WHEREAS, This Council, by Resolution No. 050148 (adopted on February 17, 2005), has noted its strong concern about the transport of extremely toxic chemicals by freight trains through the City of Philadelphia, placing the residents of Philadelphia at grave peril of catastrophic loss of life; and
WHEREAS, This Council lacks the most basic information necessary to develop an effective response to a hazardous materials emergency, such as the nature of the hazardous materials currently transported through the city, the proximity of these hazardous materials to residential neighborhoods and the length of time these materials are stored or parked on railroad cars within the city limits; and
WHEREAS, Earlier this year,
a train derailment ruptured a Norfolk Southern tank car and unleashed a choking cloud of caustic chlorine gas near the small town of Graniteville, S.C., killing nine people and injuring 250
; and
WHEREAS, CSX Transporation, Inc. transports chlorine gas and many other hazardous materials on its tracks throughout the City of Philadelphia. At times, CSX Transportation allows these cars carrying hazardous materials to be parked in Center City Philadelphia for hours at a time, providing terrorists with an easy target for unspeakable destruction. Experts believe that the causalities from a rupture of a hazardous materials train car in Center City Philadelphia could exceed 100,000 Philadelphia residents dead within a half an hour; and
WHEREAS, It is incumbent upon the government of the City of Philadelphia to protect the safety and welfare of the citizens of Philadelphia by examining the nature of hazardous materials transported by rail through our city and to develop appropriate responses to a hazardous materials emergency; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, THAT the
Philadelphia Local Emergency Planning Committee and the Emergency Management Services Director
prepare a report for Council on the Transportation of Hazardous Materials Throughout Philadelphia.
End