Department of Transportation Report on Transporting Hazardous Materials
Gao ID: GAO-02-867R June 18, 2002The Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Comptroller General, is required by the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2002 to study the transportation of hazardous and radioactive materials and its effects on public health and safety, the environment, and the economy. GAO has had no substantive consultation with the Department of Transportation on the study and only received a draft report one week prior to its scheduled delivery date to Congress. Consequently, GAO has not had the opportunity to perform a comprehensive review of the report's contents or to make timely suggestions for modifications.
GAO-02-867R, Department of Transportation Report on Transporting Hazardous Materials
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June 18, 2002:
The Honorable Norman Y. Mineta:
The Secretary of Transportation:
Subject: Department of Transportation Report on Transporting Hazardous
Materials:
Dear Mr. Secretary:
This letter is in response to the draft report we received on June 10TH
that the Department of Transportation (DOT) has prepared in accordance
with the requirement in the Department of Transportation and Related
Agencies Appropriations Act for FY 2002. As you know, section 352(b) of
that act directs you, in consultation with the Comptroller General, to
conduct a study of the effects on public health and safety, the
environment, and the economy associated with the transportation of
hazardous and radioactive materials. The act further specifies five
matters to be addressed in the study and calls for a report to Congress
within 6 months of the act‘s enactment--that is, by June 18, 2002.
We have had no substantive consultation with DOT on the study and only
received a draft report for review 1 week prior to its scheduled
delivery date to Congress, although we offered several times since
January to consult with DOT on the scope and design of the study.
Consequently, we have not had the opportunity to perform a
comprehensive review of the report‘s contents or to make timely
suggestions for possible modifications. Although the report provides
detailed information on the transportation of hazardous and radioactive
material, it does not fully address all of the matters raised by
Congress.
The matters set forth in the appropriations act were challenging and
difficult to address in the relatively short time provided by the act.
The report provides extensive detail on public and private investments
in maintaining the nation‘s transportation infrastructure to ensure the
safe transportation of all cargo, including hazardous and radioactive
materials, as well as on plans to enhance transportation safety. It
further provides a broad overview of the numerous federal programs
designed to improve federal, state, and local responses to accidents
involving hazardous materials. However, the report does not directly
address the study requirement to assess the adequacy of these programs
and the additional costs and time required to ensure their adequacy.
The report also provides detailed information on incidents involving
the transportation of hazardous materials, but it does not link this
information to the condition of the routes on which those incidents
occurred. Such an analysis would:
have helped meet another important study requirement, namely, to
examine the safety of specific transportation routes used or planned
for hazardous and radioactive shipments. The report offers some
important general considerations about how best to route hazardous
materials and the limitations to rerouting. However, it does not
discuss the actions that may be needed to ensure the safety of
individual routes.
Please call me at (202) 512-2834 if you or your staff have any
questions. We are sending copies of this letter to the appropriate
congressional committees. We will also make copies available to others
upon request.
Sincerely yours,
John H. Anderson, Jr.
Director, Physical Infrastructure Issues:
Signed by John H. Anderson, Jr.
(545020):
