Following up on this post, here's more on the issue of European companies working on high speed rail projects in the U.S., from the Palm Beach Post:
U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, D-Boca Raton, is going after one of the companies bidding to build a high-speed rail project in Florida because of its role in the Holocaust.
The bidder in question, a French company SNCF, played a role in transporting thousands of Jews to their deaths at Nazi concentration camps.
"I am a strong supporter of high-speed rail for the economic benefits it will bring to Florida, but moving ahead with SNCF's bid doesn't represent progress, it represents a major step backward and a direct insult to Holocaust survivors and their families," Klein said in a statement. "No company whose trains carried innocent victims to death camps should have the right to lay the first inch of track in this country."
The Orlando to Tampa high-speed rail project is worth $2.6 billion. SNCF is also bidding on high-speed rail in California.
Klein's proposed Holocaust Accountability and Corporate Responsibility Act would require companies competing for high-speed rail contracts to disclose their participation in Holocaust-era deportations to Nazi concentration camps and death camps. Culpable companies that have not resolved claims by victims and families would be ineligible for high-speed rail contracts.
...
Peter Kelly, a Los Angeles-based attorney for SNCF America, said the company would support disclosure. He said it would want to meet with Klein to discuss other provisions.
Kelly acknowledged SNCF was involved in transporting Jews to death camps. "It was done at the end of a German rifle," he said. "If you were an SNCF employee you either obeyed or not only did you get shot but your family got shot."
He said the company and the French government have supported reparations programs for Holocaust survivors for decades.
"Now that SNCF is here in America we will shortly be announcing a program to assist American survivors in accessing the very substantial programs that presently exist in France," Kelly said. "SNCF and France are committed to Holocaust remembrance and the idea that the Holocaust and its victims should never be forgotten."
I can see the point about having concerns relating to a company's past behavior. What I wonder about is the singling out of particular actions, but ignoring others. Wouldn't it be better to have a law that covers a wide range of behavior, through some kind of general standard? The problem with doing it piecemeal, picking out only certain actions, is that it may look a bit like you just decided to have concerns about foreign behavior where a domestic competitor was involved. Some sort of objective standard regarding the type of behavior being targeted could help avoid that perception.
On the other hand, perhaps they never had such concerns before. This was the first time, and they are simply taking action in response to the issue at hand. And this issue is specifically about rail cars, so perhaps it makes sense to deal only with issues related to past behavior of rail car companies. Still, when you have a law that harms foreign companies and helps their domestic competitors, there are likely to be some question about the motivations.
