My Article on HazmatShip.com

One of the things that I have been trying to do with this blog is to expand awareness of the rule making process for the rules and regulations that affect the chemical industry. This is one of the reasons that I have been periodically reporting on comments posted to various proposed rules. Yesterday I had the good fortune to have an article placed on HazmatShip.com, the web site for HAZMAT Packager & Shipper Journal. For subscribers to that Journal the article is “Public Comments on PHMSA’s Enhanced Enforcement Rule”. This article is a in depth look at an idea I briefly discussed in a blog on this site. I had planned on looking at the ideas in more depth here, but it would have required too much space. So when I was asked to write this article I jumped at the chance as it gave me a chance to cover the idea in a more appropriate length. Of course, the fact that I got paid for it was also a good thing. As a free lance writer by profession I will continue to write for other publications about some of the same issues that I cover here on my blog. When I can, I will provide links in this blog to the sites where the article is published. Sometimes those links will only be useable by subscribers; that is the way of the publishing world. More often than not, my articles on chemical facility security and chemical transportation security will be more in depth looks at issues that I have already raised here in this blog. The blog format provides a lot more immediacy, a quicker response to issues and incidents. Magazine articles, take more lead time, but provide for more time for consideration and research and allow for more expansive writing. Both of these venues provide me a chance to comment on, and perhaps influence the ongoing efforts of the chemical industry and its observers to prevent terrorists from using the chemicals necessary for commerce as weapons against our society. I expect that this will be a long career.