers, apparently.

At least that's the belief of a hard working group of state administrators of hazardous material transportation. They have tested the program and are shaking their heads at the intransigence of the OMC, an arm of the Federal Highway Administration.

"OMC is on the verge of squandering an important opportunity," says Steve Lesser, transportation director for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, one of four states that applied the model program in 1994. "We have a uniform and efficient system that can be applied nationally, that is supported by an unusual political alliance of industry and the states. OMC needs to move forward with a federal rule now."

As part of a compromise in 1990 to avert outright federal preemption of state permit programs for "hazmat" transportation, Congress chartered a working group of state and local officials to devise a uniform approach for registration and permit forms and procedures. The organization consisted of elected and appointed officials from 26 states and several organizations. A three-year effort by the group, dubbed the Alliance for Uniform Hazmat Transportation Procedures, produced a near unanimous report in 1993 (New Jersey objected for fear of losing its strict hazardous waste regulations and fee revenue).

It called for a reciprocal, uniform state system of ensuring hazmat transportation safety. A trucker's home state would issue the uniform registration and permit and collect fees. Reciprocity would exist among states that issue permits. Truckers hauling worthless loads of hazardous waste could face stricter requirements because of the possible temptation for illegal disposal.

States that choose not to regulate in such a manner would not have to. States would retain individual enforcement authority. A governing board of participating states would oversee administration and settle disputes. Participating states would (and the four do) use the same forms and procedures. The alliance was financially supported by the Federal Highway Administration and a liaison from OMC served as a resource to the alliance.

Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio and West Virginia tested the recommendations and found the program to be workable, cost effective and acceptable to industry. The program increased safety through a stricter scrutiny of hazmat carriers and better compliance with other safety rules. That helped persuade the Illinois Legislature to enact the program effective next month.

Now the decision is in the hands of rule makers in the Office of Motor Carriers, who have several options. They could mandate the exact program recommended by the working group, an outcome desired by the five participating (and other) states, law enforcement organizations and the regulated industry. Or they could mandate something else. Or they could do nothing, maintaining the status quo of five uniform states and nearly 70 different programs in the other states. A final option is that if 26 states adopt it, OMC would be forced to issue a federal rule.

TO PREEMPT OR NOT

The kicker from the deal to avoid outright preemption in 1990 is that the state-developed uniform program would preempt existing state programs. The one-size-fits-all approach rankles states, often leading to complications for them.

From the beginning, with the passage of the Hazardous Material Transportation Act of...