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AZ bill for state review of railroad projects advances

PHOENIX – A bill to require new state reviews of railroad projects has survived a legal review by the Arizona Senate amid questions of whether the state would be violating federal law.

The bill would require railroads to notify the state about plans for new track and other facilities. The state would hold a hearing and convey any concerns and information to federal regulators.

Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe contend the bill would be unconstitutional because the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over railroad projects.

But the Senate Rules Committee is permitting the bill to advance, and the sponsor is expressing optimism about it becoming law.

Controversy over two Union Pacific projects in Arizona preceded the legislative proposal.

Citizen Online Archive, 2006-2009

This archive contains all the stories that appeared on the Tucson Citizen's website from mid-2006 to June 1, 2009.

In 2010, a power surge fried a server that contained all of videos linked to dozens of stories in this archive. Also, a server that contained all of the databases for dozens of stories was accidentally erased, so all of those links are broken as well. However, all of the text and photos that accompanied some stories have been preserved.

For all of the stories that were archived by the Tucson Citizen newspaper's library in a digital archive between 1993 and 2009, go to Morgue Part 2

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