More than 1.5 billion tons of hazardous cargo are shipped nationwide each year by air, rail, sea and land. These include flammable liquids, pressurized gases, explosives, poisons and radioactive material.
Shipping these materials illegally heightens the dangers posed by an accident, particularly since firefighters and other first responders would be unaware the substances were there. Officials also worry that terrorists might use perceived lax security to ship hazardous materials or perhaps mount an attack.
The government crackdown will target shippers who hide dangerous materials in otherwise safe cargo, obtain fraudulent licenses to carry hazardous materials or violate a variety of safe transportation practices. The 1996 ValuJet crash in the Everglades, which killed 110 people, was blamed on a fire caused by illegal shipment of oxygen generators in the cargo hold.
``There are no shortcuts to safety, and we will give no quarter to those who violate hazmat transportation safety requirements,'' Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said at a news conference with Attorney General John Ashcroft.
Much of the program involves education and training for shipping companies and more aggressive inspection by transportation officials, Mineta said. But he and Ashcroft stressed that criminal prosecution will be waiting for those who willfully and flagrantly violate the law.
As part of the initiative, Ashcroft announced that Emery Worldwide Airlines Inc. - now part of CNF Inc. - has pleaded guilty to 12 counts of violating hazardous material shipping laws and agreed to pay a $6 million fine.
Broad security procedures have been imposed on air passengers since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks but there have been no such stringent measures for air cargo.
Only a small percentage of cargo is checked is checked before being shipped by air. Cargo planes have no air marshals or armed pilots, and airport areas where cargo is handled are not as secure as passenger terminals.
Members of Congress have focused new attention on cargo security, particularly after it learned of the odyssey of Charles McKinley, a clerk who had himself shipped in a crate on a cargo plane from Newark, N.J. to Dallas.
By the end of October the Transportation Security Administration plans to come up with a way to plug holes in the system. Three groups asked by the TSA to make recommendations for the plan are scheduled to announce them Wednesday.
In its guilty plea, Emery admitted that on 12 occasions between November 1998 and July 1999 it transported ``miscellaneous dangerous goods, flammable liquids and radioactive and explosive materials'' on aircraft without providing written notification to the pilot. Without that notification, the pilot wouldn't be able to properly respond to an on-board fire or spill.
CNF spokesman Jim Allen said the violations occurred at Emery's hub in Dayton.
``There was no incident. There was no crash. There was no leaking,'' Allen said. ``It was all clerical and administrative violations of the act.''
Emery has agreed to implement a compliance plan to ensure there are no repeat violations.
