(The following USA Today article by Kevin Johnson was published on April 21.)
WASHINGTON — U.S. railroads have stopped transporting commercial explosives because of confusion over whether a new federal law will require thousands more background checks for employees who handle materials ranging from dynamite used in mining to fireworks, industry officials say.
The Safe Explosives Act, which President Bush (news – web sites) signed in November and takes full effect May 24, is among scores of new federal policies aimed at improving homeland defense. Under current regulations, those who work at explosives companies, distributors of explosives and buyers of large amounts of such material must undergo background checks by the U.S. government.
The new law’s supporters and officials at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) say the law was designed to provide tighter control over explosives dealers and those seeking permits to buy smaller amounts of explosives.
ATF officials say the law will require background checks on about 20,000 people, about double the number that is now required.
Railroad and trucking industry officials say the law could be read as requiring checks on thousands more people, including commercial rail workers and truck drivers and virtually anyone else who helps to transport explosives. Some trucking companies have joined the rail industry in refusing to move explosives because of concerns about whether their drivers could be prosecuted if they have not undergone a background check.
Rich Moskowitz, assistant general counsel for the American Trucking Associations, says member companies often have no way to determine whether their drivers could be among those prohibited from possessing explosives under the new law. The law expands the list of people who may not possess explosives — which had included felons, the mentally ill, drug addicts and others — to also include illegal immigrants, people dishonorably discharged from the military and those who have renounced their citizenship.
”Some (trucking companies) have just stopped (transporting explosives) because they feel it’s not worth the risk,” Moskowitz says.
Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, says the rail embargo has shut down the movement of fireworks worldwide during what normally is the industry’s busiest time of the year. She says the embargo could be devastating for the $650 million fireworks industry, which moves an estimated 80% of its products by rail. Major fireworks displays planned for the Fourth of July could be in jeopardy, she says.
”Nobody anticipated that commerce would stop,” Heckman says. ”In the name of homeland security, a horrendous amount of new regulations have been put on an industry that is already tightly regulated.”
Tom White, spokesman for the Association of American Railroads, says the rail embargo was put in place in February, weeks after the government circulated regulations created by the law.
”A very serious situation has arisen concerning the railroad industry’s ability to continue to ship explosives in interstate and foreign commerce,” association President Edward Hamberger said in a Jan. 23 letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft (news – web sites).
Hamberger asked Ashcroft to issue a memo clarifying the issue, but the attorney general has not formally responded, the association says.
Heckman says the rail embargo’s impact has reached ports in Asia and Europe, some of the largest sources of fireworks products. Foreign shippers now are declining to carry material to the USA. ”The vessels stopped moving all products,” Heckman says. ”This is our busiest time of the year. We’re having an extremely difficult time trying to move it.”