Home > Dubai and Toxic Tank Cars: What are Bush’s Priorities?

Dubai and Toxic Tank Cars: What are Bush’s Priorities?

by Open-Publishing - Friday 24 February 2006
2 comments

Wars and conflicts International USA

Contact:
Dick Bell, 202-669-4125

Dubai and Toxic Tank Cars: What are Bush’s Priorities?
Statement of Brent Blackwelder, president of Friends of the Earth

The Congress and the press are up in arms about President Bush’s tone deaf defense of the $6.8 billion deal to sell the operation (and security) of six major American ports to DP World, a firm owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates, without even going through with the mandated 45-day review process.

But no one should be surprised that the president cannot hear the public outcry about his latest deference to business interests in the face of concerns about protecting the American public from acts of terrorism.

Just look at what Bush was already doing in our nation’s capital to prevent the D.C. Council from taking action against the threat of toxic tank cars. A Navy study found that an attack on one chlorine tank car could kill or injure as many as 100,000 people in a half hour in the District. On February 1, 2005, the D.C. Council enacted a law requiring railroads to route such dangerous cargoes around the District.

Bush signaled his preference for protecting business interests over protecting the security of the people of Washington by sending his Justice Department to court to overturn the D.C. law. When U.S. District Court Judge Emmet G. Sullivan demolished their arguments in a decision upholding the law, Bush and the railroads appealed, where they succeeded in blocking implementation of the law.

By a twist of fate, one of the railroads fighting the D.C. City Council is none other than CSX. Treasury Secretary John Snow, who signed off on this purchase, was formerly the head of CSX before he joined the Cabinet. A year after Snow joined the Cabinet, CSX sold off its overseas port operations to DP World for $1.23 billion. As chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., Secretary Snow presided over the committee’s approval of the ports deal. The Bush administration is quite a cozy little world. If only these officials were as concerned about protecting Americans as they appear to be about keeping the wheels of commerce turning.

Forum posts

  • And so it is a news flash for you to learn that the leadership favors the railroad versus the inhabitants of "Chocolate City" (AKA, Washington D.C.)?

    Wow!!!

  • Snow didn’t KNOW

    Name: Dave Nelson
    E-mail:
    Employed as: Corporate office, for 20-30 years
    Posted: 21 February 2006

    Mr. Pines

    Seems like you are striking nerves. Let me assist you by giving you
    some things that can NOT be denied.

    Attach the news releases to e-mail:
    1993:
    CSX pays the states back $2.1 million
    Reason:
    Overcharges to the FHWA Crossing Safety Fund for installation of
    highway/rail crossing warning systems:
    Responsible party for making sure the overcharges to a Federal Safety
    Program stops?
    CSX President and CEO, John Snow.
    Release of CSX civil and criminal liability given by Hunger.

    News release:
    1995:
    CSX pays the states back $5.9 million.
    Reason:
    Overcharges to the FHWA Crossing Safety Fund for installation of
    highway/rail crossing warning systems:
    Responsible party for making sure the overcharges to a Federal Safety
    Program stops?
    CSX President and CEO, John Snow.
    Release of CSX civil and criminal liability given by former US Attorney
    Ben Vernia.

    A second Qui-Tam suit was brought against CSX in 2001
    Reason:
    Overcharges to the FHWA Crossing Safety Fund for installation of
    highway/rail crossing warning systems:
    Responsible party for making sure the overcharges to a Federal Safety
    Program stops?
    CSX President and CEO John Snow.
    Release of CSX civil and criminal liability given by current US
    Attorney Daniel Spiro.

    News release:
    John Snow, President and CEO of CSX Transportation tapped by President
    Bush to replace the US Secretary of Treasury (O’Neil) who the
    President had just fired.
    Release of CSX civil and criminal liability under John Snow given by
    President Bush.

    News release:
    The confirmation by the US Congress of former CSX President and CEO
    John Snow to the Presidents Cabinet as US Secretary of treasury.
    Release of CSX civil and criminal liability under John Snow given by
    Assistant US Attorney Dan Caldwell, US Attorney Dan Spiro, US DOT OIG
    Meade and US Attorney General, Ashcroft. (NOTE)This release was
    granted by not informing the Congress of an ongoing Federal (White
    Collar) Investigation into repeated offenses by CSX Transportation for
    FRAUD against the Federal Crossing Safety Fund.

    This is public information and is neither liablous, nor slanderous.

    View This Article

    ----- Original Message -----
    From: pino40
    To: senator@shelby.senate.gov
    Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 8:48 PM
    Subject: Snow was confirmed how?

