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Re: RR's already have to pay....and this kind of legislation is actually a very dangerous kind of BS.
Author: BOB2
Date: 09-15-2018 - 07:51
Max,
The big railroad corporations are already liable under our system of laws. Most large RR's are "self insured" in the case of accidents and spills. Under our legal system, private corporations, just like individuals, are liable for the damage they do, and the costs they inflict on others including the cost of the fire department, or other costs for hazmat cleanup, and repairs.
We have courts of law and jury trials, and if those who cause this damage, don't pay up, we have the right to sue them. RR have paid for previous cleanups, in most case. And, if they refuse, and are responsible, have been sued quite successfully by the public agencies, private individuals, and their insurance companies for the losses and costs their accidents have caused. So that is how we have managed to hold big companies and individuals responsible for their actions over the last 240 year of US history, and can make them pay back local agencies and responders, when they incur public those costs.
Of course, this is exactly the kind of legal responsibility for one's actions that many of these large corporations hate, since it makes them have to behave responsibly, or else pay up.
So, as we speak, we have companies, like Edison and PG&E, who's aging power lines came down and purportedly caused the fires in Napa and Ventura/Santa Barbara, that destroyed several thousand properties worth billions, between them, who have been lobbying the CA State Legislature to protect their stockholder for liability for fires, by passing those costs onto to utility rate payers and the public, instead of the corporations stockholders, by bribing the State legislature to relieve them of their "onerous" "burden" to behave responsibly.
It sounds like a good idea though, doesn't it? It makes it sound like the poor first responders don't have any way to pay for the clean ups of RR messes, and are stuck, with the taxpayers "holding the bag", doesn't it?
It's just too bad that premise for this legislation was and is complete bull$#it. And, as the great American philosopher George Carlin use to say: "It's bull$#it, and it's bad for you".
The big railroad corporations are already liable under our system of laws. Most large RR's are "self insured" in the case of accidents and spills. Under our legal system, private corporations, just like individuals, are liable for the damage they do, and the costs they inflict on others including the cost of the fire department, or other costs for hazmat cleanup, and repairs.
We have courts of law and jury trials, and if those who cause this damage, don't pay up, we have the right to sue them. RR have paid for previous cleanups, in most case. And, if they refuse, and are responsible, have been sued quite successfully by the public agencies, private individuals, and their insurance companies for the losses and costs their accidents have caused. So that is how we have managed to hold big companies and individuals responsible for their actions over the last 240 year of US history, and can make them pay back local agencies and responders, when they incur public those costs.
Of course, this is exactly the kind of legal responsibility for one's actions that many of these large corporations hate, since it makes them have to behave responsibly, or else pay up.
So, as we speak, we have companies, like Edison and PG&E, who's aging power lines came down and purportedly caused the fires in Napa and Ventura/Santa Barbara, that destroyed several thousand properties worth billions, between them, who have been lobbying the CA State Legislature to protect their stockholder for liability for fires, by passing those costs onto to utility rate payers and the public, instead of the corporations stockholders, by bribing the State legislature to relieve them of their "onerous" "burden" to behave responsibly.
It sounds like a good idea though, doesn't it? It makes it sound like the poor first responders don't have any way to pay for the clean ups of RR messes, and are stuck, with the taxpayers "holding the bag", doesn't it?
It's just too bad that premise for this legislation was and is complete bull$#it. And, as the great American philosopher George Carlin use to say: "It's bull$#it, and it's bad for you".
