Don't use other pin pullers, You could get hurt! 
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Truckers face new scrutiny
NEWMARKET — During his 20 years of delivering heating oil and propane gas, Harold “Bing” Goodwin said his job has become more regulated thanks to increased state and federal rules.
Now in addition to maintaining his license, a propane gas delivery card from the National Safety Council, and a health card, Goodwin, 60, of Rochester, has to undergo an FBI criminal background check.
“It used to be I just walked in and walked out and that was it,” said Goodwin on Friday morning of how simple it was to get the hazardous materials endorsement renewed on his commercial driver’s license.
Now Goodwin and his fellow truck drivers at Proulx Oil & Propane Inc., in Newmarket, will have to be fingerprinted and put through FBI criminal background checks. The new rules will affect roughly 3 million drivers across the nation.
Their names also will be cross-referenced with federal databases related to terrorist activity, a practice the U.S. Transportation Security Administration began last year.
The Security Administration and the FBI will conduct the “security threat assessments” as drivers renew their credentials.
After a criminal record search, the Security Administration will either give drivers a green light to be recertified, or classify them as threats and prevent them from transporting hazardous materials. The federal agency will notify the state where a driver is licensed of its findings. Drivers can appeal the decisions.
“My feeling is that it is more of an invasion of privacy thing,” said Goodwin. “I can see their point, but it is a little overkill.”
Goodwin has to renew his hazardous materials endorsement before May 2006.
“I have been doing this for years and I have good character references, integrity and honesty, etc.,” Goodwin said. The new screening process may be a good idea for new hazardous materials drivers who have no history or experience in the industry, he said, but veterans like himself shouldn’t have to go through it.
The truckers — authorized to carry materials such as gasoline, propane, chlorine and dynamite — will have to pay more than $100 for the new background checks. Stephen Morse, Proulx’s operations manager, said the company will pick up the tab for its 19 full-time and part-time drivers.
Some of Goodwin’s younger colleagues who have not been driving heating fuel trucks as long as he has say they don’t mind going through the extra security screening. They accept it as part of the post-911 world.
Mike Derrig of Rye, a seasonal driver who has worked for Proulx for three years, said he will renew his endorsement when the time comes.
He doubts the new security screening will catch would-be terrorists in rural states like New Hampshire and Maine. It could be more useful to prevent them from getting access to fuel trucks in metropolitan areas like New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago, he said.
Doug Eaton of Seabrook, who has delivered oil and propane for Proulx full-time for two years, said he has to renew his endorsement before 2007. He plans to go through the new screening process.
“I paid money to get the license. It would seem foolish to let it run out,” he said.
He doesn’t feel the issue of invasion of privacy is that big a deal because so many other aspects of our society involve the same sharing of information.
“...anybody can find out anything they want about me on the Internet,” he said. “As someone who drives a propane truck everyday, I like the idea that it is going to be tougher for someone to get a license. It makes me feel a little safer.”
Protecting homeland
The Hazmat Threat Assessment Program is part of the USA Patriot Act, which Congress adopted in October 2001 to expand the government’s surveillance powers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
It is another way the government is using to better protect people here at home from potential attacks, according to Ann Davis, a TSA spokesperson for New England states in Boston.
After of Jan. 31, drivers who want to get a first-time hazardous material certification on their commercial driver’s licenses have to be fingerprinted and take the usual computer-based test. Those up for renewal after May 31 will have to do the same.
Davis said that so far, more than 15,000 applications for new hazmat endorsements have been submitted to TSA from new drivers and the turnaround time for the assessments average about two days, but can take as long as a week.
Currently, 17 states have chosen to fingerprint new and current drivers themselves, but Maine and New Hampshire along with 31 other states will let the federal government do it, she said.
Nationwide, 68 federal fingerprinting stations have been established and many more will be added this summer to start processing endorsement renewal applications.
“This process will ensure the safety and security and create safeguards for the most dangerous commercial products and ensure that they don’t fall into the wrong hands,” Davis said.
“A majority of the stakeholders in the trucking industry understand the need for this security,” she said.
