Proposed bill to limit rail power over solid waste facilities.* Saying he realizes "the Surface Transportation Board (STB See set-top box. STB - set-top box ) must have broad jurisdiction over rail transportation, but that jurisdiction should not be interpreted in a way that puts our environment at risk," Sen. Frank Lautenberg Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (born January 23, 1924) is a businessman and Democratic Party politician. Now the senior United States Senator from New Jersey, he is in his second stint in office, first serving from 1983 to 2001, and again since 2003. (D-New Jersey) introduced a bill that would curtail cur·tail tr.v. cur·tailed, cur·tail·ing, cur·tails To cut short or reduce. See Synonyms at shorten. [Middle English curtailen, to restrict the STB's control over solid waste facilities operating along railroad railroad or railway, form of transportation most commonly consisting of steel rails, called tracks, on which freight cars, passenger cars, and other rolling stock are drawn by one locomotive or more. lines. The bill is in response to the solid waste rail haul facilities that have sprung up in New Jersey and that are planned or proposed for other states. These facilities claimed to be governed by the STB's broad authority over rail activity and, therefore, exempt from all federal, state and local control, especially regarding solid waste and environmental regulations. Writing in the Federal Register, Lautenbach says, "Although transporting solid waste by rail can reduce the number of trucks hauling solid waste on public roads, handling this waste without careful planning and management presents a danger to human health and the environment. These transfer operations create thick dust, which is potentially hazardous and is breathed in by local residents and business owners. Some transfer facilities don't have proper drainage on site, leading to the potential contamination of surface and groundwater and nearby wetlands." He adds, "In addition, these facilities raise serious concerns about the safety of their workers and the exemptions they claim from strong state worker protection laws." William Turley, executive director of the Construction Materials Recycling recycling, the process of recovering and reusing waste products—from household use, manufacturing, agriculture, and business—and thereby reducing their burden on the environment. Association (CMRA CMRA Commercial Mail Receiving Agency CMRA Construction Materials Recycling Association CMRA Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association CMRA Capital Market Risk Advisors, Inc. ) and associate publisher of Construction and Demolition Recycling, which was one of the groups that strongly opposed the application to STB to set up one of these sites in Massachusetts, applauded SB 1607, but says the bill will have a tough fight. "The railroads and STB enjoy the sweeping powers granted them by government, and even though this is the right thing to do, both from an environmental and a common sense standpoint, those entities are not going to give up any of their power without a fight." But until these facilities are brought under local environmental regulations and the loophole An omission or Ambiguity in a legal document that allows the intent of the document to be evaded. Loopholes come into being through the passage of statutes, the enactment of regulations, the drafting of contracts or the decisions of courts. closed, they will enjoy an unfair economic advantage over legitimate disposal and recycling facilities, he says. |
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