SLS 19RS-1914 ORIGINAL
2019 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 101
BY SENATORS CARTER, ALARIO AND MORRELL AND REPRESENTATIVE
MARINO
RAILROADS. Requests DOTD and DEQ to collaborate with the Union Pacific Railroad
and designated federal agencies to conduct a thorough environmental review on quantifiable
public health, safety, and welfare impacts associated with any new railroad alignment in the
city of Gretna.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the
3 Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to collaborate with the Union
4 Pacific Railroad, the Federal Railroad Administration, the executive office of the
5 United States Department of Transportation, and the Surface Transportation Board
6 to conduct a thorough environmental review that accounts for the magnitude of
7 adverse, quantifiable public health, safety, and welfare impacts associated with any
8 new railroad alignment in the city of Gretna, Louisiana.
9 WHEREAS, the city of Gretna is acknowledged to have some of the most
10 problematic urban rail safety conditions in the country, with some of the nation's highest
11 concentration of unprotected rail crossings and insufficient buffers for the transport of
12 hazardous materials; and
13 WHEREAS, the city of Gretna, and other regional partners, including the New
14 Orleans Gulf Coast Railroad, Jefferson Parish, and Plaquemines Parish, worked together to
15 identify a viable, mutually agreed upon realignment during a four-year Environmental
16 Assessment for the LA 23 New Orleans and Gulf Coast Railway Relocation Project
17 conducted by the Federal Railroad Administration; and
18 WHEREAS, any new rail alignment within the city of Gretna that does not conform
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SLS 19RS-1914 ORIGINAL
1 to the preferred alternative should require a thorough environmental review that fully
2 accounts for the public health and safety impacts associated with the addition of new
3 crossings, transport of hazardous materials, impact on emergency services response and
4 critical facilities, and community quality of life and welfare.
5 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
6 urge and request the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development and the
7 Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to collaborate with the Union Pacific
8 Railroad, the Federal Railroad Administration, the executive office of the United States
9 Department of Transportation, and the Surface Transportation Board to conduct a thorough
10 environmental review that accounts for the magnitude of adverse, quantifiable public health,
11 safety, and welfare impacts associated with any new railroad alignment in the city of Gretna,
12 Louisiana.
13 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
14 secretary of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, the secretary of
15 the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, the Union Pacific Railroad, the
16 administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, the secretary of the United States
17 Department of Transportation, and the chairwoman of the Surface Transportation Board.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Jerry J. Guillot.
DIGEST
SCR 101 Original 2019 Regular Session Carter
Requests the DOTD and the LDEQ to collaborate with the Union Pacific Railroad, the
Federal Railroad Administration, the executive office of the U.S. DOT, and the Surface
Transportation Board to conduct a thorough environmental review that accounts for the
magnitude of adverse, quantifiable public health, safety, and welfare impacts associated with
any new railroad alignment in Gretna, Louisiana.
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