    Snow was confirmed how?
    ...A unique provision of the
    ...A unique provision of the agreement earmarks $600,000 to endow an
    eminent scholars chair in engineering at the Florida A&M/Florida State
    University College of Engineering...

    http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/020606FraudFight.html
    How about something like this tacked on Mr. Nelson? Ain’t this the the
    same school Butterworth GAVE AWAY the crossing funds to? Kinda like
    BUYING a high dollar job one would think.
    ..."Fraud artists routinely move from one state to another and jump
    from one type of fraud to another," said former Ag Bob Butterworth,
    dean of St. Thomas University School of Law. "The center will provide
    information-sharing tools and a body of information to help monitor
    their patterns across geographic and level-of-government jurisdictional
    lines."...

    http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/Pre_96/September95/520.txt.html

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CIV
    FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1995 (202) 616-2765
    TDD (202) 514-1888

    CSX PAYS U.S. $5.9 MILLION TO SETTLE MISCHARGING CLAIMS

    WASHINGTON, D.C. — CSX Transportation Inc. will pay the
    United States $5.9 million to settle claims the company
    overcharged the government millions of dollars for railroad
    crossing signals installed under a federal safety program, the
    Department of Justice announced today.
    Assistant Attorney General Frank W. Hunger, in charge of the
    Civil Division, said the agreement settles claims that CSX
    Transportation inflated labor hours for wiring signal houses;
    failed to obtain the lowest price possible from third-party
    vendors for parts; and overcharged for certain parts by selling
    them at a profit to third-party vendors, then repurchased the
    parts and charged the United States the higher repurchase price.
    Funds for the railroad signal crossing equipment, which were
    installed primarily in southeastern states, were provided under
    the Rail Highways Crossing Program administered by the Federal-Aid
    Highway Program of the Department of Transportation. The
    federal government provides 90 percent of the money for the
    program with the states providing 10 percent in matching funds.
    Hunger said A. David Nelson, a former employee of CSX
    Transportation, brought the matter to the government’s attention
    in February 1993, then filed a qui tam suit March 17, 1994, in
    U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Florida, under the False
    Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. - 3729.
    A two-year investigation by the Department of
    Transportation’s Office of Inspector General and Florida
    Department of Transportation confirmed the allegations.
    In April 1993, CSX Transportation voluntarily refunded $2.1
    million to 18 states as an adjustment to amounts billed for the
    construction of signals at grade crossings and on January 11,
    1995, CSX Transportation agreed to pay Florida and 11 of the 18
    states $1.4 million for adjusted costs related to grade crossing
    signals.
    In addition to the money CSX Transportation has paid the
    United States and the states, the company also must absorb all of
    its expenses, including legal and accounting costs incurred in
    this matter.
    The settlement resolves any potential claims by the United
    States against CSX Transportation under the False Claims Act for
    fraud and under common law concerning allegations of cost
    mischarging to the Rail Highways Crossing Program.
    Pursuant to the False Claims Act, Nelson will receive
    $1,180,000 of the settlement.
    #####
    95-520

    http://myfloridalegal.com/newsrel.nsf/newsreleases/CE88EB26FE804DDB8525623E0059D990

    Attorney General Bob Butterworth News Release
    September 21, 1995

    CSX To Pay $4.5 Million Under Settlements

    TALLAHASSEE - CSX Transportation Inc. will pay Florida, 10 other states
    and the federal government $4,573,300 to settle allegations that the company
    overbilled for work on railroad crossing equipment, Attorney General Bob
    Butterworth announced today.

    Under an agreement between Butterworth and CSX, Florida will receive
    $1,166,337, including $566,337 to cover refunds to the Department of
    Transportation (DOT) and the state’s investigative costs. A unique provision
    of the agreement earmarks $600,000 to endow an eminent scholars chair in
    engineering at the Florida A&M/Florida State University College of
    Engineering.

    Under the same agreement, the states of Alabama, Georgia, Illinois,
    Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee
    and Virginia will share a total of $302,000. A separate settlement agreement
    between CSX and the U.S. Department of Justice earmarks $3,104,963 for the
    federal government.

    An investigation begun in February 1993 by DOT and the attorney general’s
    office focused on allegations that CSX overbilled for labor costs involved
    in manufacturing signal devices for railroad/highway intersections.

    The work performed by CSX was done as part of Operation Lifesaver, a
    railroad crossing safety project funded 90 percent by the federal government
    and 10 percent by the individual states.

    Butterworth said that bills submitted by CSX for work on signal devices
    overstated the amount of actual labor time required to complete a particular
    job. He added that the company, which did not admit to any wrongdoing,
    cooperated fully in the state’s investigation.

    In April 1993, CSX refunded $598,379 to Florida DOT to cover what the
    company described as billing errors disclosed by the company’s internal
    audit. At the same time, refunds totalling $1,536,757 were sent to 17 other
    states which had done business with the company.

    The earlier refunds covered work done from January 1, 1987 to December 31,
    1992. The refunds called for under the agreement between CSX and Butterworth
    cover signal projects dating back to January 1, 1983.

    Florida’s investigation was primarily conducted by Assistant Attorney
    General Mark Kraus and Financial Investigator Bruce Robinson and DOT
    Investigator Barry Wall.