Amazon’s Dirty Little Secret

Howard Robard Hughes Jr. made his money in oil. He didn’t look for it. Didn’t drill for or sell it. The Sharp-Hughes Tool Company manufactured drill bits, by the millions. But they never sold one. In fact, you couldn’t buy them. Funny, his heart was in the air, not in the ground!  

Like Amazon Prime, the drilling bits were subscription, whether you are online or the bit was in the ground, you paid. Soon everything will be a paid subscription, with expected amenities no longer free. 

 Amazon might secretly be working on Amazon Sanitary Services that you could add to your Prime account, allowing for access to one of thousands of nationwide Amazon Prime private bathroom stalls. 

Standard 2-ply toilet paper, flushes and post decontamination costs, included, with additional profits realized by up-charging for elevated stalls with amenities, such as 3 ply organic toilet paper and heated tech heavy AI Japanese medical monitoring toilets.

Fear not, the last bastion of free and unfettered access has not yet fallen.  Our “Department of Transportation, Environmental Protection Agency and Occupational Safety and Health Administration Federal Register Regulatory Update Service” still stands as a glaring beacon of Liberty and Freedom!  

It is said that the most priceless objects in life are free. Don’t miss out on upcoming proposed and final rules that directly affect your transportation, environmental and worker protection responsibilities. Lacking your involvement during regulatory comment periods will only burden your department with unnecessary costs and delays. 

Hughes’s, “Rock Eater” drilling bits prevented clogging at the point of contact with its unique coned roller cutting drilling heads. Howard Hughes Sr’s inventions, patents and head for business, allowed Junior to pursue his dreams in aviation, much like my own.

Thanks Dad.

Robert J. Keegan Jr.
Publisher and President
Hazardous Material Publishing Company 
Transportation Skills Program Inc.
Hazmat.tsp@gmail.com
610-587-3978 cell

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2025/2026 Hazardous Materials, Substances and Wastes Compliance Guide

from $130.00

** If you are located in Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico, email us directly: lisa@hazmat-tsp.com with your order information (Name, Company, ship to, bill to, number of books) and please include a phone number to call you. Thank you!

PLEASE NOTE WE CANNOT SHIP TO P.O. BOX. Thank you!

The 2025/2026 Compliance guides with the Emergency Response Guidebook contain the most up-to-date mandatory regulations covering the activities of all HAZMAT/WASTE Employees and Employers engaged in any activity, taking place in any location involving hazardous materials, chemicals, substances, or wastes.

These are the only available Compliance Guides that provide all the critical interfacing DOT/EPA/OSHA Hazard Communication and Compliance requirements for Hazardous Materials, Chemicals, Substances, and Wastes.

***If your PA Company is Tax Exempt, please email us directly with your tax-exempt information to order: lisa@hazmat-tsp.com

Please include: Name, Company, ship to, bill to, and number of books. And please include a phone number where we can reach you. Thank you!

Price per Quantity:

Select Price per Quantity 1-5 Books ( $145 Per Book) 6-10 Books ( $140 per Book) 11-24 Books ( $135per Book) 25-50 Books ( $130 per Book)

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MAKE INSPECTORS ACCOUNTABLE AGAIN

President Donald Trump has reinstated the Regulatory Reform Task Force (RRTF) regulations. This rule published on April 27th , 2026 would also avoid the use of fishing expeditions by the Department of Transportation (DOT), when searching for potential non-compliance. In addition, it disqualifies animus DOT personnel who violate enforcement procedures.

 The RRTF was disbanded by the Biden administration in response to President Trump’s Executive Order 13777 to identify and eliminate unnecessary, outdated and burdensome regulations. The rule requires DOT enforcement personnel who violate rules, as perceived by the DOT’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) be subject to, among other actions, removal of them from the case.

  Reestablishing the DOT Regulatory Reform Task Force which will assist with the promulgation, repeal, replacement or modification of new and current hazardous materials regulations. Covering guidance documents, the initiation actions, conduct of enforcement personal, administrative and judicial enforcement proceedings. The rule affects the Office of the Secretary of Transportation under the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, (NHTSA) and the Federal Transit Administration(FTA). 

