And yet, they are apparently both scheduled to be de-listed. A member on another forum has a wife who works in the coatings industry and who has to take regular training classes in hazardous materials handling, and therefore stays up to date. She reports the most recent class she took indicated both powder and primers would be removed from the listings in 2014.
Loaded ammo has gone unlisted because it isn't considered likely enough to go off by accident. Most primers are packaged just fine, so they don't, either. As far as I know, there are no historical instances of trucks carrying either primers or powder having a problem. That may be the reason. They may eliminate things form the list if no issues have resulted after twenty years or some other period. I don't know how they decide. It may also be that the de-listing will only be for smaller quantities, too. I just don't have any details beyond the classroom report. I note the current regs draw a line for powders at quantities of 100 lbs or less. They impose the current fee because the powder is classified as an explosive, as distinct from a flammable solid. Perhaps, for small quantities, that classification is going to be changed to flammable solid?
This is an interesting read. The common carriers can continue to require their own hazmat fee, even if the DOT drops it.
The current list of hazmats is available in an Excel file from the government,
here. (If you don't have Excel, download the free
Open Office Suite and install it; the suite's spreadsheet program, Calc, will let you read the file.)