Comment EI-19099
Received or sent (printed as 11/27/2012)
In addressing the environmental impact of the proposed Tongue River Railroad, the Surface Transportation Board needs to consider the following: 1. The cumulative impacts of leasing and development of the Otter Creek tracts. The reality is that the TRRR and Otter Creek are inexorably linked. The reason for building the TRRR is to access and ship coal strip mined from Otter Creek; the railroad serves no other purpose. Therefore the EIS for the TRRR needs to include a full assessment of the environmental impacts of coal development of Otter Creek and the subsequent impacts that will reverberate throughout the Tongue River Valley. 2. The need for the railroad. Since the TRRR only serves one entity—Arch Coal, the STB should assess whether the proposed railroad meets the meets the requirement for public convenience and necessity. 3. Impacts on wildlife, including threatened and endangered species. The TRRR and the development of Otter Creek will have significant impacts on myriad wildlife species. These impacts need to be analyzed in light of conversion of the entire Tongue River Watershed being converted into an industrial zone. The cascading impacts to wildlife species that result from the building the railroad and development of Otter Creek need to be address. 4. Impacts to quality of life. These include visual and aesthetic impacts, noise, traffic congestion, emergency vehicle response time. The STB needs to analyze the substantial impact to the sense of place enjoyed by residents and visitors that will result from conversion of an agricultural landscape to an industrial one. 5. The EIS needs to examine the substantial contribution to climate change through the burning of 1.3 billion tons of coal that building the TRRR will enable.
Submitted by: Greg Gordon · Spokane, Washington
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-19099
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