It is the purpose of this Act to require the Illinois Department of Transportation to adopt by regulation the federal hazardous materials placarding regulations promulgated under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act ( PL 93-633) for interstate and intrastate transportation of hazardous materials as they are applicable in the State of Illinois, and to recommend that units of local government adopt regulations for hazard signage systems applicable to the use, storage, and manufacture of hazardous materials with the following exceptions:
(a) No hazard signage system or State placarding requirements shall apply to the use, storage, or transportation of a hazardous material that is located on a farm and that is used solely for agricultural purposes. It is not the purpose of this Section to exempt the owner of an agricultural hazardous material from reporting an accident involving the material as required in Sections 7 and 7.01 of this Act, nor is it the purpose of this Section to exempt from the placarding requirements the storage, transportation or manufacture of a hazardous material that is an agricultural material when the material is in the possession of the manufacturer, distributor, dealer, retailer or any other person who handles the material in larger quantities than those designed for consumer use or for any purpose other than its intended agricultural usage.(c) No placarding requirements or hazard signage requirements adopted pursuant to this Act shall apply to pipelines or meters involved in the transmission of natural or flammable gas by a public utility as defined in the Public Utilities Act.(d) This Act does not authorize the Department to require any placarding system for transportation of hazardous materials that is inconsistent with any placarding system required by Federal law or regulation, nor does it authorize the Department to require any placarding system or other standards for transportation of hazardous materials that is more stringent than any placarding system or standard required by the federal law or regulations in situations where a federal placarding system exists. P.A. 90-449, eff. 8/16/1997.