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Rail safety fight rolls into election politics
This is not about rail safety per se, but how elected and regulatory officials in MN are approaching the subject.
Rail safety fight rolls into election politics
November 23, 2015
J. Patrick Coolican | Star Tribune
Freight rail companies have enjoyed a surge in profits in recent years, thanks in part to the Bakken oil boom. But the profits have come with new political peril, as elected officials — on the DFL side especially — have taken up the cause of oil train safety with gusto.
Some 326,000 Minnesotans live within a half mile of freight tracks, and fiery train crashes elsewhere are raising concerns about similar incidents closer to home.
In recent weeks, Minneapolis City Council members passed a resolution on oil train safety; Gov. Mark Dayton wrote a letter to BNSF Railways expressing concern about more trains coming through the western suburbs to downtown Minneapolis; and U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken demanded more communication between rail companies and state and local officials to improve safety.
DFLers are seizing on the reignited tensions between railroads and local communities, particularly those in closely contested legislative districts where they hope to chain Republicans to the train industry and pick up the votes they need to win control of the state House.
November 23, 2015
J. Patrick Coolican | Star Tribune
Freight rail companies have enjoyed a surge in profits in recent years, thanks in part to the Bakken oil boom. But the profits have come with new political peril, as elected officials — on the DFL side especially — have taken up the cause of oil train safety with gusto.
Some 326,000 Minnesotans live within a half mile of freight tracks, and fiery train crashes elsewhere are raising concerns about similar incidents closer to home.
In recent weeks, Minneapolis City Council members passed a resolution on oil train safety; Gov. Mark Dayton wrote a letter to BNSF Railways expressing concern about more trains coming through the western suburbs to downtown Minneapolis; and U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken demanded more communication between rail companies and state and local officials to improve safety.
DFLers are seizing on the reignited tensions between railroads and local communities, particularly those in closely contested legislative districts where they hope to chain Republicans to the train industry and pick up the votes they need to win control of the state House.
