So I found out a good deal about CSX and its Gulf Coast rail corridor this afternoon. A few points of interest: Originally, or at least in 2003, the plan was to move CSX's rail corridor to the north (that's what the notice calling for an Environmental Impact Statement mentioned below was all about), and the main issue cited seems to have been safety--there are a number of road crossings along the rail (although I couldn't get any stats on accidents)--and traffic congestion (waiting at crossings). The Environmental Impact Statement, as I understand it, wasn't completed, although the process of creating one did get under way. Prohibitively high costs of moving the Gulf Coast rail line might have been the reason it was shelved.
Continue readingRailroad relocation
Here's a notice that the EPA, along with state and local officials, launched an environmental impact study of the CSX Relocation, mentioned in the post immediately below, in 2003. This article, from Mississippi Coast.org, a coalition of local development councils seeking to bring business into the state, tells us,
The Coast is crisscrossed by the rail lines of the CSX and Kansas City Southern system, which connect t Continue reading
Slight change of plans
Glenn Reynolds has a post up pointing to a Mark Tapscott post about Trent Lott's tantrum over the temerity of those who question things like a $700 million earmark to persuade CSX Corporation to give up one of its rail lines so a highway can be built there instead. (The full AP report is here. Reynolds writes of Lott's annoyance with Porkbusters (the Mississippi Senator said he was "getting damned tired of hearing from them"):
I guess he's hearing from people he'd rather not. You know, the ones who don't have their checkbooks out.This isn't the first time (see here, for example) that the suggestion has been made that there's a connection between campaign contributors and pork barrel projects. I suspect that's more likely to be true in Defense earmarks than Transportation, but I think it's worth exploring whether this is the case. Continue reading
Lobbyists Eye Pork for Greasing, Lawmakers Eye Reform:
The former chief of staff to Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) – now a lobbyist – is a master at greasing the wheels to get earmarks, for her clients from the Chairman, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Letitia White’s lobbying firm and their clients have contributed 37 percent of the $1.3 million raised by Lewis’ political action committee over the past six years while she has obtained numerous earmarks for her clients, defense contractors and California municipalities. Congress is eyeing reform of this practice as the federal budget deficit swells to unheard of proportions. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Trent Lott (R-CA); John McCain (R-AZ) and Tom Coburn (R-OK); and Barack Obama (D-IL) all have varying proposals to reform the process. Meanwhile, The Hill newspaper reports that some lawmakers receive earmark requests via e-mail, making the process easier for both parties.
Continue readingLawmakers Seek to Reel in Earmarks:
Earmarks in Appropriations bills have ballooned from 4,000 a decade ago to over 14,000 today. Legislators from both parties are taking aim at these projects and are proposing various degrees of reforms. In a Bloomberg article conservative Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is “threatening to slow the Senate's business to a crawl by forcing his colleagues to vote on each of the thousands of obscure, sometimes unusual pork-barrel projects.” He asks, “Should we be spending money in ways that are other than in the vital interest of the country?” Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is joining Coburn in threatening to bring each earmark to a vote. According to the New York Times, Trent Lott (R-MS) and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) have proposed a reform that “would allow senators to object to any earmarks added in the final stages of negotiations and force sponsors to win at least 60 votes to retain them … [and] require that the final version of legislation be available for at least 24 hours before a floor vote and that the sponsor of each earmark be included along with a justification.”
Continue readingBipartisan Earmark Reform Offered:
Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Trent Lott (R-MS) offered their proposal to reform the process of earmarking in appropriations bills, according to Roll Call. The reform would allow Senators to challenge individual items in a conference report and require that 60 votes be required for the item to survive. The reform would also shine much needed “sunlight” onto the process by requiring that the conference report list the lawmaker that has proposed each earmark along with a justification for the item and by requiring that all conference reports be available 24 hours in advance on the Internet so that members may study and read them. The Washington Post and the New York Times both devoted space to earmarks today, the Post giving a primer on the process and the Times talking about the strains that earmarks place on the Energy Department.
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