Task Force to Assess Toxics Peril on Freeways

A new Assembly task force will explore the dangers arising from toxic and explosive shipments on heavily traveled freeways, including the Ventura Freeway through the San Fernando Valley.

At the same time, officials said Friday that the California Highway Patrol is seeking to ban highly poisonous rocket fuel, one of the hazardous materials carried on the congested Ventura Freeway. Other toxic substances routinely transported include chlorine and pesticides.

Assemblyman Richard Katz, a Sepulveda Democrat who will chair the task force, said Friday, “No one really has a handle on how much of this stuff moves or when it moves on the highways.”

One task force goal will be “to work out a process for proper notification of local officials as well as the Highway Patrol” so they can develop disaster-preparedness plans, said Katz, chairman of the Assembly Transportation Committee. He said he expects hearings to begin in November.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown Jr. (D-San Francisco) announced the formation of the 10-member task force this week in the wake of news reports that the volatile rocket fuel and other hazardous materials are routinely transported on the Ventura Freeway through the San Fernando Valley.

‘Potential Tragedy’

Brown said he formed the task force at Katz’s request to determine what actions must be taken to “avert potential tragedy.”

“It has become clear to us that the problem is not limited to the Los Angeles area,” Brown said in a news release. “Literally thousands of loads of dangerous materials pass through our state’s cities each year.”

The state Highway Patrol does not have the authority to prohibit shipments of rocket fuel--which contains nitrogen tetroxide--by the Defense Department, a CHP spokesman said.

But the CHP is looking for alternative routes that would bypass the cities and expects the Defense Department to cooperate, Patrol Capt. James Berry said.

After a protest by Mayor Tom Bradley, the Defense Department last month declared a 60-day moratorium on shipping rocket fuel from out-of-state manufacturers to Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc.

Tuesday, the City Council voted to petition the Department of Transportation to cease the practice and also called for public hearings on the shipment of hazardous materials in highly populated areas.