Comment EI-19029
Received or sent (printed as 11/13/2012)
I have grave concerns about the proposed Tongue River Railroad and the many negative impacts that it will directly and indirectly entail. Of particular concern is the question of eminent domain. Private land should be condemned by the government on behalf of large corporations only if the public good that will result from condemnation outweighs the negative impacts to the landowner. The TRR fails that test of public benefit because it will facilitate the export of coal, the world's dirtiest source of climate changing greenhouse gases, to Asian markets. Please complete a comprehensive EIS to evaluate the social, environmental and economic impacts this line will have on climate change, agricultural operations, communities, and rail transport. It is critical that you consider the climate change impacts of digging, hauling, and burning 1.3 billion tons of coal. The analysis must consider the possibility that a new rail line could lead to the digging, hauling and burning of other coal resources in the area, contributing even more than the projected 2.6 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions that will result from the development of the Otter Creek tracts alone. Thank you for addressing these concerns in your environmental analysis and please keep me informed about this case.
Submitted by: Steve Thompson · Whitefish, Montana
The Board publishes this comment in its environmental-comment table for this proceeding. It is quoted here as printed; nothing is inferred from it, and it states the commenter's own position in their own words, not this record's.
Permanent address docketyard.org/d/FD-30186/comment/EI-19029 · back to the docket sheet