D.C. Hazardous Rail Shipments Saga Continues

JUST AS CAPITOL HILL awaited the arrival of President Bush and nearly everyone in the presidential line of succession at the House chamber for Tuesday's State of the Union address, a federal judge in U.S. District Court heard arguments over D.C. Council legislation that bars the shipment of hazardous chemicals and other dangerous cargo though the heart of the nation's capital. And in this case, we're talking about a CSX Transportation rail line that runs dangerously close to the U.S. Capitol, under its campus and adjacent to the Supreme Court.

CSX argues that the law oversteps the District's authority and would disrupt interstate commerce. The railroad industry fears that other cities could be easily follow the District's lead and ban hazardous shipments though their cities.

As The Post's Henri E. Cauvin reports:

Under federal regulations, rail operators bear much of the responsibility for assessing risks and determining how to deal with them — an arrangement that critics say puts public safety at the mercy of profit-driven businesses.

Thus far, CSX and the federal government have successfully blocked the District law, pushed by then-D.C. Council member Kathy Patterson, from going into effect. But the danger is still very much real.

From an article in The Post, written by Sally Quinn last year:

Jay Boris of the Naval Research Laboratory said his worst-case scenario would have been an accident along the rail line that runs four blocks from the Capitol. If a big event were taking place on the Mall when such an accident occurred, he said, 100,000 out of 500,000 people might be killed. If an attack were to happen at rush hour, he estimated, the death toll could be 17,000.

And that is something that could realistically incapacitate the legislative branch and Supreme Court, a concern Express explored yesterday.

Recent train derailments in Kentucky — or closer to home, Baltimore's 2001 Howard Street toxic train tunnel fire — make a potential Capitol Hill train disaster even scarier.

» "Judge Weighs Contested Rail Law" [WaPo]
» "Heavy Rail Systems in D.C." [Clouse]
» "Hell on Wheels" [WaPo]
» "Continuity of Government: Who's on Deck?" [Free Ride/Express]
» "Kentucky Derailment Causes Injuries, Chemical Fire" [Reuters]
» "Train Fire, Toxic Cargo Shut City" [Baltimore Sun]

Photo courtesy Sierra Club

Posted By Michael Grass at 12:42 PM on January 24, 2007 Tagged in Capitol Hill , D.C. Government , D.C. Politics , Free Ride , News , The District

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