Comment EI-19819
Received or sent (printed as 1/10/2013)
Mr. Blodgett and Members of the Board, My family has followed the corporate efforts to force the Tongue River Railroad and the extraction of unneeded coal on Montanans for over 10 years. We strenuously object to this project for many reasons in addition to the main one which is the exploitation of our natural resources for the benefit of corporations and their shareholders without thought of the impacts on the citizens of Montana. l. The ranching economy in that area has long been in the area and is self-sustaining. A coal economy plus the railroad would destroy that and leave the area without a future. Even though we have reclamation laws, when the coal is gone and the corporations have pulled out, there will be nothing left of the good farmland, the water resources and the families to carry on. 2. It has been proven it is not economical to mine and transport the coal to China which is the only market right now, unless the value of the coal is literally given to the corporations. The coal in the ground is worth more to the citizens of this country and the ecosystem than the money paid to the state. 3. In addition to selling cheap coal to China, we are encouraging an even greater impact on the air with the production of CO 2 from old and inefficient power plants in China. It only takes five days for the pollution from Asian power plants to come across the ocean to North America. 4. Why should the citizens of Montana, Idaho and Washington bear the impacts of increased taxes for infrastructure, increased traffic and delays in our communities, air and diesel pollution, noise and the health effects of transporting this coal to the coast. There are many more impacts, but the whole project is bad for everybody, but the corporate structure. We hope the Environmental Impact Statement will be intensive, deliberate and all impacts to the citizens, the environment, Wildlife, water systems, local economies will be assessed. In addition, the long term effects should be thoroughly analyzed.
Submitted by: Darlene L. Grove · Stevensville, 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-19819 · back to the docket sheet