According to the Security Administration’s Web site, www.tsa.gov, temporary disqualifying offenses could include people convicted of some felonies or who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity in the past seven years. People released from prison in the last five years for sexual assault with intent to murder, kidnapping or hostage taking, and those with immigration violations also would be disqualified.
Treason, espionage and murder convictions are among the crimes that would permanently disqualify drivers from getting or keeping their hazardous material endorsements.
RICO violations related to drug smuggling, identity fraud, federal-level embezzlement, tax evasion, and perjury also are disqualifying offenses, according to the Web site. Distribution or possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute is also a disqualifying offense, but simple possession of a controlled substance is not, according to the Web site.
Davis explained the screening process does give applicants who are turned down the right to appeal or to file a waiver. For example, if the background check showed they were convicted of a felony, but the charge was later overturned by a higher court, she said an applicant could file documentation to amend their profile and be granted an endorsement.
While it may seem that truckers are being singled out as possible terrorists, Davis said it really represents one facet of the federal government’s larger goal to protect the nation’s entire transportation system.
Eventually, anybody who works at an airport, as a trucker who hauls hazardous or combustible materials, or in the shipping industry will be required to get a Transportation Worker Identification Credential. The program is currently in the pilot testing stages in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Miami, she said.
Industry concern
While the federal government is confident the trucking industry will manage to incorporate the new screening process without too much difficulty, New Hampshire and Maine trucking advocates and companies are concerned.
Robert Scully, president of the New Hampshire Motor Transport Association in Concord, said he is urging his more than 400 members to get their drivers screened as soon as possible.
Despite assurances that the turnaround time will take a week at most for applicants, Scully believes the potential for backlogs and delays is also there.
Scully’s counterpart is Dale Hannington, president of the Maine Motor Transport Association in Augusta.
Instead of renewing their endorsements, Hannington said some drivers could choose to haul different freight and avoid the hassles and the expense.
Smaller companies could have a tougher time covering the expense for the screening for their drivers, Hannington said.
“This is the consequence of 9/11,” said Bill MacLeod, spokesman for the federal Motor Carrier Administration. “The reasoning had to do with the mitigation of threats against people and property that may come from hazardous material loads, whether they be hijacked and used for purposes that could create harm.”
At Proulx Oil & Propane Gas, Steve Morse, the company’s operations manager, believes drivers and companies like his should not have to bear those costs.
The federal government should provide Homeland Security funds to cover the cost of screening, Morse said.
In some respects, Proulx agrees the new federal screening process may not be necessary because the industry does a pretty good job of policing itself given the issues of public safety and liability that are related to delivering heating fuel, gasoline, kerosene and other hazardous materials.
For instance at Proulx, Morse said the company does its own extensive background checks when it hires new drivers. They also keep close tabs on every driver from the time they leave the yard to when they return at the end of the day.
In his office, Morse uses a computerized mapping system to track the movements of every truck in Proulx’s fleet. With the aid of Nextel phones in each truck cab, Morse can see where each truck is located on its delivery route, when each delivery is made and how many gallons of fuel are delivered to the customer. If a driver was delivering fuel from the back of their truck and someone tried to steal the truck, Morse said they can simply push a button on a device they carry on their belts and shut the truck down.
He believes it would be very difficult for any would-be terrorists to get their hands on a propane truck either at Proulx or on the road.
One of the region’s largest petroleum companies, Irving Oil Corp. in Portsmouth, is not fazed by the new federal screening process.
Michelle Firmbach, a spokesperson for the company’s U.S. operations in Portsmouth, which includes a large terminal facility on the Piscataqua River, said all of their drivers already go through extensive criminal background checks when they renew their hazardous materials endorsements.
She said Irving Oil Corp. officials have not decided yet whether the company will cover the cost of the federal screening process.
At Dead River Co. in Bristol, District Manager Kim Weiland said he has about 20 full-time and part-time drivers. Another 20 to 30 drivers work out of the company’s Manchester district office.
Before this new regulation, Weiland said it was already a challenge to find and retain good drivers.
“It will make the process of finding new drivers even more difficult,” he believes.
In theory, the new federal screening process could deter some would-be terrorists from trying to work at a heating fuel company or business that trucks hazardous materials, Weiland said.
