II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 3151

To provide for the abatement of noise and other adverse effects of idling

train engines, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

OCTOBER 3 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2000

Mr. TORRICELLI introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To provide for the abatement of noise and other adverse

effects of idling train engines, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

4 Congress finds that—

5 (1) railroad activity has significantly increased

6 in recent years;

7 (2) rail intermodal traffic has increased by 40

8 percent over the last decade;
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1 (3) more than 9,000,000 containers and trailers

2 traveled the Nation’s rails in 1999, up 3.1 percent

3 from the previous year;

4 (4) the impact of increased railroad activity is

5 having a negative impact on the quality of life of

6 many communities throughout the United States;

7 (5) increased noise associated with railroad ac8 tivities is a serious and growing concern of many

9 local communities;

10 (6) current Federal laws fail to provide local

11 communities with the authority to participate in rail12 road activity in their community;

13 (7) Federal laws also fail to provide incentives

14 to communities and railroads for noise abatement

15 and other activities to address the concerns related

16 to railroad activity; and

17 (8) railroad noise abatement technology is an

18 emerging component of transportation research and

19 should be given greater support by the Federal Gov20 ernment.

21 SEC. 2. STUDY OF ADVERSE EFFECTS OF IDLING TRAIN EN22 GINES.

23 (a) STUDY REQUIRED.—The Secretary of Transpor24 tation shall provide under section 150303 of title 36,

25 United States Code, for the National Academy of Sciences
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1 to conduct a study on noise impacts of railroad operations,

2 including idling train engines on the quality of life of near3 by communities, the quality of the environment (including

4 consideration of air pollution), and safety, and to submit

5 a report on the study to the Secretary. The report shall

6 include recommendations for mitigation to combat rail

7 noise, standards for determining when noise mitigation is

8 required, needed changes in Federal law to give Federal,

9 State, and local governments flexibility in combating rail10 road noise, and possible funding mechanisms for financing

11 mitigation projects.

12 (b) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the date

13 of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transpor14 tation shall transmit to Congress the report of the Na15 tional Academy of Sciences on the results of the study

16 under subsection (a).

17 SEC. 3. CREDIT FOR PURCHASE AND INSTALLATION OF

18 SOUND BARRIERS FOR THE ABATEMENT OF

19 RAILROAD NOISE.

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart B of part IV of sub21 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of

22 1986 (relating to general business credits) is amended by

23 adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 45D. CREDIT FOR PURCHASE AND INSTALLATION OF

2 SOUND BARRIERS AND THE IMPLEMENTA3 TION OF OTHER ACTIVITIES FOR THE ABATE4 MENT OF RAILROAD NOISE.

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of section 38, in

6 the case of an eligible taxpayer, the amount of the railroad

7 noise abatement credit determined under this section for

8 any taxable year shall be the amount equal to 50 percent

9 of the eligible railroad noise abatement expenditures for

10 the taxable year.

11 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE TAXPAYER.—For purposes of this

12 section, the term ‘eligible taxpayer’ means any rail carrier

13 (including any railroad carrier, as defined in section

14 20102 of title 49, United States Code) that owns property

15 adjacent to railroad tracks.

16 ‘‘(c) ELIGIBLE RAILROAD NOISE ABATEMENT EX17 PENDITURES.—For purposes of this section—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘eligible railroad

19 noise abatement expenditures’ means amounts paid

20 or incurred by an eligible taxpayer for the purposes

21 of installing sound barriers on property (owned by

22 the taxpayer) adjacent to railroad tracks (including

23 the costs of purchasing the sound barriers), and im24 plementing other activities, to abate for populations

25 in the vicinity of the operation of trains by that tax26 payer the noise of the trains to levels within stand-
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1 ards prescribed by the Administrator of the Environ2 mental Protection Agency that are in effect as of the

3 date of enactment of this section, but only if the tax4 payer consulted on the sound barriers or other noise

5 abatement activities, in advance, with the officials of

6 the government of each municipality or other polit7 ical subdivision of a State in which the taxpayer in8 stalls the sound barriers or engages in the other

9 sound abatement activities.

10 ‘‘(2) SOUND BARRIERS.—The term ‘sound bar11 riers’ means any physical feature that abates the

12 propagation of sound, including—

13 ‘‘(A) trees, shrubbery, or other botanic life,

14 or

15 ‘‘(B) a manmade structure.

16 ‘‘(3) EXPENDITURES MUST BE REASONABLE.—

17 Amounts paid or incurred for the purposes described

18 in paragraph (1) shall include only expenditures

19 which are reasonable and shall not include expendi20 tures which are unnecessary to accomplish such pur21 poses.

22 ‘‘(d) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—In the case of

23 the amount of the credit determined under this section—
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1 ‘‘(1) no deduction or credit shall be allowed for

2 such amount under any other provision of this chap3 ter, and

4 ‘‘(2) no increase in the adjusted basis of any

5 property shall result from such amount.’’.

