United States Transportation Secretary Norman Y Mineta has announced grants to states, territories, and Native American tribes totaling almost $12.8 million for planning and training to improve response to hazardous materials transportation incidents. The money was made available by the Department of Transportation's Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA).
The Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness grant program is financed by user fees paid by shippers and carriers of certain hazardous materials. Since 1993, about 960,000 responders and others have received training assistance nationwide using grant money from the program. Assistance was also given to the nation's roughly 4,000 local emergency planning committees in preparing and exercising hazmat emergency response plans and in conducting commodity flow studies that identify transportation hazards.
Other federal agencies are participating in the program by assisting DOT in developing hazmat curriculum guidelines. These agencies include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, Department of Labor, and Department of Health and Human Services. The six largest grants were awarded to California, $964,316; Texas, $668,460; Illinois, $612,982; Ohio, $510,751; New York, $470,968; and Florida, $453,407.