New! Norfolk Southern Protest - Monday, June 23 at 4:30
To focus public and press attention on the Norfolk Southern Transloading Operation located adjacent to Tucker School, Summers Grove and Cameron Station, the Capital Beltway and Metro, the Cameron Station Civic Association is organizing a protest against Norfolk Southern in Alexandria, VA. This protest will take place on Monday, June 23th, 2008 from 4:30 PM until 6:30 PM in front of the Norfolk Southern site on Metro Road (the address is 1000 Van Dorn); adjacent to Van Dorn Metro Station. WE NEED YOUR HELP. Please bring your own sign or noise maker. Invite other concerned residents of Alexandria and Northern Virginia. This could happen in any neighborhood, at any time - just as it did in Alexandria. See a map of the protest site.
From Cameron Station, go South on Van Dorn Street and take the right exit toward the Van Dorn Metro stop. You will see the entrance to Norfolk Southern's facility on the left-hand side before entering the Metro parking lot.
Suggested language for signs:
Norfolk Southern Against Communities
Norfolk Southern Endangers Lives
Norfolk Southern Has No Regard for Children
Norfolk Southern Is Irresponsible
Norfolk Southern Is A Bad Neighbor
New! June 9 Meeting Summary
We just want to summarize the community meeting on the Norfolk Southern ethanol transloading facility that we held on June 9 at Tucker School. But first off, we appreciate all who were able to attend from Cameron Station and from throughout the City. We had close to 140 attendees, including the Mayor and City Council, the City Attorney, the City Manager and other City staff.
We also appreciate the "bullet points" that Art Impastato, one of our Board members, developed of the meeting. They are included in the numbered sections. The general observations are based on e-mail, telephone and face-to-face comments we received from our residents and friends. We thank those who commented. While there was some variation in expressed views, I think it fair to say that there was some level of dissatisfaction expressed by the majority of commentors regarding the City's presentations and comments.
If you would like to comment (or comment further), we would love to hear from you: cscivicassn@cs.com
General Comments: Most people who commented were disappointed that the City was not more specific concerning matters of public safety and that key concerns had not been addressed adequately. They expected more concrete details, especially with the inordinate amount of time the Fire Chief took. They thought some of the City presentations were too defensive and spent too much time on material that most people had some knowledge of, or was of marginal interest and benefit. They expected more skillful presentations and greater clarity. Most presenters did not use time well. Several speakers lost track of the focus of the meeting and were more concerned about following their own agendas. The audience left with a feeling of lack of confidence and trust.
Art's bullet points are listed in the order in which they were made at the meeting.
1. While the transmodal facility can only handle 20 rail cars, people in the audience noted recently there were 50 cars on the tracks and the Fire Chief, Adam Thiel, confirmed there is no limit as to how many rail cars can be parked on the tracks, that he does not know what they contain and that the City "has no control over what is parked at the facility."
2. The Fire Chief admitted that the response times from the ethanol fighting truck at Wheeler Avenue where the foam truck is stored "are a challenge for us" and it would take 7 to 8 minutes to respond without congestion.
3. The Fire Chief admitted that, as recently occurred in Indiana, if the ethanol tanks were stuck by lightning, it would cause a "disaster" that would exceed the capacity of the City to respond.
4. The Fire Chief said his department will be doing evacuation and preparedness exercises in the near future that will involve the community.
5. Mayor Euille said that he still feels that the current location is not the right location for such a facility and wants Norfolk Southern ("NS") to "cease and desist immediately."
6. Mayor Euille spoke with Governor Kaine on this issue on 5/28/08 and will be meeting next week with Congressman Moran and Senators Webb and Warner to discuss a "legislative solution."
7. Mayor Euille said the City gave NS a restrictive trucking permit on 6/3/08 from hauling the ethanol from the facility which will be the topic of a City Council public hearing on 6/14/08. [Note: although the City issued the permit, NS refused to sign it and maintains they are subject only to Federal regulation and the City has no regulatory control over them.]
8. The Mayor said City Council will be meeting in executive session on 6/10/08 to discuss the ethanol facility and consider the filing of a "declaratory petition" seeking a ruling that the City is not preempted by federal law to regulate the facility.
9. City Manager Jim Hartmann said he's met with Homeland Security to discus this.
10. City Attorney Ignacio Pessoa said that they will pursue the possibility (unclear if by lawsuit or by discussion) of going after NS for federal safety issues since he believes NS is not in compliance with federal safety regulations.
11. Pessoa said the recent changes to the law on transportation of solid waste are not helpful in this situation since the City would still be preempted from taking action.
12. Euille said he'd ask Hartmann to meet with WMATA (i.e,.Metro) and VDOT (Virginia Department of Transportation) on this.
13. Euille said he will not put a moratorium on Landmark/Van Dorm or West Eisenhower plans until the City decides on the issue of what course it wants to take on industrial uses in the West End, but said that ultimately was for City Council to decide.
