IMHO some of the statements made in this article really may not stand up to fact checking.. We'll let the lawyers decide.. Be sure to follow the link at the bottom for
the whole article as it is lengthy.
[quote="At 9:44 PM on Sep 26, 2015 In an article entitled "Grafton railroad rides exemption ticket with propane facility", Isaiah Thompson of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting staff"]
Grafton railroad rides exemption ticket with propane facility
Construction continues at Grafton & Upton Railroad's liquefied propane gas transloading facility Sept. 17
in Grafton. T&G Staff/Paul Kapteyn
GRAFTON — In early 2012, residents began to notice an unusual amount of activity around the Grafton & Upton rail yard at the north end of town. An old barn came down. Earth moving equipment cleared the land.
The 16.5-mile railroad was purchased in 2008 by Jon Delli Priscoli, a major local developer with a penchant for railroads; he also owns the “Thomas the Tank Engine” theme park in Carver.
At least one town official who visited the site to ask about the construction - and why the town had seen no applications for construction and the railroad plans - said he was told that the railroad's activities were not subject to review by the town.
In December 2012, Delli Priscoli finally unveiled his plans to more than 100 residents at a meeting in the town gym. The railroad yard, he announced, was to become a “transloading” facility to receive propane brought in by rail and transferred onto tanker trucks for distribution. With four 120-foot long, 80,000-gallon storage tanks to be filled by up to 2,000 train tank-cars a year, it would be the biggest rail propane facility in Massachusetts.
Residents were dumbfounded.
The location was in the middle of a residential neighborhood, less than 2,000 feet from an elementary school and atop the town’s water supply protection zone. But, aside from an application to the state’s Fire Marshal, the railroad had not requested nor obtained, town officials say, local permits, environmental assessments, zoning variances - or permission.
And it was the railroad’s position that it didn’t have to. Being a railroad, the Grafton & Upton asserted, it was exempt from state and local law that interfered with its business.
As one resident put it, “You mean we have no rights?”
Around the country, in towns as small as Grafton and cities as large as Philadelphia and Chicago, communities are beginning to ask the same question as the domestic energy boom makes the expansion of railway infrastructure - to host trains carrying energy products like crude and ethanol - a profitable venture indeed.
After more than a dozen serious explosions, fires and spills around the country, such incidents are causing more concern. But an investigation by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting suggests a critical part of the energy-by-rail picture has largely escaped national attention: The rail industry is using historic exemptions from state and local laws to build transfer and processing stations free from permitting.
A loophole in federal regulatory law, critics say, is how the railroads are able to bypass local and state laws. Critics argue railroads are doing so with the backing of the Surface Transportation Board, which has created what some call a “regulation-free zone” and asserted jurisdiction over railroads that trumps health and safety laws.
The result is a “regulatory hole you could drive a train through,” said Ginny Sinkel Kremer, an attorney who has represents Grafton in its legal battles against the transloading facility and the STB.[/quote]
Read a whole lot more at the Telegram's web site
the whole article as it is lengthy.
[quote="At 9:44 PM on Sep 26, 2015 In an article entitled "Grafton railroad rides exemption ticket with propane facility", Isaiah Thompson of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting staff"]
Grafton railroad rides exemption ticket with propane facility
Construction continues at Grafton & Upton Railroad's liquefied propane gas transloading facility Sept. 17
in Grafton. T&G Staff/Paul Kapteyn
GRAFTON — In early 2012, residents began to notice an unusual amount of activity around the Grafton & Upton rail yard at the north end of town. An old barn came down. Earth moving equipment cleared the land.
The 16.5-mile railroad was purchased in 2008 by Jon Delli Priscoli, a major local developer with a penchant for railroads; he also owns the “Thomas the Tank Engine” theme park in Carver.
At least one town official who visited the site to ask about the construction - and why the town had seen no applications for construction and the railroad plans - said he was told that the railroad's activities were not subject to review by the town.
In December 2012, Delli Priscoli finally unveiled his plans to more than 100 residents at a meeting in the town gym. The railroad yard, he announced, was to become a “transloading” facility to receive propane brought in by rail and transferred onto tanker trucks for distribution. With four 120-foot long, 80,000-gallon storage tanks to be filled by up to 2,000 train tank-cars a year, it would be the biggest rail propane facility in Massachusetts.
Residents were dumbfounded.
The location was in the middle of a residential neighborhood, less than 2,000 feet from an elementary school and atop the town’s water supply protection zone. But, aside from an application to the state’s Fire Marshal, the railroad had not requested nor obtained, town officials say, local permits, environmental assessments, zoning variances - or permission.
And it was the railroad’s position that it didn’t have to. Being a railroad, the Grafton & Upton asserted, it was exempt from state and local law that interfered with its business.
As one resident put it, “You mean we have no rights?”
Around the country, in towns as small as Grafton and cities as large as Philadelphia and Chicago, communities are beginning to ask the same question as the domestic energy boom makes the expansion of railway infrastructure - to host trains carrying energy products like crude and ethanol - a profitable venture indeed.
After more than a dozen serious explosions, fires and spills around the country, such incidents are causing more concern. But an investigation by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting suggests a critical part of the energy-by-rail picture has largely escaped national attention: The rail industry is using historic exemptions from state and local laws to build transfer and processing stations free from permitting.
A loophole in federal regulatory law, critics say, is how the railroads are able to bypass local and state laws. Critics argue railroads are doing so with the backing of the Surface Transportation Board, which has created what some call a “regulation-free zone” and asserted jurisdiction over railroads that trumps health and safety laws.
The result is a “regulatory hole you could drive a train through,” said Ginny Sinkel Kremer, an attorney who has represents Grafton in its legal battles against the transloading facility and the STB.[/quote]
Read a whole lot more at the Telegram's web site
Seen behind the motorman on the inside wall of a PCC departing "Riverside" many years ago: "Pickpockets are on duty for your convenience."
. Or send an email to the author with a link...
