by Thomas Henry JDSupra.com [co-author: Shannon Morrissey - Law Clerk]
On December 10, 2014, the California Supreme Court granted petition for review in Friends of the Eel River v. North Coast Railroad Authority to resolve a split between the First and Third District Courts of Appeal. (230 Cal.App.4th 85 (2014), cert. granted, 339 P.3d 329, Cal. S.C. Case No. S222472 (2014).) The Court will consider two questions:
(1) Does the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act (“ICCTA”)
(49 U.S.C. § 10101 et seq.) preempt the application of the California
Environmental Quality Act [CEQA] (Pub. Res. Code, § 21050 et seq.) to a
state agency’s proprietary acts with respect to a state-owned and funded
rail line or is CEQA not preempted in such circumstances under the
market participant doctrine (see Town of Atherton v. California High Speed Rail Authority (2014) 228 Cal.App.4th 314)?
(2) Does the ICCTA preempt a state agency’s voluntary commitments to
comply with CEQA as a condition of receiving state funds for a
state-owned rail line and/or leasing state-owned property?
The Supreme Court’s decision on this issue has the potential to affect
crude by rail shipments in California, which has increased dramatically
within California and nationwide in the past several years. In 2013,
railroads transported almost 40 million tons of crude oil across
the U.S., as compared to approximately 20 million tons in 2012 and 7
million tons in 2011, according to data from the Association of American
Railroads..... ..... more here
Links:
Obama opens Atlantic to new drilling The Hill
President Obama unveiled plans Tuesday to open swaths of
the Atlantic and Arctic oceans to new oil and gas exploration, enraging
Democrats......
Oil Well Fire Continues to Burn -
Smith County, Miss. A fire at a Smith County oil well continued to burn
Wednesday. It could be several days before it's finally extinguished.
Water Concerns After Train Derailment -
Allendale County, SC -Crews are working to get a CSX train back on the tracks after a derailment. One of the rail cars the train hit had hydrochloric acid
that spilled after the crash.
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