Owner of many District of Columbia rail lines, the CSX Corporation filed the lawsuit claiming that it is unconstitutional for D.C. to place restrictions on interstate commerce. Washington is the first city in the nation to enact rerouting as a safeguard to protect against the dangers of transporting hazardous cargo, and it is worried that other cities will pass similar legislation that would have a negative impact on its business. The Department of Transportation concurred with CSX, stating that federal law preempts the ban and that interstate commerce can only be regulated by the U.S. government. Arguments have been scheduled for March 9 in U.S. District Court, according to the Washington Post.
Late last year, CSX would not disclose whether it had redirected shipments of cargo around the city. Despite this, the D.C. Council received informal reassurances that CSX was voluntarily rerouting these shipments around the city, and therefore did not originally act on the legislation. As CSX filed suit, the public learned that instead of redirecting shipments around the city, the company had simply changed the rail lines it used within the city, continuing to pose dangers to large numbers of city residents.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that industry and the federal government have joined in opposing new safety requirements for chemical safety. In the months following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Environmental Protection Agency was poised to launch a program requiring chemical plants to reduce their hazards. However, opposition from the chemical industry, with support from the White House, scuttled these efforts. As a result, the United States still has no federal legislation to protect its chemical facilities against terrorism.