"Loopholes in National Railroad Policy Take Communities By Surprise"

Trains carrying hazardous liquids have recently caused more than a dozen explosions, fires, and spills around the country. But communities have little say over hazardous rail facilities in their midst. The rail industry is exploiting obscure historic exemptions from state and local laws protecting communities.

"In early 2012, residents of this sleepy town began to notice an unusual amount of activity around the Grafton & Upton rail yard at the north end of town. An old barn came down. Earth-moving equipment was brought out to clear the land.

The tiny 16.5-mile railroad had been nearly defunct, but was purchased in 2008 by Jon Delli Priscoli, a major local developer with a penchant for railroads; he also owns a Thomas the Tank Engine theme park 70 miles away.

At least one town official who visited the site to ask about the construction and the railroad's plans said he was told that the railroad's activities weren't subject to review by the town."

Isaiah Thompson reports for the New England Center for Investigative Reporting September 28, 2015 in an investigation conducted with Aljazeera America.