New Jersey Supreme Court Overturns Hazmat Fee

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

he New Jersey Supreme Court on July 19 struck down the state’s $212 hazardous materials transporter fee, in a decision stemming from a suit American Trucking Associations had brought against the state.

At issue is an annual fee charged equally to interstate and intrastate carriers that transport hazardous materials within New Jersey.

The court, in a unanimous decision, agreed with ATA’s argument that the fee was discriminatory, because under the fee structure “out-of-state truckers will pay a distinctly higher cost per activity on average than in-state truckers will pay.”

ATA initially sued New Jersey over the fee in 1992. After ATA lost in a lower court, the association appealed to the New Jersey Supreme Court in 2000.

For the full story, see the July 26 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.