Comment EI-19855
Received or sent (printed as 1/11/2013)
Dear Mr. Blodgett, On December 13, 2012, I attended the Coal Terminal Hearing held at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle. I went because as a resident of the Seattle area, I am concerned about the train traffic here. However, while I was listening to the comments, I heard two very troubling things. 1. In order to haul the coal from the mine to Western Washington, the tracks would travel through private land currently held by ranchers. One rancher has traveled from Montana to Seattle, just so he could comment. He stated that several miles of his land was going to be condemned so the tracks could be laid. This is appalling, in two ways. First, that the railroad can condemn private land, build a line thus cutting a ranch in half. Second, that there was not a process in Montana for this rancher to comment so that he would not be required to spend the money to travel several hundred miles for a 3 hour comment section. 2. That the cultural heritage of the Native American communities living in the area where the mines are planned does not appear to have been considered in this process. Cultural Resources need to be respected. How would you like it if someone decided to mine where your ancestors buried? Because of the two aforementioned concerns, I believe that the EIS for the Tongue River Valley should include the following items. 1. The unlawful condemnation of privately held land. 2. The cultural resources and heritage of the Native American tribes in and around the Tongue River Valley. 3. The impacts to the wildlife in the area. Montana is home to wide-ranging species such as elk, cougar, grizzley bear and wolf should be assessed. 4. Mining is notorious for polluting water resources. The EIS needs to have an in-depth study into which streams will be affected by the coal from the mines and leaked fluids from machinery used to mine as well as by workers moving throughout the area. 5. Effects to fish species need to be considered. Not just those species which are recreationally fished, but also the aquatic invertebrates and smaller fish species they depend on. Thank you for the opportunity to comment on this proposed project. Jean Olson
Submitted by: Jean Olson · Kirkland, 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-19855 · back to the docket sheet