ST BERNARD PARISH --- We're Growing
St Bernard Parish is growing and we invite others to come grow with us.
St Bernard is one of the fastest -- if not the fastest growing residential communities in Louisiana.
Businesses and industries in St Bernard are also growing.
In St Bernard we value our peaceful rural - suburban quality of life, and we seek to improve the environment and public health outcomes.
We want businesses and industries in St Bernard to be profitable, sustainable businesses.
But not at the expense of the peace and quiet of our residential communities, or at the expense of our air quality and human health.
We should be able to have economic development with growing businesses and growing family friendly neighborhoods -- it's not mutually exclusive.
St Bernard and adjoining Orleans Lower Ninth neighborhoods are already unjustly burdened with the non-attainment sulfur dioxide air quality mainly attributed to Rain CII Carbon, the recent high benzene fence line readings at PBF Energy's Chalmette refinery, and a high national percentile of diesel exhaust emissions.
Another part of the growing pains that further shift the balance towards industry stems from multiple industrial expansions recently permitted without consideration of rail traffic and night trains.
The recent schedule change from day time to night trains are the direct cause of significant adverse effects on public health and quality of life in communities along this single rail line, including minority and low income populations. It is another unjust burden on the families in our neighborhoods, and there seems to be no reason for night trains other than an unwillingness or inability to make the appropriate investments in rail infrastructure and adequate number of engines and crew members.
We're asking EPA Region 6, EPA's NEPA Program, USACE, and LDEQ to require a full rail traffic study in St Bernard Parish before issuing any more permits for expansions or new facilities, for the rail study to consider the lack of capacity for current industry and how rail service will accommodate growing business demands WITHOUT NIGHT TRAINS !!
Night trains are not an option in St Bernard Parish due to the close proximity of rail to housing and the numerous railroad crossings along the line from Braithwaite through Poydras, to Violet, Meraux, Chalmette, and literally meandering through neighborhoods in Arabi and then into Orleans Lower Ninth Ward neighborhoods. The vibrations of the engines physically rattle houses, and the horns along with the cling clanging on the rails wakeup households between the hours of 2AM and 4AM, 3 to 4 nights a week, sometimes more.
Our children can not grow and develop and learn at school with the sleep deprivation from night trains. In adults, sleep deprivation causes a number of negative pubic health outcomes, including increased thrombosis (blood clots) which causes strokes, heart attacks, and death.
Like so many other issues in our parish's environment, we are dependent on EPA and LDEQ to provide a livable human habitat. We implore EPA, EPA's NEPA Program, USACE, and LDEQ to consider rail traffic in all permitting decisions in St Bernard Parish.
We're asking the railway company to be a good a neighbor, to invest in the appropriate infrastructure, number of engines and crew members, and whatever else is required to prohibit night trains.
