U.S. DOT Says States Should Maintain CDL Procedures
In addressing a large transportation conference here Monday morning, Jackson said the USA Patriot Act "provoked an immediate crisis" after it was signed into law by President Bush on Oct. 26.
Among the requirements is a mandate for the departments of Justice and Transportation to certify that all truck drivers who haul hazardous materials are not security risks.
The problems posed by the Patriot Act were also the subject of a Sunday afternoon discussion by the National Industrial Transportation League, one of three groups meeting at TransComp.
Jackson, speaking via satellite hook-up, said his department is "walking through this issue" with the state motor vehicle administrations and expects to clarify matters "within a month or so".
The NIT League members talked Sunday how some of the unintended side effects of the act could harm both shippers and carriers.
"This is a classic Washington problem of rushing to a solution by people who don't know a lot about a particular situation," said Timothy P. Lynch, president of the Motor Freight Carriers Association.
Steve Hawks, who chairs the NIT-League hazardous materials committee, said his group will recommend to the league's board of directors that the shippers group should lobby Congress to modify its new law so that the process for granting CDLs does not grind to a halt.
His committee also expressed concern about the Chemical Security Act of 2001, now pending before the Senate, which he said could severely complicate the carriage of chemicals by truck or by rail. The bill is sponsored by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) and James Jeffords (I-Vt.).
Jackson said the department is determined not to let the events of Sept. 11 compromise the long-term efficiency of freight transportation. "We will return to some new sort of normalcy," he said.
