From: nilknocgeo@earthlink.net

"Adam H. Kerman"  wrote in message
news:lim29g$eb4$1@news.albasani.net...
> conklin  wrote:
>
>>The New York Times has a front page article on hazardous material
>>transport
>>by railroads.
>
> I got past the pay wall with two extra steps.
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/16/business/despite-spills-haza
ds-ride-the-rails-in-secret.html
>
>>It seems that when local officials tried to look into a
>>derailment in Westford, MA, they were threatened with arrest.
>
> So what? The town manager and fire chief would have told the police that
> they were there to investigate the incident and determine what local
> emergency response was necessary, and wouldn't have been arrested. Any
> company official can make a police report for trespass, but that doesn't
> mean
> someone would have been arrested. If you don't want to be intimidated,
> don't
> let yourself be intimidated.
>
> It's not like these two people wouldn't have been known to their own
> police department.
>
>>Federal laws shield railroads from almost any supervision.  Yet, if
>>an accident takes place, railroads must rely on local hazardous waste
>>personnel.  It seems that they supply some local officals secret lists
>>of hazardous materials.  How that works seems unclear, but the public
>>does not know.  Also, routes are kept secret too.  And those tin can
>>rail cars will be in use basically forever.  Arresting local mayors who
>>look in on accidents seems to be legal.  They could also arrest local
>>hazrdous material teams too.
>
> Now you're just making shit up. Thanks, George, for making an effort to
> start a decent discussion.
>

The list of hazard materials is NOT public and shared only with certain
officials, and that apparently does not include elected officials.  You
should read the article, which you obviously scanned.  I get the hard copy
myself.  And the article does state that Federal laws shield the railroads
from local supervision and this includes, importantly, decisions on routing
of hazadous materials.  And the officials were threatened with arrest.  And
if the RR decides that the best tracks are through a city and not around it,
hazardout materials go through the city, not around it.


> I would like to know exactly what you think local officials should have
> done
> once it became apparent that the train could be re-railed and there was
> no leak or spill.

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