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GAO-02-867R 1 (2002-06-18)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaalzs0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 


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       Accountability * Integrity * Reliability
United States General Accounting Office
Washington, DC 20548


         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 10 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 I 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


GAO-02-867R DOT's Report on Transporting Hazardous Materials

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