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The Political Protection * USA - Why was the best hazmat enforcer the CHP had taken off…
... after Assemblyman Rick Keene intervened on behalf of the trucking industryChico,CA,USA -The Chico News Review, by Robert Speer -18 May 2007: -- As the fiery Bay Area freeway crash of a gasoline tanker truck vividly reminded us recently, the highways are full of potential catastrophes on 18 wheels. Here the story of George Barber and the role Chico Assemblyman Rick Keene played in the derailing of his career... Three years ago, Barber was a California Highway Patrol officer serving in Butte County. His specialty was hazardous-materials compliance, and he'd been doing it since the mid-1980s. He knew the regulations governing fuel transportation as well or better than anyone. Although he no longer works for the CHP, current CHP officers still describe him as "the guru" and "probably the foremost hazmat expert in the state"... Then, in 2004, he ran afoul of the trucking industry. Trucking companies thought his level of enforcement was too intense--that he not only cited truckers for violations they considered picayune, but was also out of whack with enforcement practices elsewhere in the state... "When he'd find infractions that normally were considered correctable, he'd throw the book at us," David Ray, the safety director for Stockton-based Williams Tank Lines, said in a phone interview. Too often, that meant Barber would call out a full hazmat team, which the company was required to pay for, and then order the truck to be off-loaded and locked down until repaired. These expenses, on top of court fines, could add up to thousands of dollars for what other CHP inspectors considered minor infractions... Barber says he was just doing his job--too well, apparently. "I had a very high conviction rate," he acknowledged recently... Williams' owner was "infuriated," Barber related, and contacted Keene, who eventually convened a meeting that included a large group from the trucking industry as well as the CHP commissioner at the time, Dwight "Spike" Helmick, and other CHP brass... These days Barber works part-time for the Butte County District Attorney's Office as an environmental hazmat analyst... (PHOTO by ROBERT SPEER - THE ENFORCER: George Barber says the reason he was removed from his job as a CHP hazmat-compliance officer was because he did it too well and trucking companies were unhappy. He's shown here at the Butte County government building, where he now works part-time for the District Attorney's Office as an environmental hazmat analyst)
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