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News Links Archive Archived news stories on trade, environmental health, ports and goods movement | ||
August 2009 Archive |
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| Added August 31, 2009: | ||
| Youth's vigor makes a strong impression in environmental hearings. 15-year-old Otana Jakpor has attended dozens of air-quality meetings and EPA hearings, presenting data from her experiments and advocating for tighter restrictions to improve public health. Among her many accomplishments, Otana Jakpor, 15, has managed to break up the monotonous atmosphere of air-quality hearings. It's no easy task. LA Times, Los Angeles, California. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-otana26-2009aug26,0,1675073.story | ||
| Alabama Port Authority wants train link to McCalla rail facility. Alabama State Port Authority officials plan to meet this week with Norfolk Southern senior executives to discuss linking the railroad's proposed $112 million intermodal facility in McCalla to the newly opened $300 million container terminal in Mobile. Birmingham Business Journal, Birmingham Alabama. http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2009/08/31/story3.html?b=1251691200^2004231 | ||
| Riverside renews request for money to offset possible increase in train traffic Up to 21 more trains per day could pass through Riverside -- leaving rail crossing gates blocking traffic for as long as nine hours daily -- if three projects to expand the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are built, Riverside officials contend. The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, California. http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_W_wport29.4587e94.html | ||
| Faces of the Recession: Truck drivers face hard road in weak economy Being a truck driver has never been easy. Grueling hours, time away from family and long-term exposure to engine fumes are hallmarks of the trade, and it's not unusual to find drivers working for weeks without a day off. Still, trucking has always attracted a certain breed of men and women who enjoy the open road and the freedom to set one's own hours. However, the romantic notion of trucking as depicted in such films as "Smokey and the Bandit" and "Over The Top" are far from the reality faced by many of the nearly 15,000 truckers hauling goods to and from local ports. The Press-Telegram, Long Beach, California. http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_13186080 | ||
| Experts predict cancer, asthma and traffic congestion from Gardner rail facility When Eric Kirkendall and his wife, Mary, moved to Gardner in 1990 they found an idyllic little farmhouse built in 1870. The couple intended to live there until they retired. But eight years before that date, Kirkendall found out their quiet property might soon be sandwiched by the mammoth warehouses of a huge transportation hub. The Pitch, Kansas City, Kansas. http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2009/08/experts_predict_cancer_asthma.php | ||
| Risks & Benefits Of A Huge Railyard A panel of experts says the U-S Army Corps of Engineers assessment of the environmental risks posed by a planned shipping facility near Gardner is deeply flawed. They presented their critique at a public meeting in Olathe last(THUR) night. Health Reporter Bryan Thompson was there, and files this report as part of our series, “Kansas Health: A Prescription for Change”. Kansas Public Radio. http://www.kansaspublicradio.org/newsstory.php?itemID=16844 | ||
| Proposed Intermodal Facility Turning Into Environmental Showdown Developers are planning to build a new Intermodal facility in Gardner, Kansas, where goods shipped by train from California are transferred to trucks for transport across the United States. It could mean many new jobs for the area, but many people are worried that California's pollution problem could come along for the ride, too. Fox 4, Kansas City, Kansas. http://www.fox4kc.com/news/wdaf-story-gardner-intermodal-080609,0,4337033.story |
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| Forecast for Ports Is Low, What Does That Mean for Widenings? This morning's Times brought the grim economic news that traffic at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are struggling. In fact, the ports have lost the momentum that brought them to annual record highs traffic numbers as recently as 2006. In fact, the soonest the ports can expect to reach the 2006 numbers would be 2013, and that's a best case scenario. LA Streets Blog, Los Angeles, CA. http://la.streetsblog.org/2009/08/17/forecast-for-ports-is-low-what-does-that-mean-for-widenings/ | ||
| Added August 19, 2009: | ||
| Army Corps Concludes No Significant Impacts From Major Railyard Proposed For Kansas. I recently returned from a trip to Gardner, Kansas . Gardner is about 30 miles from Kansas City and home to roughly 17,000 people. Just outside of the town are rolling green hills and rural farmland as far as the eye can see. It's the kind of place where property is measured by the acre instead of by the square foot. It's the kind of place where kids run through sprinklers on hot sticky days as their parents sit with neighbors in lawn chairs sipping ice tea or a cold Budweiser. And it's the kind of place where people buy "American" and talk about their personal connection with the land. But it's also the proposed site for a new BNSF mega railyard, and that's what drew me there. Natural Resources Defense Council, New York, NY. http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/mlinperrella/army_corps_concludes_no_signif.html | ||
| Added August 11, 2009: | ||
| Norfolk Southern railroad hub project irks McCalla residents . Some McCalla residents are steamed about the possibility of Norfolk Southern Railroad building a $90 million cargo-loading terminal in their area. They have formed a group called "No Hub 4 McCalla" and some of the members say they intend to oppose the project at Thursday's meeting of the Jefferson County Planning Commission. The group held an organizational meeting Monday night that attracted more than 50 people. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, Cleveland, Ohio. https://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/headline.asp?id=26796 | ||
| Added August 6, 2009: | ||
Experts predict cancer, asthma and traffic congestion from Gardner rail facility. When Eric Kirkendall and his wife, Mary, moved to Gardner in 1990 they found an idyllic little farmhouse built in 1870. The couple intended to live there until they retired. But eight years before that date, Kirkendall found out their quiet property might soon be sandwiched by the mammoth warehouses of a huge transportation hub. The Pitch, Kansas City, Kansas. http://blogs.pitch.com/plog/2009/08/experts_predict_cancer_asthma.php |
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| Added August 4, 2009: | ||
| BNSF building rail line near Butte to store excess cars. BNSF Railway is installing 1,700 new feet of rail line near a Butte rail yard and plans to use the line to store excess rail cars. Gus Melonas, BNSF spokesman in Seattle, said Thursday the new rail work is expected to be completed Friday. Up to 75 cars are expected to be stored on the track. Melonas says because of the economic downturn, the company has 35,000 rail cars systemwide that are not in use. Great Falls Tribune, Great Falls, Montana. http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090730/NEWS01/90730015/BNSF+building+rail+line+near+Butte+to+store+excess+cars | ||
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