 Inspectors must identify themselves as employees of DOT and their office. Officials must present identification once contact is made and clearly articulate their intentions with reason for the contact. Enforcement personnel should be professional, fair, honest and direct. 

Proceeding and communications between subspective persons with decisional personnel should be on the record, whether oral, written, or electronic. All communications should be recorded as soon as practical, with notice given to the parties being placed into the record.

 It’s part of an ongoing crusade throughout the federal government to consolidate and eliminate the number of physical pages in the Code of Federal Regulations(CFR). It's not a reduction in the requirements, but an elimination of redundancy.  A good example would be the proposed rule from January 9th, 2026, in my last blog called (Exploding Squids). 

Be sure to read about all of the Department of Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulatory changes and updates on our federal regulatory update service. It’s fast, it’s free. It protects your rights at the same time guiding agencies through these complex regulations which will hopefully provide a better environment for future generations.

Robert J. Keegan
Publisher and President
Hazardous Materials Publishing Company
Transportation Skills Programs Inc.
Hazmat.tsp@gmail.com

2025/2026 Hazardous Materials, Substances and Wastes Compliance Guide

from $130.00

** If you are located in Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico, email us directly: lisa@hazmat-tsp.com with your order information (Name, Company, ship to, bill to, number of books) and please include a phone number to call you. Thank you!

PLEASE NOTE WE CANNOT SHIP TO P.O. BOX. Thank you!

The 2025/2026 Compliance guides with the Emergency Response Guidebook contain the most up-to-date mandatory regulations covering the activities of all HAZMAT/WASTE Employees and Employers engaged in any activity, taking place in any location involving hazardous materials, chemicals, substances, or wastes.

These are the only available Compliance Guides that provide all the critical interfacing DOT/EPA/OSHA Hazard Communication and Compliance requirements for Hazardous Materials, Chemicals, Substances, and Wastes.

***If your PA Company is Tax Exempt, please email us directly with your tax-exempt information to order: lisa@hazmat-tsp.com

Please include: Name, Company, ship to, bill to, and number of books. And please include a phone number where we can reach you. Thank you!

Price per Quantity:

Select Price per Quantity 1-5 Books ( $145 Per Book) 6-10 Books ( $140 per Book) 11-24 Books ( $135per Book) 25-50 Books ( $130 per Book)

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Exploding Squids

SATELLITES FALL SPACESHIPS FLY

Spacecraft, satellites and their components containing hazardous materials, are engineered to different parameters than traditional packages due to weight, materials and cost constraints. Since the 1970’s, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has used their Special Permits process to address the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA), Department of War (DOW) and the commercial space industries' unique terrestrial transportation difficulties.

  Hence, with the increased frequency of commercial spaceship launches the Department of Transportation is inviting your comments and suggestions on, among other things, ways to incorporate some of these special permits into the mainstream 49 CFR hazardous materials regulations. These topics would involve the shipping spacecraft payload components, deliveries to launch sites and recovery operations.

 DOT is seeking properly compelling information, supporting data and specific examples from the public.  Below is a list of the type of questions DOT posted in the January 29th, 2026 Proposed Rule. 

1. During support of terrestrial space operation, what specific regulatory challenges are encountered when transporting hazardous materials?

2. Other than the HMR required standards and special permits, are there articles and devices designed and manufactured to any other specifications or industry guidelines? 

3. Which hazardous material articles and devices used to transport in support of space operations are not designed or tested to DOT standards. Are there any industry-led initiatives to develop new standards for these non specification packaging?

4. What existing requirements of other Federal agencies such as NASA and DOW make the DOT regulations redundant?

5. How much DOT training do hazardous materials employees working in the space industry receive, compared to the hazardous materials industry as a whole?