But he also believes that if terrorists really want to get their hands on a truck to use it as a weapon, the new background checks won’t matter.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
Now in addition to maintaining his license, a propane gas delivery card from the National Safety Council, and a health card, Goodwin, 60, of Rochester, has to undergo an FBI criminal background check.
“It used to be I just walked in and walked out and that was it,” said Goodwin on Friday morning of how simple it was to get the hazardous materials endorsement renewed on his commercial driver’s license.
Now Goodwin and his fellow truck drivers at Proulx Oil & Propane Inc., in Newmarket, will have to be fingerprinted and put through FBI criminal background checks. The new rules will affect roughly 3 million drivers across the nation.
Their names also will be cross-referenced with federal databases related to terrorist activity, a practice the U.S. Transportation Security Administration began last year.
The Security Administration and the FBI will conduct the “security threat assessments” as drivers renew their credentials.
After a criminal record search, the Security Administration will either give drivers a green light to be recertified, or classify them as threats and prevent them from transporting hazardous materials. The federal agency will notify the state where a driver is licensed of its findings. Drivers can appeal the decisions.
“My feeling is that it is more of an invasion of privacy thing,” said Goodwin. “I can see their point, but it is a little overkill.”
Goodwin has to renew his hazardous materials endorsement before May 2006.
“I have been doing this for years and I have good character references, integrity and honesty, etc.,” Goodwin said. The new screening process may be a good idea for new hazardous materials drivers who have no history or experience in the industry, he said, but veterans like himself shouldn’t have to go through it.
The truckers — authorized to carry materials such as gasoline, propane, chlorine and dynamite — will have to pay more than $100 for the new background checks. Stephen Morse, Proulx’s operations manager, said the company will pick up the tab for its 19 full-time and part-time drivers.
Some of Goodwin’s younger colleagues who have not been driving heating fuel trucks as long as he has say they don’t mind going through the extra security screening. They accept it as part of the post-911 world.
Mike Derrig of Rye, a seasonal driver who has worked for Proulx for three years, said he will renew his endorsement when the time comes.
He doubts the new security screening will catch would-be terrorists in rural states like New Hampshire and Maine. It could be more useful to prevent them from getting access to fuel trucks in metropolitan areas like New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago, he said.
Doug Eaton of Seabrook, who has delivered oil and propane for Proulx full-time for two years, said he has to renew his endorsement before 2007. He plans to go through the new screening process.
“I paid money to get the license. It would seem foolish to let it run out,” he said.
He doesn’t feel the issue of invasion of privacy is that big a deal because so many other aspects of our society involve the same sharing of information.
“...anybody can find out anything they want about me on the Internet,” he said. “As someone who drives a propane truck everyday, I like the idea that it is going to be tougher for someone to get a license. It makes me feel a little safer.”
Protecting homeland
The Hazmat Threat Assessment Program is part of the USA Patriot Act, which Congress adopted in October 2001 to expand the government’s surveillance powers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
It is another way the government is using to better protect people here at home from potential attacks, according to Ann Davis, a TSA spokesperson for New England states in Boston.
After of Jan. 31, drivers who want to get a first-time hazardous material certification on their commercial driver’s licenses have to be fingerprinted and take the usual computer-based test. Those up for renewal after May 31 will have to do the same.
Davis said that so far, more than 15,000 applications for new hazmat endorsements have been submitted to TSA from new drivers and the turnaround time for the assessments average about two days, but can take as long as a week.
Currently, 17 states have chosen to fingerprint new and current drivers themselves, but Maine and New Hampshire along with 31 other states will let the federal government do it, she said.
Nationwide, 68 federal fingerprinting stations have been established and many more will be added this summer to start processing endorsement renewal applications.
“This process will ensure the safety and security and create safeguards for the most dangerous commercial products and ensure that they don’t fall into the wrong hands,” Davis said.
“A majority of the stakeholders in the trucking industry understand the need for this security,” she said.
According to the Security Administration’s Web site, www.tsa.gov, temporary disqualifying offenses could include people convicted of some felonies or who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity in the past seven years. People released from prison in the last five years for sexual assault with intent to murder, kidnapping or hostage taking, and those with immigration violations also would be disqualified.