14. The Fire Chief said his department inspected the facility and it meets fire code regulations.
15. David Lawson Vice President of NS admitted that he expects, due to the demand for ethanol, for the facility to "ramp up" in the future. {Note: NS can operate the facility 24/7.]
16. The Fire Chief, after a discussion of the proximity of Tucker Elementary, admitted that this is "an absolutely terrible site" for such a facility.
17. Lawson, in response to a question, said it was unlikely NS would change its hours of operation so they ran other than during rush hour and other peak traffic times due to difficulty in getting ethanol to the two "tank farms" located in Springfield and in Fairfax City. Lawson also said NS could not build a transloading facility near the Springfield tank farm since the land and tracks near it are owned by CSX.
18. The Fire Chief said he has done a homeland security assessment on the facility and people noted the fence around the facility is a joke, with two recent incidents occurring (the specifics of the incidents were not mentioned by Zina Raye of Summers Grove)
19. The Fire Chief said that NS did not notify Metro of this facility nor was VRE (Virginia Railway Express, an entity of VDOT).
20. Lawson said NS "looked at" the fact the facility was located near Metro but their primary considerations for location were it's on land zoned as industrial, they own the land, and proximity to the two tank farms.
21. Pessoa noted the City cannot take the land by eminent domain; that action would have to be done by the Feds.
22. The Fire Chief noted that none of the Superfund requirements like the Emergency Right to Know Act and Clean Air Act apply to this facility since it is not a "fixed facility."
The City has posted an information section of its version of the Norfolk Southern situation on its website: www.alexandriava.gov.
Other supporting documents include:
1) A timeline outlined by Norfolk Southern as to the events and meetings held with the city staff beginning in June 2006. (prepared June 6, 2008)
2) The city's timeline, beginning in June 2006. (prepared June 16, 2008)
Issue Background (from May 27, 2007):
In mid-April, the Norfolk Southern Corporation began operation of an ethanol trans-loading station in the West End of Alexandria. (Ethanol, which is mixed in various proportions with gasoline as an automotive fuel, is a flammable liquid that requires a special type of fire-fighting foam to extinguish.) The tanker cars pull up on the railroad tracks behind Cameron Station and Tucker Elementary and, as many of you have noticed, sit for days or weeks on end. The site is used for transferring liquid ethanol from rail cars into tanker trucks for delivery to gasoline tank farms in Springfield and in Fairfax City.
Alexandria's City Manager, Jim Hartmann, wrote a memo dated May 15 (one month after operations started) stating that the city "negotiated" an accommodation with Norfolk Southern on behalf of the City. The city staff didn't inform some, perhaps all, city council members - and none of the residents in the area - of these developments before or after this agreement was reached. At this time, the civic association board believes that the only reason this issue came to light is because after a few residents inquired about the numerous tanker cars on the tracks during our May 5 meeting, I sent an email to city council members, and after several days with no response, I was eventually sent the May 15 memo by Mr. Hartmann. The memo can be found on line at: http://www.cameronstationcivicassociation.org/uploads/norfolksouthern.pdf
The problem is, there is a new federal regulation from the Department of Transportation's Surface Transportation Board (STB) that prohibits the city from regulating such a facility. However, the regulation was put in place after Norfolk Southern had decided to build this facility in Alexandria.
While Norfolk Southern may be within its legal rights to build such a transfer station, there is much doubt among some of us on the civic association board whether or not the Mayor, City Council members, or city staff are looking out for the public good of Alexandrians. Were the Council members uninformed, and if so, why not? Was city staff given the responsibility of investigating and "negotiating" the issues of increased truck traffic, safety, public nuisance, and environmental impact with no input from the people who actually live in the area?
The Virginia Paving Liaison Committee, appointed by the Mayor a year ago to review heavy industrial uses in the West End, was not informed of this action either.
To add insult to injury, I was informed May 15 from the City Manager's office that we should await a "community meeting" with the Norfolk Southern public relations department to discuss this vital issue. Apparently City staff, and perhaps Council, are willing to abrogate its responsibilities for citizen involvement to private interests.
I apologize for not informing you, the residents of Cameron Station, until now (May 27). Many of us on the board have been researching this issue, piecing together a time line, and talking to city council members to try to put this story together and determine what we can do. At this point, the board is developing a strategy and will pursue our Congressional representatives this week. If you are so inclined, please send emails to the following people to let them know your views on this issue:
Mayor Euille: alexvamayor@aol.com
City Manager Jim Hartmann: jim.hartmann@alexandriava.gov
Senator Jim Webb: http://webb.senate.gov/contact/ (online email form)
Senator John Warner:
http://warner.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
(on line email form)
Congressman Jim Moran: http://moran.house.gov/zipauth.shtml (on line
email form)
Please be assured the civic association leadership will continue to work hard on this issue.
Ingrid Sanden, President