LAS VEGAS — Federal safety and security specialists told the National Tank Truck Carriers convention here that the government was moving quickly to require special permits for high-risk hazardous materials, and that it is working to secure the national transportation system as a whole, rather than only particular parts of it.

LAS VEGAS — The National Tank Truck Carriers announced plans for President Cliff Harvison to retire at the end of 2005 after 32 years at the helm, and for current Vice President John Conley to then fill the top post.

New Mexico is trying to attract more commercial traffic to its Santa Teresa port of entry by allowing trucks to operate longer on certain days, state officials said.

Despite the fact the Transportation Security Administration announced a delay in using fingerprints to check the backgrounds of truck drivers permitted to haul hazardous materials, some states’ pilot projects may begin the process before the new deadline.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments this week reviewing a lower court decision requiring the government to conduct an environmental impact review before allowing Mexican trucks to deliver goods throughout the United States.

The House of Representatives passed a $275 billion transportation funding package that severely cut back attempts to impose tolls on interstate highways and also granted some exemptions to truck drivers’ hours-of-service rules.

A pair of rules the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published last week would change the way drivers of longer combination vehicles are trained and how all drivers get hired.

The Transportation Security Administration announced April 1 that it was delaying implementation until 2005 of its regulation that would have required fingerprint-based background checks of hazardous materials drivers this year.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta urged freight shippers at the National Industrial Transportation League’s spring policy forum here to help trucking firms and other freight haulers to ease congestion.

The Bush administration told Congress it did not expect to begin fingerprint checks of hazardous materials drivers until January 2005, well past its last official notice that states should begin such checks as early as this spring.