Treason, espionage and murder convictions are among the crimes that would permanently disqualify drivers from getting or keeping their hazardous material endorsements.
RICO violations related to drug smuggling, identity fraud, federal-level embezzlement, tax evasion, and perjury also are disqualifying offenses, according to the Web site. Distribution or possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute is also a disqualifying offense, but simple possession of a controlled substance is not, according to the Web site.
Davis explained the screening process does give applicants who are turned down the right to appeal or to file a waiver. For example, if the background check showed they were convicted of a felony, but the charge was later overturned by a higher court, she said an applicant could file documentation to amend their profile and be granted an endorsement.
While it may seem that truckers are being singled out as possible terrorists, Davis said it really represents one facet of the federal government’s larger goal to protect the nation’s entire transportation system.
Eventually, anybody who works at an airport, as a trucker who hauls hazardous or combustible materials, or in the shipping industry will be required to get a Transportation Worker Identification Credential. The program is currently in the pilot testing stages in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Miami, she said.
Industry concern
While the federal government is confident the trucking industry will manage to incorporate the new screening process without too much difficulty, New Hampshire and Maine trucking advocates and companies are concerned.
Robert Scully, president of the New Hampshire Motor Transport Association in Concord, said he is urging his more than 400 members to get their drivers screened as soon as possible.
Despite assurances that the turnaround time will take a week at most for applicants, Scully believes the potential for backlogs and delays is also there.
Scully’s counterpart is Dale Hannington, president of the Maine Motor Transport Association in Augusta.
Instead of renewing their endorsements, Hannington said some drivers could choose to haul different freight and avoid the hassles and the expense.
Smaller companies could have a tougher time covering the expense for the screening for their drivers, Hannington said.
“This is the consequence of 9/11,” said Bill MacLeod, spokesman for the federal Motor Carrier Administration. “The reasoning had to do with the mitigation of threats against people and property that may come from hazardous material loads, whether they be hijacked and used for purposes that could create harm.”
At Proulx Oil & Propane Gas, Steve Morse, the company’s operations manager, believes drivers and companies like his should not have to bear those costs.
The federal government should provide Homeland Security funds to cover the cost of screening, Morse said.
In some respects, Proulx agrees the new federal screening process may not be necessary because the industry does a pretty good job of policing itself given the issues of public safety and liability that are related to delivering heating fuel, gasoline, kerosene and other hazardous materials.
For instance at Proulx, Morse said the company does its own extensive background checks when it hires new drivers. They also keep close tabs on every driver from the time they leave the yard to when they return at the end of the day.
In his office, Morse uses a computerized mapping system to track the movements of every truck in Proulx’s fleet. With the aid of Nextel phones in each truck cab, Morse can see where each truck is located on its delivery route, when each delivery is made and how many gallons of fuel are delivered to the customer. If a driver was delivering fuel from the back of their truck and someone tried to steal the truck, Morse said they can simply push a button on a device they carry on their belts and shut the truck down.
He believes it would be very difficult for any would-be terrorists to get their hands on a propane truck either at Proulx or on the road.
One of the region’s largest petroleum companies, Irving Oil Corp. in Portsmouth, is not fazed by the new federal screening process.
Michelle Firmbach, a spokesperson for the company’s U.S. operations in Portsmouth, which includes a large terminal facility on the Piscataqua River, said all of their drivers already go through extensive criminal background checks when they renew their hazardous materials endorsements.
She said Irving Oil Corp. officials have not decided yet whether the company will cover the cost of the federal screening process.
At Dead River Co. in Bristol, District Manager Kim Weiland said he has about 20 full-time and part-time drivers. Another 20 to 30 drivers work out of the company’s Manchester district office.
Before this new regulation, Weiland said it was already a challenge to find and retain good drivers.
“It will make the process of finding new drivers even more difficult,” he believes.
In theory, the new federal screening process could deter some would-be terrorists from trying to work at a heating fuel company or business that trucks hazardous materials, Weiland said.
But he also believes that if terrorists really want to get their hands on a truck to use it as a weapon, the new background checks won’t matter.
The Associated Press contributed to this story
