(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Sarah Karush on January 23.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Lawyers for the District of Columbia and the Sierra Club argued Tuesday in federal court that the city’s ban on trains carrying hazardous cargo does not conflict with federal regulations and should be allowed to take effect.
D.C. passed a law in 2005 banning hazardous material shipments within 2.2 miles of the Capitol. Enforcement has been delayed pending the outcome of a lawsuit by freight rail carrier CSX Transportation Inc. and the federal government.
The federal government argues that rules issued in 2003 by the Department of Transportation have supremacy over state and local regulations on the shipment of hazardous materials. Those rules require carriers to have security plans for hazardous shipments.
CSX says federal regulations rightly give rail carriers flexibility in determining how to handle hazardous shipments.
“You can’t require carriers to reroute around Washington, D.C., when, for example, there could be threats to other jurisdictions,” CSX attorney Virginia Seitz told U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan.
The railroad industry says forcing trains to take longer, circuitous routes could increase the likelihood of an accident. The companies fear other cities will follow Washington’s lead if the law is held up in court.
D.C. and the Sierra Club say the district does have authority to regulate shipments because there is no evidence the federal government ever considered whether to require rail carriers to change their routes. They also argued that at the federal level, the Department of Homeland Security, not Transportation, is charged with regulating rail security.
The District, meanwhile, has a legitimate interest in keeping out hazardous cargo, the law’s defenders said.
“There is a tremendous real threat every day,” said James Wrathall, a lawyer for the Sierra Club.
Citing last week’s derailment of a CSX train carrying chemicals in Kentucky, Wrathall said: “If that had happened in D.C. with a chlorine car, the best estimate we have on record is that we’re talking about tens of thousands of deaths,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Transportation Department has proposed new rules on hazardous rail shipments. They would require railroads to determine routes for hazardous shipments that pose the least danger to people nearby.
At Tuesday’s hearing, Sullivan first asked whether he should postpone ruling on the case until the new regulations are finalized. But later he said he would not postpone it, since it is unclear how long the process would take and what the final rules will look like.
However, Sullivan gave no indication when he would rule.