HazMat Dragnet
Federal government vows to give no quarter to 
violators of hazmat shipping laws

Aviation Week & Space Technology

October 6, 2003
By David Hughes


The Justice Dept., Transportation Dept. and FAA have vowed to crack down on violations of 
hazardous materials shipment rules in all modes of transportation, using an air cargo criminal 
case as an example of what to expect.


Attorney General John Ashcroft said the new hazardous materials transportation initiative 
will involve a "core team" of criminal prosecutors in his department working with 93 U.S. 
attorneys and the Transportation Dept.  They will train hazmat enforcement personnel, 
government regulators and prosecutors to "track down and bring to justice violators of 
hazmat laws."  The FAA will also create a public education program to increase awareness of 
the regulations and training for inspectors who will pursue hazardous materials violations 
aggressively. 


The Bush administration request for the Justice Dept. for Fiscal 2004 includes 12 new 
positions for the hazmat initiative and $ 1.1 million, but Congress has not approved the 
department's budget yet and it is operating on a continuing resolution.


Ashcroft spoke on the same day that Emery Worldwide Airlines Inc. pleaded guilty to 12 
felony violations of the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act. Emery will pay a $ 6-
million criminal penalty and develop a compliance program to detect and prevent future 
violations. Emery is a wholly owned subsidiary of CNF Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., which 
provides business-to-business service for shippers of heavyweight cargo.  Emery, however, is 
no longer operating aircraft and a CNF official said it won't resume air operations. But the 
compliance program requirement also applies to Menlo Worldwide Forwarding, also a CNF 
wholly owned subsidiary and successor to the old Emery Air Freight Corp.


While the case has nothing to do with terrorism, Ashcroft said it isn't difficult to foresee an 
attack that might involve hazardous materials.  So the crackdown is expected to make it more 
difficult to transport or obtain them.  "Complex shipment routes create opportunities for 
those seeking to harm our citizens and disrupt our way of life," he noted.


The Emery violations occurred in 1998 and 1999 and involved illegal transportation of 
explosives, radioactive material, and flammable gas and liquid by aircraft. In many cases the 
pilot in command had no written notification of the hazardous materials onboard.


Kenneth Mead, inspector general of the Transportation Dept., said the department has 60 
criminal investigations under way of which 15 involve air cargo operations. There are about 
20 convictions a year and more indictments than that. "This is not an isolated case," he said, 
noting it was one of the major areas of activity for his office. These convictions have resulted 
in about $ 78 million in fines over the past six years.


Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said there are about 800,000 hazardous 
materials shipments in the U.S. each day via various modes of transportation. "There are no 
shortcuts to safety and no quarter will be given to companies that violate hazardous materials 
regulations."


The main concerns of the initiative are undeclared hazardous materials, unsafe transportation 
practices that ignore federal requirements and licensing fraud such as obtaining a commercial 
driver's hazmat permit by fraud.


Dennis Ashworth, an industry hazmat specialist, said both civil and criminal violations of 
hazardous materials requirements have been too lightly punished in the past.  The $ 5,000 
fines often assessed in civil violations haven't been high enough to get the attention of the 
businesses involved, he said.  Civil penalties could be assessed up to $ 27,000 per day. And 
criminal violations should result in jail time, not just fines.  Either type of violation can 
threaten lives of passengers and, he notes, there is no room for error in air transportation.


TONS OFHAZARDOUS MATERIALSSHIPPED ANNUALLY IN THE U.S.	
Millions of Tons	
By truck            850	
By pipeline       425	
By water          125	
By rail              90	
By air               0.06*
Total about      1,500
	
*Just 66,000 tons per year of hazardous materials are shipped by air, but 15 of the 60 
criminal investigations underway at the U.S. Transportation Dept. for hazardous-materials 
violations involve air cargo.  Source: U.S. Justice Dept.


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