Hazardous federal agency

The very agency responsible for consumer safety in the transportation of hazardous materials has gotten so chummy with the industry that it has lost sight of its responsibility to the public, a new congressional report charges.

The deputy secretary of transportation said his department is now “taking action to get [the agency] back on track.”

Notice that this phrasing tacitly acknowledges the charges.

You’ve seen those “hazmat” signs on tractor-trailers rolling down in the interstate, announcing that the vehicle is carrying hazardous materials.

The signs serve to alert emergency personnel about a truck’s contents in case of an accident and a spill: Different chemicals require different methods to prevent damage to human health and the environment.

The signs also should serve as a safety reminder to other motorists: You might want to drive especially cautiously around this vehicle.

So it’s a frightening reality check to learn that agency charged with regulating safe transport of these hazardous materials has forgotten about safety and has instead crawled into the back pocket of the industry.

The report was compiled by the investigative arm of the U.S. House Trans-portation and Infrastructure Committee. It found that, among other things:

l The Pipeline and Hazardous Ma-terials Safety Administration has issued emergency waivers from regulations for shippers of hazardous materials without any justification for the “emergency.”

l The agency failed to tell other agencies of such decisions. In particular, the report said, the PHMSA seemed to deliberately avoid reporting its waiver decisions on air cargo to the Federal Aviation Commission.

Remember, this is in the post-9/11 age. Information about hazardous materials on the nation’s planes, trucks, trains and ships absolutely must be shared with sister agencies.

In addition, lower-level staff told investigators that they had noticed safety problems and raised them with superiors, who ignored the concerns.

The staff also said the agency’s own data were faulty and unreliable — “virtually useless,” the report quoted.

“We realize that we have much work to do,” said Deputy Secretary John Porcari in a statement prior to recent congressional hearings.

Let’s hope they do it, and quickly.

It’s one thing to be forewarned by a “hazmat” sign that you are sharing the interstate at 70 mph with an 18-wheeler carrying dangerous cargo.

That knowledge allows you to take put some distance between the two of you, if you choose.

But it’s the unmarked, unidentified, “waivered” vehicles that you should really worry about.