Federal Judge Halts California's Hazmat Rail Fee

On October 29, Union Pacific released a customer announcement stating that a Federal judge has issued an injunction to temporarily halt the implementation of California’s hazmat rail fee. Passed in August, the fee of $45 per rail car would apply to rail shipments of 25 specific hazardous materials commodities, including petroleum crude oil (UN 1267 and 1270), gasoline (UN 1203, 1993, and 3295), and liquefied petroleum gas or LPG (UN 1075 and 3161).

The announcement was forwarded to Lion News this week by the Council on Safe Transport of Hazardous Articles (COSTHA).

Earlier this month, Lion News reported that railroads were challenging the fee, citing concerns about how the fee would be collected and how the fee could affect rail customers who ship small volumes of hazmat that may be exempt from DOT’s 49 CFR Hazardous Materials Regulations.

Read more about California’s hazmat fee here.  

See the California Code of Regulations, Division 2, Chapter 4.1, Article 1 text that implemented the hazmat fee here.

New! Hazmat Rail Shipper Online Course

Get up to date on the unique, additional rules that apply to hazmat rail shipments! Whether you offer or transport hazmat shipments in rail tanks, bulk containers, or non-bulk packages, US DOT requires all “hazmat employees” to complete training once every three years. The new Hazmat Ground Shipper –Additional Rail Requirements online course is designed to satisfy US DOT’s function-specific training requirement for hazmat rail personnel who work for shippers and rail carriers (49 CFR 172.704(d)). 

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Tags: California, DOT, hazmat shipping, new rules