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Rail Firm Challenges Ban on Hazardous Shipments
The CSX Corp. railroad firm has asked a federal regulatory board to quash a 90-day order enacted by the District of Columbia Council barring train shipments of chlorine and other toxic materials from passing through the nation’s capital, the Washington Post reported yesterday (see GSN, Feb. 2). The emergency order violates the company’s constitutional right to conduct interstate commerce, and would do little to improve safety while forcing some trains to be rerouted through several states to avoid the city, CSX argues in its filing with the federal Surface Transportation Board. D.C. Attorney General Robert Spagnoletti said Tuesday he is planning an “aggressive battle” against efforts to overturn the ban. He noted, though, that the effort would require additional money as his office’s $4 million litigation budget is already designated for other purposes. Council members plan to seek a permanent block on trains carrying toxic materials into the District. CSX in its filing acknowledged that it began voluntarily rerouting hazardous materials shipments around the city last spring, the Post reported. “I guess two different people were writing it: one who said they are already doing (the ban) and another who said it was impossible to do,” said council member Kathy Patterson, who co-sponsored the emergency legislation (Eric Weiss, Washington Post, Feb. 9). Mayor Anthony Williams said he would sign the emergency legislation and put the ban into effect, the Washington Examiner reported today. “I think our first order of business is to err on the side of our people and the protection of our people,” Williams said (Washington Examiner, Feb. 10).
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