Comment EI-19886
Received or sent (printed as 1/11/2013)
Dear Mr. Blodgett, We write in opposition to the Tongue River Railroad construction through the Tongue River Valley in order to export coal to Asia. Granting the railroad construction would serve Arch Coal, but it would not be in the best interest of the citizens who live along the railroad or for the state of Montana as a whole. Tremendous expenses by individual communities would be required to mitigate the effects of the additional trains transporting the coal across the entire state. At the very least, overpasses and at-grade crossing bars (four) at crossings need to be borne by the companies that make the profit, which is unlikely. This railroad would not be for the public convenience and necessity." Transporting that amount of coal would no-doubt leave coal dust dropped through bottom dumpers onto the tracks. That weakens the ballast and would lead to derailments, as has happened in the past. We've witnessed cleaning efforts on the tracks, and small particulates of unknown material are thrown over fifty feet into the air. This can't be good for lungs. Please investigate this. Is the infrastructure of the railroad lines strong enough, especially at bridges, to deal with the amount of traffic that would join the tracks? We attended the scoping hearing in Spokane, and the following concerns, to name a few, were expressed: impacts on property values, noise and its effects, traffic delays (especially for emergency vehicles -- we were both EMT's for eight years), and the health impacts of increased diesel down-line. In the bigger picture, our children's lungs don't mature until age ten, and they don't handle coal emissions well. This coal burned in Asia would take longer to get there from the Tongue River than the emission from burning it would take to return to us on prevailing world air currents. The health impacts are devastating. Putting this railroad in place insures that at least three decades of children will suffer the effects. We are better than this. Harold and Jan Hoem"
Submitted by: Harold and Jan Hoem · Montana Elders for a Livable Tomorrow (MELT)
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-19886 · back to the docket sheet