Resolution 050148

..Title Authorizing City Council's Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities to hold public hearings to investigate the operations of CSX Transportation [CSXT] in and around the City of Philadelphia and their impact on the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of Philadelphia, and authorizing the issuance of subpoenas by the chair of the committee to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents to the full extent authorized under Section 2-401 of the Home Rule Charter. ..Body WHEREAS, This Council, by Resolution No. 041090 (adopted on December 16, 2004), has publicly deplored the efforts by CSXT to deprive Philadelphians of public access to one of the City's treasures, the Schuylkill River Park and its trails through a misguided lawsuit and also deplored CSXT's contempt for the City as demonstrated by its refusal to promptly and appropriately repair its structural supports and bridge over 25th Street and by its practice of parking trains filled with noxious garbage along side the Fitler Square neighborhood; and WHEREAS, CSXT transports extremely toxic chemicals throughout its rail network in the Northeast, including on tracks through the City of Philadelphia, placing the residents of Philadelphia at grave peril. Just last month, a train derailment ruptured a Norfolk Southern tank car and unleashed a choking cloud of caustic chlorine gas near the small town of Graniteville, S.C., killing nine people and injuring 250; and WHEREAS, Terrorists targeting train cars carrying hazardous cargos could turn CSXT trains into weapons of mass destruction, leading to the death of 100,000 Philadelphia residents within a half an hour; and WHEREAS, Washington, DC has recently passed legislation prohibiting CSXT from transporting hazardous materials through the downtown areas of the District of Columbia in an effort to protect the nation's capitol from terrorism; now therefore be it RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities is hereby authorized to hold public hearings to investigate the operations of CSXT Transportation in and around the City of Philadelphia and their impact on the public health, safety and welfare of the residents of Philadelphia, and authorizes the issuance of subpoenas by the chair of the committee to compel the attendance of witnesses and the production of documents to the full extent authorized under Section 2-401 of the Home Rule Charter. ..End