Security & Safety Briefs - Feb. 24 - March 2
The Latest Headlines:
- CVSA, DOE Reach Accord on Nuclear Waste Shipments
- Attorney General Backs Patriot Act Renewal
- Calif. Senator Introduces Port-Security Bills
- Canadian Trucking Alliance Backs Border Funding
- N.J. Attorney General Cites Need for Highway Enforcement
- Attorney General Backs Patriot Act Renewal
CVSA, DOE Reach Accord on Nuclear Waste Shipments
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance said it entered a cooperative agreement with the Department of Energy’s transportation office on inspections of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste shipments to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.CVSA said it will travel throughout the United States to implement a public outreach program that will include DOE stakeholders.
As of Jan. 1, 2005, all vehicles and carriers transporting highway-route controlled quantities of radioactive material are regulated by the Department of Transportation and required to pass a North American Standard Level VI inspection at the point of origin, CVSA said.
Attorney General Backs Patriot Act Renewal
The USA Patriot Act should be renewed, new Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez said in his first policy speech, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.More than a dozen surveillance-related provisions of the law are scheduled to expire this year unless they are renewed, the paper said.
Gonzalez said the law, passed in late 2001 following 9/11, “helped prevent additional terrorist attacks,” the Post reported.
The Patriot Act, among other things, provided new authority to the Justice Department and the FBI to monitor alleged terrorists or their associates, the Post said. Transport Topics
Calif. Senator Introduces Port-Security Bills
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) introduced two new bills aimed at shifting homeland security grants to higher-risk ports and expanding the scope of maritime anti-terrorist laws, the Long Beach (Calif.) Press-Telegram reported Thursday.Feinstein made the announcement while touring the Port of Long Beach, meeting with local leaders to discuss the security problems confronting the neighboring ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the busiest in the country, the paper said.
While impressed with how much security progress has been made at the ports in the past two years, the senator said the ports were “the soft underbelly of homeland security” because they were underfunded, the Press-Telegram reported.
The New York Times reported Sunday that many of the nation’s major ports were underfunded, citing a report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general. Transport Topics
(Click here for previous related coverage.)
Canadian Trucking Alliance Backs Border Funding
The Canadian Trucking Alliance said Feb. 23 it backed a Canadian government plant to boost spending to improve border security and efficiency.The 2005 budget allocated $433 million over five years to deliver more secure and efficient border services, the Canadian trucking trade group said.
“Too often, CTA members face lineups coming back into Canada when primary inspection booths are closed,” CTA Chief Executive Officer David Bradley said. “Staffing was often the problem [and] the 2005 budget should help address this issue.”
Government officials told CTA that the primary use for the additional funds is to hire more staff at key ports of entry to staff inspection booths. Transport Topics
N.J. Attorney General Cites Need for Highway Enforcement
New Jersey Attorney General Peter Harvey said enforcement of traffic laws would help prevent terrorism, drug trafficking and highway fatalities, the Pasaic County, N.J., Herald News reported Tuesday.He said trucks and other commercial vehicles, which could be transporting bombs or drugs, should be more closely monitored by police, the Herald News reported.
Harvey said terrorists were likely to be caught on highways, citing Timothy McVeigh, who bombed an Oklahoma City federal building in 1995 and who was ultimately caught by police who noticed his car had no license plate.
Harvey and other law enforcement and highway safety officials spoke at a regional police conference in East Rutherford, N.J., the paper said. Transport Topics
