(The Sacramento Bee posted the following editorial on its website on February 22.)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The nation’s railroads faced off against the state of California in federal court recently. The state contends, reasonably, that it should have the authority to protect its citizens and the environment from negligent operators transporting toxic or potentially explosive cargo along hazardous stretches of track. The railroads say only the federal government can regulate their operations.
Unfortunately, federal regulators have failed frequently to protect the public or the environment. Eleven years ago, a freight train derailed in the Upper Sacramento River Canyon, dumping thousands of gallons of weed killer into one of the best fly-fishing rivers in the country and killing every living thing in a 38-mile stretch of river. Responding to that catastrophe, the Legislature directed the California Public Utility Commission to impose more stringent safety rules. The PUC identified 14 hazardous stretches of track, including the circuitous Cantara Loop above Dunsmuir where the accident took place. State regulators imposed special safety rules for those areas, requiring extra crew training in some instances or special train make-up, lower speeds and other precautions.
The railroads sued, insisting that only the federal government has authority to regulate interstate commerce. A federal judge concurred and most of the PUC’s rules were thrown out. The single provision retained permitted the state to designate the Cantara Loop as a “local safety hazard” and to require better quality tracks there.
Both the state and the railroads appealed and last week oral arguments were heard in the 9th District Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The railroads say that allowing states to set rules would produce a patchwork of different rules throughout the country, creating chaos in interstate commerce.
But federal regulators are not always familiar with local conditions. That is precisely why federal law permits states to impose an extra measure of protection for known local hazards. The Cantara Loop, with its 10 miles of winding steep roadbed and hairpin curves, certainly qualifies as hazardous. So do the 13 other hazardous stretches of track in California identified by the state PUC.
California regulators are trying to protect public safety. Railroads would be wise to join them in that effort, not fight it.