Emery fined $6M in cargo case
Pilots not told hazardous materials on board
By
million fine for flying hazardous
materials on its airplanes without properly
notifying pilots.
Chief U.S. District Judge Walter H. Rice also placed Emery
on three years
probation during which it must
remain in compliance with efforts to prevent
future violations.
"Today's sentencing sends a strong message that this
administration is
focused on reducing the potentially
severe consequences of a hazardous
materials incident," said Tom Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the
U.S. Justice Department's Environment and
Natural Resources Division.
Roger Makley, an attorney for
Emery, declined comment after the sentencing.
Rice noted that Emery has no record of prior misconduct and
that there's "no
question in anyone's mind this
defendant will be vigilant from this time
forward."
Emery pleaded guilty Sept. 30 to 12 criminal charges that it
violated
shipping laws. Rice ordered Emery
pay a $500,000 fine on each charge.
At the time Emery entered its plea, U.S. Attorney General
John Ashcroft said
it was part of a new initiative to
crack down on illegal shipments of
hazardous cargo that could lead to
accidents or be used by terrorists to
mount attacks.
"With the sheer amount of hazardous materials being
shipped on our nation's
transportation infrastructure,"
Ashcroft said, "we must track down and bring
to justice those who violate our
transportation laws."
The federal investigation followed Dayton Daily News reports
in June 1999
that Emery supervisors had warned
of dangerous practices with hazardous
materials and a pattern of
violations spanning two years.
CNF Inc., Emery's parent, has said the plea came after Emery
"had previously
remedied its faulty procedures that
were of concern to the government."
Rice noted that after Emery changed its computer system in
August 1999, the
number of hazmat shipments moved
without pilot notification "became
negligible."
The violations involved Emery's North American freight hub
at
operations in August 2001. The hub
and airline companies are units of Palo
Alto, Calif.-based CNF Inc., a global freight company with
$4.8 billion in
revenues last year.
Rice noted Emery now has "just a handful of
employees."
Among the hazardous materials listed in the violations were
explosives,
flammable liquids and aerosols,
sulfuric acid and automobile air bags. The
FAA said the violations occurred between October 1998 and
July 1999.
Pilots wouldn't have been able to respond to an on-board
fire or spill because they were not notified of the hazardous cargo.
The most serious allegations, detailed in memos by hazardous
materials
Supervisor Debbra O. Bullock,
described hundreds of shipments of hazardous
materials without documentation or
pilot notification and shipping materials
not permitted in Emery's air cargo
system.
"With this case, we have taken a great step forward in
protecting the safety
of the people involved in the cargo
transportation industry," said Gregory G.
in the industry are aware of these
proceedings and should learn from the
mistakes of Emery."
In the late 1990s, Emery's
daily, about 3 percent -- 75 tons a
day -- involving hazardous materials or
what the air-freight industry calls
dangerous goods. These included
explosives, flammable liquids,
toxic substances, radioactive materials and
biomedical products.
The hub's freight volume today is about half of what it was
then, CNF
spokesman Jim Allen said recently.
In September 2001, a month after it grounded its airline
under pressure from
the FAA, Emery agreed to pay a $1
million fine in a consent agreement aimed
at resuming operations. Emery had
grounded its fleet of DC-8 and DC-10 cargo
jets and furloughed about 800
employees after the FAA threatened to revoke
its operating certificate on
allegations of more than 100 safety violations.
In December 2002, Emery reorganized its Emery operations
under the current
Menlo Worldwide, a CNF unit.