------- Forwarded Message Follows -------Date:
Wed, 05 Nov 1997 05:19:14 To: <smartgrowth@onenw.org>
From: Kathy Roos <kroos@cyberhighway.net> Subject:
Rail-trail Action Alert Reply-to: Kathy Roos
<kroos@cyberhighway.net>
===== A message from the 'smartgrowth' discussion list =====
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>Delivered-To: kroos@cyberhighway.net
>From: Rtclaurie@transact.org
>To: campaign-list@radix.net
>Date: 4 Nov 1997 16:48:44 EST
>Subject: Rail-trail Action Alert
>Sender: campaign-list-owner@Radix.Net
>Reply-To: campaign-list@Radix.Net
>
> RAILBANKING ACTION ALERT
>
>Future rail-trail development is in jeopardy due to a critical vote in
>Congress on Thursday morning. We need your help to defeat H.R. 2438,
>the "Railway Abandonment Clarifiaction Act."
>
>The bill, sponsored by Congressman Jim Ryun (R-2nd) from Kansas, will
>amend the National Trails System Act to eliminate our national policy of
>preserving unused railroad rights-of-way for future rail use. This
>procedure, called "railbanking," has been instrumental in the
>development of our country's rail-trail network because it allows these
>corridors to have an interim use as trails.
>
>A preliminary hearing on railbanking was held just last week under the
>pretense that a vote would not be held until next year. However, a
>subcommittee of the House Resources Committee has scheduled a vote for
>this Thursday morning on whether to move this piece of legislation
>forward for a vote in the full committee, where it is sure to win. Since
>the bill has the full support of most of the Republicans on the
>subcommittee, we need to convince all of the Democrats and a few
>Republicans to vote against the bill in order to win.
>
>Please call the following members of the House Resources Subcommittee on
>National Parks and Public Lands before Thursday morning and ask them to
>VOTE NO TO H.R. 2438 (Additional talking points are listed below):
>
>Republicans:
>James Hansen, UT-1, Chair
>Elton Gallegly, CA-23
>John Duncan, TN-2
>Joel Hefley, CO-5
>Wayne Gilchrest, MD-1
>Richard Pombo, CA-11
>Helen Chenoweth, ID-1
>Linda Smith, WA-3
>George Radanovich, CA-19
>Walter Jones, NC-3
>John Shadegg, AZ-4
>John Ensign, NV-1
>Bob Smith, OR-2
>Rick Hill, MT-At Large
>Jim Gibbons, NV-2
>
>Democrats:
>Enj Faleomavaega, American Somoa, RM
>Edward Markey, MA-7
>Bruce Vento, MN-4
>Dale Kildee, MI-9
>Carlos Romero-Barcelo, Puerto Rico
>Maurice Hinchey, NY-26
>Robert Underwood, Guam
>Patrick Kennedy, RI-1
>William Delahunt, MA-10
>Donna Christian-Green, Virgin Islands
>Ron Kind, WI-3
>Lloyd Doggett, TX-10
>
>U.S. Capital Switchboard: 202/224-3121
>
> Talking Points for Opposing
> H.R. 2438
>1) Although called the "Railway Abandonment Clarification Act," in
>actuality the bill will destroy rather than implement our national
>policy of rail corridor preservation, by making it virtually
>impossibleto preserve our national rail infrastructure for future
>reactivation of rail service; it abolishes a national procedure for
>corridor preservation and substitutes the vagaries of 50 different
>state laws determining whether lines within their borders will be
>preserved, hardly a "national policy;"
>
>2) the bill will destroy all of the additional benefits of interim
>trail use under the present law, including providing alternative
>transportation, utility corridor location, and the economic benefits
>that have followed the development of "rail-trails" in numerous
>communities across the country;
>3) railbanking is currently voluntary, i.e., railroads decide whether
>they will agree to preserve a corridor or not; the bill will eliminate
>any incentive that presently exists for railroads to preserve their
>unused corridors by creating a cumbersome, burdensome and confusing
>administrative process for implementing a gutted federal
>railbanking"policy;"
>4) the U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously upheld the constitutionality
>of railbanking under the commerce clause of the Constitution and also
>held that the federal claims process provides an adequate remedy for
>persons who believe that their property has been "taken" as a result of
>the federal railbanking law;
>5) certain ambiguities in H.R. 2438 leave open the possibility that it
>could be applied retroactively; 3,412 miles of railbanked corridor could
>be "derailbanked" throwing the status of 123 rail-trails into chaos; at
>risk are the Katy Trail across Missouri, the George S. Mickelson Trail
>through the Black Hills of South Dakota, Nebraska's 321 mile Cowboy
>Trail, and the lovely Prairie Spirit Trail of Kansas which has given
>rise to this ill-intentioned piece of legislation.
>
>If you have any questions please contact the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
>Policy Department: 202/331-9696
>
>
>