(The following article by Rick Casey was posted on the Houston Chronicle website on November 17.)
HOUSTON — Back in July, a spokesman said the House majority leader had “no plans at this point to insert ourselves” into a raging controversy regarding a proposed new rail line that would carry hazardous materials near the homes of DeLay’s suburban Clear Lake constituents.
The line was being pushed by petrochemical companies who said they were tired of paying high monopoly-level prices for low monopoly-level service to Union Pacific Railroad. Four shipping companies joined with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to propose a 12.8-mile “San Jacinto” line to break the monopoly.
But three weeks ago at City Hall, DeLay joined Mayor Bill White, County Judge Robert Eckels and U.S. Rep. Gene Green for a session with the CEOs of both Union Pacific and Burlington Northern. The message: Our constituents don’t want another rail line in their back yards. Solve the problem.
DeLay gets credit for adding starch to the message by getting the two executives to commit to a Nov. 15 deadline.
Cautious hope
For good measure, the chairman of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Surface Transportation Board, Roger Nober, with whom White had discussed railroad problems for months, lined up with the elected officials at the meeting.
As of yesterday, the day after the deadline, spokesmen for both railroads declined to characterize the state of the negotiations.
But political and chemical industry sources said they were very close.
“We’re extremely hopeful it will greatly reduce the need to build the new line,” said Frank Michel, spokesman for White. But he offered a caution: “We can’t say 100 percent this will be accomplished.”
DeLay’s office issued a joint statement with the mayor saying, “It is our hope that in a very short time, after the shippers in the Bayport Loop review the proposed deal, Burlington Northern will be able to use the existing Union Pacific rail line that serves the Bayport Loop.”
David Harpole is a spokesman for Lyondell Chemical, one of the companies partnering with Burlington Northern to build the new line.
Harpole said he understood the railroad companies were close, but that Burlington Northern would have to present the proposal to the four partners for approval.
‘True competition’
He said he understood the proposal falls short of what his company really wants — an arrangement that provides “true competition, both in terms of service and price.”
He said he understood the proposal would not open up competition for all shippers in the Bayport industrial area, but would address only concerns of the four companies that partnered with Burlington Northern.
This likely would be a temporary solution requiring DeLay to swing his hammer more forcefully later.
DeLay’s reluctance to get involved was understandable. He was, you might say, riding both trains.
Burlington Northern, for example, gave $51,000 to Texans for a Republican Majority, the DeLay-inspired political action committee formed to gain Republican control of the Texas House of Representatives.
Its success enabled DeLay to get the Legislature to redraw Congressional districts in such a way that Republicans beat four incumbent Texas Democrats.
The PAC is at the center of a set of indictments in Austin regarding illegal corporate contributions. Burlington Northern was not among those indicted.
DeLay also has hired lawyer Ed Bethune, a Washington lobbyist for Burlington Northern, to represent him in a Congressional ethics investigation.
Union Pacific also has been generous to DeLay. At the 2000 Republican National Convention, he got them to donate a line of luxury train cars to line up outside Philadelphia’s Fleet Center for the wining and dining of politicians, big-time donors and lobbyists.
In 2001 and 2002, Union Pacific’s PAC gave $75,000 to DeLay’s Americans for a Republican Majority.
More recently, the company PAC gave $25,000 to Republican candidates to the Texas House favored by DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority.
So why did DeLay change his mind about getting involved in the controversy?
For the first time in many years, DeLay had to return to his district to campaign hard for re-election.
Back in Clear Lake, he heard first-hand the passion with which his constituents opposed the new rail line. Briefly, Clear Lake residents had the kind of access railroad executives pay big bucks for.
In politics as in railroads, competition makes for responsiveness.