Hazardous Materials Transportation
Hazardous Materials Transportation practice requires that we address issues on behalf of our clients that include:
- Providing advice to clients regarding hazardous material transportation compliance issues
- Defense and prosecution of actions resulting from hazardous material spills
- Defense of administrative or civil enforcement actions issued or instituted by the US DOT
- Defense of administrative or civil enforcement actions issued or instituted by the state DOT agencies
Those Hazardous Materials Transportation matters in which the firm has or attorneys with the firm have been involved include the following:
- Day to day responsibilities for ensuring DOT compliance at a large inorganic and organic chemical manufacturing facility, a large styrene and ethylene manufacturing facility and a commercial hazardous waste treatment, disposal and storage facility
- Prepared procedures for and arranged for the shipments of outgoing hazardous wastes and products
- Prepared procedures for and managed the shipments of incoming hazardous waste shipments to a large industrial waste recycler and a large commercial TSDF
The Hazardous Materials Transportation Act of 1974 (HMTA), Title 1 of Public Law 93-633 (49 U.S.C. App 1801 et seq.) was signed into law on January 3, 1975. The act allowed the Secretary of Transportation to draw together previously fragmented enforcement and regulatory authority governing the movement of hazardous materials in commerce into one coordinated and consolidated body of law. The HMTA was amended significantly by the Hazardous Materials Transportation Uniform Safety Act of 1990 (HMTUSA), Public Law 101-615, that was signed on November 16, 1990, and was then editorially revised and codified in 1994 in 49 U.S.C. §§ 5101-5127 as the Federal hazardous material transportation law also known as the Federal hazmat law.
A Hazardous Material is a material or substance that the US Department of Transportation has determined to be capable of posing an unreasonable risk to health, property, and safety when transported in commerce, and has designated as being hazardous under section 5103 of Federal hazardous materials transportation law (49 U.S.C. 5103). The term includes hazardous wastes, hazardous substances, marine pollutants, elevated temperature materials, materials that meet the defining criteria for hazard classes and divisions in 49 CFR Part 173, and materials designated as hazardous in the Hazardous Materials Table (see 49 CFR 172.101).
Since they are such an everyday part of our lives, hazardous materials are essential to the United States (U.S.) economy and to its citizens. Large sectors of the U.S. economy, including agriculture, manufacturing, mining, construction, and medical and sanitary services, utilize hazardous materials. Hazardous materials fuel our vehicles, fight bacteria and viruses, as well as heat and cool homes. Yet, due to their physical, chemical, or nuclear properties, hazardous materials can pose a threat to public safety or the environment during transportation.
Millions of tons of flammable, poisonous, corrosive, and radioactive materials are transported everyday in the U.S. The majority of hazardous materials cargoes make it to their destinations safely; however, some incidents do occur. Most of these incidents involve incidental releases, but from time to time there are more serious threats to property or life. This section discusses the basics of these incidents (cargo spills versus basic vehicle fluid spills), and department of transportation (DOT) hazard classes, grouping system based on the physical and chemical properties.