Comment EI-19915
Received or sent (printed as 1/11/2013)
My name is David Hopkinson. I live in Bellingham. Washington, with my wife, Judy. Both of us are retired. We love Bellingham. Having lived in Kent, Ohio, where the railroad line bifurcated the town, we are concerned that this beautiful place will become something similar. The town of Kent was built adjacent to the railroad for convenience. As the town grew, the fact that the tracks divided the town became destructive to quality of life, to the health of residents, and to all of the business located in the downtown area. I fully agree with every part of the comment of Debbie Milburn, of Helena, Montana, dated January 7, 2013. Her remarks hold true for everybody who lives close to the rail lines upon which coal will be shipped to the West Coast for export. I also believe that the federal government must look systemically at the effect of all these proposals on rail communities in considering impacts to the environment, human health, traffic, economies, etc. Without a programmatic, area-wide EIS that models all possible rail expansion, regulators have no basis on which to identify indirect impacts or measure cumulative impacts which include reasonably foreseeable future activities. We should stop addressing proposed expansions in the Powder River Basin in a piecemeal fashion, and conduct an area-wide rail PEIS so that all potentially impacted populations can be given proper notice of how they may be impacted. People like Debbie - that would be us, as well - have no way to know how to address potential impacts on their family, their property, and their environment without a systematic determination of how much coal may be extracted from the Otter Creek Mine at peak operations for shipment to terminals on the Columbia River or elsewhere on the west coast of North America. Her situation is the same as all residents of rail communities from the Powder River Basin to the West Coast. Thank you. David Hopkinson 1446 Franklin B Bellingham, Washington 98225 360-4417639
Submitted by: David Hopkinson · Bellingham, 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-19915 · back to the docket sheet