Full Text of HR0068 96th General Assembly
HR0068 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The Surface Transportation Board (STB) was | 3 |
| created in the Interstate Commerce Commission Termination Act | 4 |
| of 1995 and is the successor agency to the Interstate Commerce | 5 |
| Commission, which was established in 1887; and
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| WHEREAS, The STB is an economic regulatory agency that | 7 |
| Congress charged with the fundamental missions of resolving | 8 |
| railroad rate and service disputes and reviewing proposed | 9 |
| railroad mergers; and
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| WHEREAS, Under current law, the STB has the power to | 11 |
| approve all mergers and consolidations between a Class I | 12 |
| railroad and a Class II railroad unless it finds that the | 13 |
| merger is likely to cause a substantial lessening of | 14 |
| competition, create a monopoly, or restrain trade in freight | 15 |
| surface transportation in any region of the United States; the | 16 |
| anti-competitive effects of the transaction outweigh the | 17 |
| public interest in meeting significant transportation needs; | 18 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, In October of 2007, the Canadian National Railway | 20 |
| (CN) filed a merger application with the STB to acquire control | 21 |
| of the Elgin, Joliet, and Eastern Railway Company (EJ & E), | 22 |
| which runs from Waukegan to Gary, Indiana; and
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| WHEREAS, If the merger is approved, the CN plans to use | 2 |
| this line as a bypass route for its Intermodal freight traffic | 3 |
| that currently runs through central Chicago onto the EJ & E | 4 |
| mainline; and
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| WHEREAS, The CN's application stated that the line would | 6 |
| increase freight traffic in 50 communities by 400% to 600%; and
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| WHEREAS, The CN purchase of the EJ & E rail line will have | 8 |
| a serious impact on the day-to-day lives of working families | 9 |
| across the region, such as traffic congestion and grade | 10 |
| crossing safety concerns, emergency vehicle access, | 11 |
| interruption of commuter rail service, hazardous materials | 12 |
| transportation safety, noise pollution, decreased property | 13 |
| values, economic job loss, and increased taxes to pay for | 14 |
| mitigation expenses associated with infrastructure impact from | 15 |
| the purchase of the EJ & E rail line; and
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| WHEREAS, The STB's criteria and standards for approval of | 17 |
| merger applications are antiquated and need modernization as | 18 |
| railway mergers no longer impact sparsely populated areas of | 19 |
| the United States, instead occurring in highly populated and | 20 |
| congested areas; and
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| WHEREAS, The STB's questionable analysis that the merger of |
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| the CN and EJ & E would have a minor impact on the region, and | 2 |
| the CN's unrealistic estimate of the financial and | 3 |
| socioeconomic ramifications to the affected communities | 4 |
| illustrate the need for congressional intervention on this | 5 |
| issue; and | 6 |
| WHEREAS, The Illinois delegation members of Congress have | 7 |
| worked with the Chairman of the House Transportation & | 8 |
| Infrastructure Committee to draft legislation to require the | 9 |
| public interest of residents and communities threatened by | 10 |
| negative environment and safety impacts of large railroad | 11 |
| mergers and acquisitions transactions be considered on an equal | 12 |
| basis with the industry's shipping and transportation | 13 |
| competition benefits as a result of the transactions; and
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| WHEREAS, H.R. 6707 was introduced in Congress on July 1, | 15 |
| 2008 to require that the safety and environmental effects of | 16 |
| proposed mergers must have equal weighting to the benefits to | 17 |
| commerce, including the effects on local communities, such as | 18 |
| public safety, grade crossing safety, hazardous materials | 19 |
| transportation safety, emergency response time, noise, and | 20 |
| socioeconomic impacts, as well as the effect of the proposed | 21 |
| transaction on intercity rail passenger transportation and | 22 |
| commuter rail passenger transportation; and
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| WHEREAS, Although H.R. 6707 did not receive the two-thirds |
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| majority needed to pass the House of Representatives in the | 2 |
| 110th Congress, continued congressional intervention in the | 3 |
| 111th Congress is needed to protect the public interest of | 4 |
| community residents impacted by the proposed CN and EJ & E | 5 |
| merger; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 7 |
| NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 8 |
| encourage and support action by the 111th Congress of the | 9 |
| United States to enact legislation to update STB standards and | 10 |
| criteria for approval of railroad merger applications to | 11 |
| equally weigh the public interest of residents and communities | 12 |
| with the benefits to commerce; and to require approved mergers | 13 |
| to include adequate federal and private support to compensate | 14 |
| impacted local communities for, but not limited to, road | 15 |
| improvements to municipal and county roads and commuter rails; | 16 |
| and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That we believe that the federal government and | 18 |
| the CN should compensate the communities impacted by the CN and | 19 |
| EJ & E merger for all infrastructure needs associated with the | 20 |
| merger, including but not limited to, improvements to municipal | 21 |
| and county streets, grade crossings, and commuter rail; and be | 22 |
| it further | 23 |
| RESOLVED, That we encourage Congress and President Barack |
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| Obama to support H.R. 693, the Reaching the Star Act creating a | 2 |
| Suburban Transit Access Route, or STAR line inter-suburban | 3 |
| commuter rail to ease road traffic congestion in 100 | 4 |
| communities from Joliet to O'Hare International Airport, | 5 |
| providing safe and reliable transportation options for the more | 6 |
| than 1.6 million area residents living in high-congestion | 7 |
| areas; and be it further | 8 |
| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be sent | 9 |
| to President Barack Obama, the Speaker and Minority Leader of | 10 |
| the United State House of Representatives, the President Pro | 11 |
| Tempore and the Minority Leader of the United States Senate, | 12 |
| and to each member of the Illinois congressional delegation.
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