6 (b) INCLUSION IN GENERAL BUSINESS CREDIT.—

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 38(b) of the Internal

8 Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to current year

9 business credit) is amended by striking ‘‘plus’’ at the

10 end of paragraph (11), by striking the period at the

11 end of paragraph (12) and inserting ‘‘, plus’’, and

12 by adding at the end the following:

13 ‘‘(13) the railroad noise abatement credit deter14 mined under section 45D(a).’’.

15 (2) TRANSITION RULE.—Section 39(d) of such

16 Code (relating to transitional rules) is amended by

17 adding at the end the following:

18 ‘‘(9) NO CARRYBACK OF SECTION 45D CREDIT

19 BEFORE ENACTMENT.—No portion of the unused

20 business credit for any taxable year which is attrib21 utable to the railroad noise abatement credit deter22 mined under section 45D may be carried back to a

23 taxable year ending before the date of the enactment

24 of section 45D.’’.
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1 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec2 tions for subpart D of part IV of subchapter A of chapter

3 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by

4 adding at the end the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 45D. Credit for purchase and installation of sound barriers

for the abatement of railroad noise.’’.

5 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by

6 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after

7 December 31, 2000.

8 SEC. 4. RAILROAD NOISE ABATEMENT ACTIVITIES.

9 The first sentence of section 130(a) of title 23,

10 United States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘and the en11 tire cost of activities for the abatement of the noise of

12 trains (as defined by the Secretary), including construc13 tion of sound barriers on public lands or on private prop14 erty with the consent of the property owner,’’.

15 SEC. 5. RAILROAD NOISE ABATEMENT RESEARCH.

16 Section 20108(a) of title 49, United States Code, is

17 amended by inserting before the period at the end the fol18 lowing: ‘‘and research and development on technologies for

19 the abatement of railroad noise’’.

20 SEC. 6. CONSOLIDATIONS, MERGERS, AND ACQUISITION OF

21 CONTROL.

22 Section 11324 of title 49, United States Code, is

23 amended—
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1 (1) in subsection (a), by inserting ‘‘and the

2 chief executive of any city’’ after ‘‘chief executive of

3 each State’’; and

4 (2) in subsection (b)—

5 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para6 graph (4);

7 (B) by striking the period at the end of

8 paragraph (5) and inserting a semicolon; and

9 (C) by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(6) the safety and environmental effects of the

11 proposed transaction, which shall include thorough

12 consideration of a traffic study and environmental

13 impact statement, as well as complete consideration

14 of any appropriate safety studies;

15 ‘‘(7) a federalism impact assessment that ad16 dresses the preemptive impact of, and associated

17 costs incurred by State and local governments as a

18 result of, such proposed transaction; and

19 ‘‘(8) all mitigation and impact costs attributed

20 to the transaction, and the extent to which existing

21 local standards will be compromised or lessened if

22 the transaction is approved.
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1 SEC. 7. IMPACT OF RAIL CARRIER ACTIONS ON LOCAL2 ITIES.

3 (a) NOTIFICATION OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS ON LO4 CALITIES.—

5 (1) REQUIREMENT.—Before taking an action

6 described in paragraph (2), a rail carrier shall trans7 mit a notification of the planned action to the fol8 lowing:

9 (A) AFFECTED STATES.—To the chief ex10 ecutive of each State in which the action is to

11 planned to be taken.

12 (B) AFFECTED COMMUNITIES.—To the

13 chief executive of each municipality or other po14 litical subdivision of a State in which, or adja15 cent to which, the action is to planned to be

16 taken.

17 (2) ACTIONS INCREASING NOISE.—The require18 ment for advance notification in paragraph (1) ap19 plies to the following actions:

20 (A) RAIL ACTIVATION OR EXPANSION.—A

21 rail activation or expansion.

22 (B) RAIL YARD ACTIVATION OR EXPAN23 SION.—A rail yard activation or expansion.

24 (C) INCREASED RAIL TRAFFIC.—An in25 crease of rail traffic.
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1 (D) OTHER INCREASES IN NOISE OF RAIL

2 TRAFFIC.—Any action that increases the noise

3 of rail traffic.

4 (E) LAND ACQUISITIONS.—A land acquisi5 tion.

6 (F) OTHER.—The initiation of any other

7 new or newly modified rail carrier operation to

8 which the Secretary of Transportation applies

9 the notification requirement under this sub10 section in regulations prescribed by the Sec11 retary.

12 (b) OPPORTUNITY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.—

13 (1) COMMENT PERIOD.—The Secretary of

14 Transportation shall promulgate regulations that

15 provide localities with a right to submit to the Sec16 retary public comments on the commencement of an

17 activity for which a notification is required under

18 subsection (a). The period for the submission of

19 comments shall be not less than 30 days prior to the

20 commencement of the activity.

21 (2) APPEALS.—The Secretary shall also provide

22 localities with the opportunity to appeal to the Sec23 retary for a final determination of any action that

24 may be taken within the Department of Transpor25 tation on the activity.
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1 (3) SUSPENSION OF ACTION PENDING COM2 MENT AND APPEAL.—A rail carrier may not initiate

3 any action to which subsection (a) applies during the

4 period provided under paragraph (1) for public com5 ment on the action nor during a period for which an

6 appeal of the action is pending under paragraph (2).

Æ