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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The City of Elgin joins Bartlett, Bensenville, | ||||||
| 3 | Hanover Park, Itasca, Roselle, Wood Dale, and DuPage County as | ||||||
| 4 | a member of the "Coalition to Stop CPKC" to oppose the merger | ||||||
| 5 | between the Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern freight | ||||||
| 6 | railroads; and
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| 7 | WHEREAS, The Coalition to Stop CPKC has filed its | ||||||
| 8 | objections to the merger with federal regulators; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, The merger would almost triple the number of | ||||||
| 10 | freight trains while also increasing the lengths of those | ||||||
| 11 | trains on the Metra Milwaukee West Line running from Elgin to | ||||||
| 12 | Chicago; these more frequent and longer trains would mean | ||||||
| 13 | longer crossing delays for commuters, school buses, and | ||||||
| 14 | emergency responders, in addition to more noise; and
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| 15 | WHEREAS, In order to mitigate these issues, local units of | ||||||
| 16 | government would be responsible for levying billions of | ||||||
| 17 | dollars in new taxes for infrastructure improvements; and | ||||||
| 18 | WHEREAS, The impacts of a merger to the area would not only | ||||||
| 19 | hurt residential and commercial property owners by negatively | ||||||
| 20 | affecting economic development and stability but would also | ||||||
| 21 | have significant environmental and public safety implications; | ||||||
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| 1 | and
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| 2 | WHEREAS, The Fox River is the primary source of drinking | ||||||
| 3 | water for 350,000 people, and with railroad tracks located | ||||||
| 4 | less than 100 feet from the Fox River in several places, a | ||||||
| 5 | train derailment has the potential to be a public safety and | ||||||
| 6 | ecological disaster, especially if a train is filled with | ||||||
| 7 | crude oil; an explosion of such could threaten the lives of | ||||||
| 8 | those within half a mile; and
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| 9 | WHEREAS, A merger would create a Class I (one) railroad | ||||||
| 10 | that would span from the tar sands in Canada to the Gulfport | ||||||
| 11 | refineries in Mexico, which could place cities such as Elgin | ||||||
| 12 | in the middle of tragedies like Lac-Mégantic in Quebec, Canada | ||||||
| 13 | in 2013, which saw a rail disaster that killed 47 people; | ||||||
| 14 | therefore, be it
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| 15 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
| 16 | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 17 | we declare our support for the City of Elgin and the Coalition | ||||||
| 18 | to Stop CPKC in their opposition to the merger of the Canadian | ||||||
| 19 | Pacific and Kansas City Southern railroads; and be it further | ||||||
| 20 | RESOLVED, That we urge the Federal Surface Transportation | ||||||
| 21 | Board to reject the CPKC merger application; and be it further
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| 1 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 2 | delivered to the Governor, all members of the Illinois | ||||||
| 3 | Congressional Delegation, the members of the Federal Surface | ||||||
| 4 | Transportation Board, the Director of IDOT, the Director of | ||||||
| 5 | Metra, the Director of the Regional Transit Authority, the | ||||||
| 6 | mayors of Bartlett, Bensenville, Elgin, Hanover Park, Itasca, | ||||||
| 7 | Roselle, and Wood Dale, and the members of the DuPage County | ||||||
| 8 | Board in order to bring further awareness of the negative | ||||||
| 9 | impacts that hundreds of thousands of Illinois residents will | ||||||
| 10 | face should this merger be approved.
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