Report raises concern over hazmat regulation

Report raises concern over hazmat regulation    The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will hold a hearing on Thursday following its release of a letter by the Department of Transportation's Inspector General that says immediate attention is needed to improve the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration's (PHMSA) oversight of the transportation of explosives.
   According to the letter sent to the PHMSA Administrator and released by the committee, there is a “lack of an effective evaluation process for reviewing and authorizing explosive classification approvals according to Hazardous Material Regulations,” and “ineffective oversight of the four labs authorized by PHMSA to examine and test explosives.
   'It appears that complacency and neglect continue to permeate PHMSA's culture, and it has lost sight of its most important mission: safety.    In the investigation conducted by committee staff, and also by the DOT Inspector General, we discovered a shocking number of failures by PHMSA to follow federal law and regulations, as well as outright neglect in regulating the transportation of hazardous materials,' said Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the committee.

Oberstar

   The Inspector General cited the “lack of an effective evaluation process for reviewing and authorizing explosive classification approvals according to the Hazardous Materials Regulations” and “ineffective oversight of the four labs authorized by PHMSA to examine and test explosives.”
   Among the issues the committee highlighted:
   ' “Over the last 10 years, PHMSA has not conducted fitness inspections or safety reviews of any of its four approved explosives testing labs. As a result there is little assurance that the labs are operating under safe conditions or meeting the terms and restrictions of their approval to test explosives. During that time one of the labs was sold, unbeknown to PHMSA; it was still conducting explosives testing for PHMSA even though it was not authorized to do so.”
   ' PHMSA authorized transportation of explosives for at least two companies without requiring testing and without examining the companies' safety records.
   The inspector general said, “PHMSA lacks uniform formalized guidance for classifying and approving explosives. It said this can lead to inconsistent interpretation and incorrect classification procedures.'