The US Department of Transportation has announced a new data warehouse and web portal that enables government agencies to share information about hazardous shipments throughout the country.
The new Hazardous Intelligence Portal will compile data from 26 different sources about hazardous materials shipments by truck, rail, air, pipeline, barge and ship.
Agencies such the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Pipeline &Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, and Coast Guard all enter and retrieve information in the system. The program is negotiating agreements to include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Transportation Security Agency.
I anticipate the when HazMat incidents in trucking cause serious injuries, there will be Freedom of Information Act requests for relevant data stored in the Hazardous Intelligence Portal.
Ken Shigley is an interstate trucking trial attorney in Atlanta, Georgia. He is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and has been listed as a “Super Lawyer” (Atlanta Magazine), among the “Legal Elite” (Georgia Trend Magazine), and in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. He served as chair of the Southeastern Motor Carrier Litigation Institute, is on the National Advisory Board for the Association of Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America, and is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education programs for the Interstate Trucking Litigation Group of the American Association for Justice. Mr. Shigley has extensive experience representing parties in trucking and bus accidents, products liability, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, spinal cord injury, brain injury and burn injury cases. Currently he is Secretary of the 40,000 member State Bar of Georgia.This post is subject to our ethical disclaimer.