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Boston did not have the authority to route trucks carrying hazardous materials around the city, says the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in a ruling published Monday.
In 2006, Mayor Thomas Menino's administration halted all daytime permits for trucks passing through Boston with hazardous or flammable materials, reports the Boston Globe. But the federal government must approve hazmat routes, and Boston never consulted the Department of Transportation about it.
The decision says, "This de facto modification to the city's routing designation . . . serves to shift the risk associated with that transportation to neighboring jurisdictions by forcing hazardous material motor carriers to use alternative routes bypassing the city of Boston.'
The ruling is the result of a challenge by the American Trucking Associations. The city defended the change, saying it was a "minor modification" related to the Big Dig construction project. ATA, however, in its rebuttal comments, said the new route is not a minor modification in that it requires trucks to use completely different roads -- and federal routing requirements don't allow for "minor modifications," anyway.
Anne Lynch, executive director of the Massachusetts Motor Transportation Association, said the truck ban sent fuel trucks through 27 outlying communities. "You cannot export your risk to another community," she told the Globe.
The city will take a few days to consider its legal options, the Globe reports. Those options include filing a motion asking the Department of Transportation to reconsider its ruling, an appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, or compliance by May 2010.
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