6. Could the DOT 172.200 hazard communication requirements be eliminated for hazardous materials in support space operation by the use of say road closures or security escort? 

7. When multiple hazardous materials, like the addition of a Class 1 explosive (e.g., an explosive squib) which are often used in satellites and safety devices, when they are integrated into a singular article. Are there ways to provide better clarity for classification of these associated hazards?

8. What specific operational controls should be considered for assembled spacecraft being transported in commerce that would ensure DOT compliance with their packaging requirements?  

9. How are batteries integrated into components of spacecraft or payloads? What chemistries are being used and how are those batteries transported during the integration and spacecraft recovery processes?

10. How frequently are individual and multiple hazardous materials together transported in support of space operations and what current operational controls are used? 

11. How, when, where and why are highways, rail lines, vessels and airplanes used to transport hazardous materials in support of space operations and should potential HMR provisions be limited to any specific-transport mode?

(read more about the specific questions in this proposed rule listed on Hazardous Materials Publishing’s FREE Federal Register Update Page)

Comments must be received by April 29, 2026. However, the PHMSA will consider late-filed comments to the extent possible.

2025/2026 Hazardous Materials, Substances and Wastes Compliance Guide

from $130.00

** If you are located in Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico, email us directly: lisa@hazmat-tsp.com with your order information (Name, Company, ship to, bill to, number of books) and please include a phone number to call you. Thank you!

PLEASE NOTE WE CANNOT SHIP TO P.O. BOX. Thank you!

The 2025/2026 Compliance guides with the Emergency Response Guidebook contain the most up-to-date mandatory regulations covering the activities of all HAZMAT/WASTE Employees and Employers engaged in any activity, taking place in any location involving hazardous materials, chemicals, substances, or wastes.

These are the only available Compliance Guides that provide all the critical interfacing DOT/EPA/OSHA Hazard Communication and Compliance requirements for Hazardous Materials, Chemicals, Substances, and Wastes.

***If your PA Company is Tax Exempt, please email us directly with your tax-exempt information to order: lisa@hazmat-tsp.com

Please include: Name, Company, ship to, bill to, and number of books. And please include a phone number where we can reach you. Thank you!

Price per Quantity:

Select Price per Quantity 1-5 Books ( $145 Per Book) 6-10 Books ( $140 per Book) 11-24 Books ( $135per Book) 25-50 Books ( $130 per Book)

Purchase

Robert J. Keegan
Publisher and President
Transportation Skills Programs
hazmat.tsp@gmail.com
610-587-3978

A Salt and Batteries

WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS 

A semi truck carrying six, 75,000 lb industrial-scale lithium metal batteries, inside a freight container tipped over, stranding passengers and shutting down I-15 for two days. This, all the while, spewing toxic chlorine, hydrogen chloride and sulfur dioxide plumes onto the interstate, as the State of California’s resources were brought to bear on how to extinguish and remove the smoldering wreck.  

 Monumentally large electric power storage units are increasingly being manufactured by the thousands in new gigafactories. They are increasingly used to provide power in emergencies, ‘‘off-grid’’ and to fortify private and public utility power. 

So to aid in these thermal runaway emergencies, DOT proposed in a February 10, 2026 federal register, among other refinements, to update the emergency response information for lithium batteries transported as ‘‘UN3536, Lithium batteries installed in cargo transport unit lithium ion batteries or lithium metal batteries’’.  A new Special Provision 389, would require additional emergency response information for handling incidents, as lithium ion batteries may reignite hours or even days after the initial incident.

  In the meantime, the Department of Transportation (DOT) is seeking additional comments on the use and types of lithium batteries transported using the UN3536 entry. 

If the proposed rule is finalized, get ready for new shipping description entries and transport provisions. Among other things, it addresses the increased use of sodium as an alternative to harder sourced lithium. Sodium ion batteries can be discharged down to 0% charge without degradation. 

DOT is proposing to add a definition of Sodium ion cell or battery in Section 172.8 which will mean “a rechargeable electrochemical system, where the positive and negative electrodes are both intercalation or insertion compounds with no metallic sodium (or sodium alloy) in either electrode, and with an organic nonaqueous compound as electrolyte.”

