(The Sacramento Bee published the following story by Carrie Peyton Dahlberg on its website on September 16.)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — State utility regulators Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to help them enforce special safety requirements on a derailment-plagued stretch of track along the Sacramento River near Dunsmuir.
“This is an environmentally sensitive area. It’s important that the state of California be able to exercise control over these sorts of areas,” said Rich Clark, director of consumer protection and safety at the state Public Utilities Commission.
Union Pacific Railroad had argued successfully before a lower federal court that the Federal Railroad Administration, not the PUC, is responsible for overseeing safety along the twisty line of track called the Cantara Loop.
“If we were subject to different laws in all the states we operate in, it would be chaotic,” said Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley. The railroad will fight the PUC appeal, he said.
The steep, winding rail line that runs along a portion of the Sacramento River has worried regulators and lawmakers since at least 1991, when a deadly herbicide from a derailed train sterilized the river for 38 miles, wiping out fish and plant life. Just last month five empty rail cars fell into the river, reviving fears of another toxic spill.
State regulators want to require the railroad to get PUC approval before changing internal operating rules along that stretch of track, to institute extra training programs and to cooperate with state authorities on the placement of rail cars.