Comment EI-19825
Received or sent (printed as 1/10/2013)
Docket No. FD 30186 Attention of: Mr. Ken Blodgett The environmental impact statement for the proposed Tongue River Railroad should analyze the following: 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. Major ranching interests would be unjustly damaged, native lands would become unlivable, and a trail of poison, filth and death of plants and animals, as well as ill health of populations enroute would result. This railroad would serve only one coal company giant, Arch Coal, which intends to sell the coal to China and other Asian countries. There is no benefit to USA in general. A few related jobs are touted as a great benefit, but in comparison to the mountain of damages caused by the project there is still a huge deficit--both economic and environmental-- and immense permanent losses, for instance: Impacts on property values: The project would devalue property and infringes on property rights. This railroad will cause fires, spread weeds, poison rivers and water sources, as well as agricultural and ranching lands, devalue property (especially riverfront property), will make ranching and farming more difficult and expensive (or impossible), will split ranch lands in half and separate fields from the river and will shift the liability of train crossings to the landowners. This is pure Theft, public nussance and environmental terrorism. Native American Tribal Lands, already threatened, will be made unlivable, poisoning water sources, agricultural lands and air quality with noxious, poisonous chemicals (ega; arsenic, lead, mercury, coal dust and others)that make the rivers so toxic that merely getting the water on one's skin burns it. We have tribal treaties that MUST be respected. We cannot just poison and drive away entire tribes just so one company can make a huge profit, and on a dying, destructive industry, at that. 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. An earthen dam filled with horribly toxic water that would seep into the surrounding soils and aquafirs. Noise: The loud trains will ruin the quiet enjoyment of nearby recreation areas near Miles City. Quiet enjoyment" (a legal Right of real estate ownership) is a joke, with 16 mile-long trains a day issuing deafening horns at each intersection all through towns. 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. Who would PAY extra to live in a ruined town with air and water that makes them sick? 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 CO2 and other poisons will also blow back to US shores and lands via the Jet Stream. 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. This project is a boost to Global Warming problems, Ocean acidification problems, US Air Quality problems, Agricultural challenges, Native American survival problems and legal affronts. Please thoroughly investigate and report on all these issues. There is only one argument in favor of this project: One coal company would make a lot of money."
Submitted by: Marian Schwarzenbach
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-19825 · back to the docket sheet