Prepare for three new Class 9 Miscellaneous Hazardous Materials shipping descriptions for sodium ion batteries in Section 172.101 the Hazardous Materials Table, including classification, packaging provisions and exceptions for them in Section 173.185.

The comment period for this proposed rule ends on April 15, 2026.

 Sign up for an online Seminar or allow us to design a project driven in-house seminar, for your employees and customers.  

 Join the FREE Federal Regulatory Update Service to read more about this and other upcoming federal rule changes.

BE SAFE!

Robert J. Keegan
Publisher/President
Hazardous Materials Publishing Company
Transportation Skills Programs
www.hazmat-tsp.com
Hazmat.tsp@gmail.com

ONE FOR NOW AND ONE FOR LATER

Twin sticks, a.k.a. “Twix”, the candy bar baited some of its milk chocolate, caramel and wafer devotees into believing, before there were memes, that one stick was for immediate consumption, the other, presumably saved for one’s future enjoyment. The idea being masticate only one bar, the other, later. 

Much like the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 40 CFR dueling hazardous substance lists. Their Section 302.4, Hazardous Substances and Reportable Quantities List focus is on the immediate notification, whereas in Appendix A of Part 355, the Extremely Hazardous Substance (EHS) List, deals with community safety, and preparing for future emergencies.

 The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), requires immediate reporting, response and liability for the roughly 800 hazardous substances listed in Section 302.4. 

The Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) mandates reporting chemical releases, community right-to-know requirements and developing Emergency Response Plans for the approximately 355 hazardous substances listed in Appendix A of Part 355. These requirements prophylactically prepare the community for future hazardous substance emergencies through annual inventory reports and local emergency planning commission release notifications.

If you took the bad apples, like Allyl Alcohol and Aldrin, out of Section 302.4 Hazardous Substances and Reportable Quantities List you would basically have Appendix A of Part 355, the Extremely Hazardous Substance (EHS) List. 

  Together, the Section 302.4 and the Appendix A Part 355 lists ensure a 24 hour time limit for notification to the National Response Center (NRC) and your Local Emergency Planning Commission, respectively, allowing for immediate response to hazardous substance releases.

  As far as the Twix bars go, I would always eat one and save the other one and eat it after I was done with the first! 

 Please call us with any questions, comments or input. We look forward to hearing from you.

 Hope to see you soon, thank you.

2025/2026 Hazardous Materials, Substances and Wastes Compliance Guide

from $130.00

** If you are located in Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico, email us directly: lisa@hazmat-tsp.com with your order information (Name, Company, ship to, bill to, number of books) and please include a phone number to call you. Thank you!

PLEASE NOTE WE CANNOT SHIP TO P.O. BOX. Thank you!

The 2025/2026 Compliance guides with the Emergency Response Guidebook contain the most up-to-date mandatory regulations covering the activities of all HAZMAT/WASTE Employees and Employers engaged in any activity, taking place in any location involving hazardous materials, chemicals, substances, or wastes.

These are the only available Compliance Guides that provide all the critical interfacing DOT/EPA/OSHA Hazard Communication and Compliance requirements for Hazardous Materials, Chemicals, Substances, and Wastes.

***If your PA Company is Tax Exempt, please email us directly with your tax-exempt information to order: lisa@hazmat-tsp.com

Please include: Name, Company, ship to, bill to, and number of books. And please include a phone number where we can reach you. Thank you!

Price per Quantity:

Select Price per Quantity 1-5 Books ( $145 Per Book) 6-10 Books ( $140 per Book) 11-24 Books ( $135per Book) 25-50 Books ( $130 per Book)

Purchase

Robert J. Keegan
Publisher and President
Hazardous Materials Publishing Company 
Transportation Skills Programs Inc.
www.hazmat-tsp.com
610-587-3978
hazmat-tsp@gmail.com