Village Soup - thin broth on railroad fumes

The Village Soup/Knox County Times editorial against regulating Maine Eastern Railroad's diesel fumes is a remarkable exercise in transforming a column of smoke into a tower of humbug. It being unsigned, let us give VS's anonymous editorial writer(s) the politically correct moniker Souperhuman

The basic premises of Souperhuman's opposition to regulating the MER's aged diesel engines are that, (1) trains being generally interstate commerce, regulation of their pollution discharges is the province of the federal government; (2) railroad interests would sue the city of Rockland; and (3) Can't prove its the train's pollution making the air in a Rockland neighborhood noxious.

Interstate Commerce. While this may be true in limited cases for interstate trains involved in interstate commerce, Maine Eastern's reoute begins in Rockland and peters out in Brunswick Maine, about 70 miles from the Maine border. Not crossing state lines, it does not fit into the category of interstate commerce. The feds have shrugged off enforcement of air pollution to the states; these have in large measure, fobbed off what they could to municipalities. Especially revealing was the admission at a recent city council meeting that MER's half century old diesels would not be allowed to operate in New York state because of their pollution discharges. Helloooo? Souperhuman?

SLAPPing Rockland. Railroad interests have threatened the city of Rockland with a SLAPP suit. Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation work by threatening opponents of a polluter with costly lawsuits, that, regardless of outcome, will require expenditure on legal fees, filing costs and the other minutiae of litigation. But litigation is how we Americans defend and improve our republic. Without lawsuits,

As to the relative toxicity of the train's fumes, Souperman quotes a letter to the its editor from a local oil burner mechanic, who raises the 'diesel-engines-are-omnipresent-so-how-can-you- prove-it's-the-train-stinking-out-your-home?' argument. This claim, beloved of polluters everywhere, from cigarette makers to paper mills to construction debris incinerators, attempts a smokescreenian blurring of responsibility. If everyone's guilty, nobody's guilty!

But Maine's most important environmental law, the site location of development act, gives Maine regulators the authority to examine just that-- the cumulative impact of new additions to an area's air pollution load. No business may "adversely affect existing uses, scenic character, air quality, water quality..." in Maine. Even international shipping can have to meet local air pollution requirements while running their diesels while docked. This rather obvious applies to a diesel train running its engines while stationary at a terminal as well.

Stir the pot, Souperhuman! A bit of you-know-what has risen to your editorial surface.