Comment EI-19511
Received or sent (printed as 1/7/2013)
I’m a retired Special Education/Reading Specialist. I’m very concerned about the demonstrated link between lead, mercury and neurological damage and the effects of blowing coal dust along the entire route of the proposed project as well as the site itself. The incidence of learning disabilities, ADHD, and autism has increased significantly and I have personally witnessed the devastating impacts these issues have not only on the individuals who have them, but also their families, classrooms and schools. Neurological damage is a very serious consequence in all populations. The effects are cumulative and last a lifetime. http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0050112 The environmental impact statement for the proposed Tongue River Railroad should analyze the following: Amounts of coal dust likely to escape cumulatively from trains all along the route and amounts of lead and mercury in that dust. The amount of lead and mercury already in the bodies of children. How much lead and mercury is tolerable? Public convenience and necessity: This proposed railroad is not for the “public convenience and necessity” which is what is required in order for a body to get the power of eminent domain and condemnation authority. This railroad would serve only one coal company giant, Arch Coal, which intends to sell the coal to China and other Asian countries. Impacts on property values: The project would devalue property and infringes on property rights. This railroad will cause fires, spread weeds, devalue property (especially riverfront property), will make ranching and farming more difficult and expensive, will split ranch land in half and separate fields from the river and will shift the liability of train crossings to the landowner. Wildlife: The Tongue River Valley is rich in wildlife habitat and home to outstanding elk and mule deer populations as well as upland birds. Industrializing this valley with a railroad and the coal strip mine it serves will seriously degrade this excellent sportsman resource. Flooding: The railroad bed will act as an earthen dam and potentially worsen the flooding problems now experienced in Miles City in the winter with ice jams. Noise: The loud trains will ruin the quiet enjoyment of nearby recreation areas near Miles City. Infrastructure and traffic: Taxes will go up for residents communities along the rail lines as the coal heads to coastal ports for shipment. This railroad will increase coal train traffic substantially causing traffic delays, noise, and diesel pollution. The only way to live with this increased traffic will require expensive over passes and safety crossing which are paid for primarily by local taxpayers. The Tongue River Railroad will allow coal that should stay in the ground to be burned in dirty Chinese plants and will fuel intolerable, decades-long increases in Carbon Dioxide emissions. The greenhouse gas costs of Otter Creek coal go far beyond just burning the coal. It must be mined, hauled by trains fueled by diesel to West Coast terminals, shipped overseas by ships fueled by diesel, and then hauled in China to the plants. Because it is part of a larger project to export coal from the US to Asia through ports on the Pacific coast, the proposed Tongue River Valley railroad would have much more extensive impacts. I believe that a responsible EIS will take these impacts into account.
Submitted by: Janet Weedman · Anacortes, 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-19511 · back to the docket sheet