Comment EI-19960
Received or sent (printed as 1/12/2013)
The Tongue River Railroad would create an intolerable and significant worldwide impact which can't possibly be offset by the small benefit in profits, nor the small number of increased jobs created. It would allow coal, that should stay in the ground, to drive prices down in China, causing much more coal to be burned in dirty plants. This would create an infrastructure that would assure decades-long increases in Carbon Dioxide emissions. 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 inside China to the plants. All this creates more carbon emissions, greenhouse gasses and increased climate change. In addition, delicate ecosystems and many species of animals on land and sea will suffer from the rail line itself, the coal dust emitted in transit, and the local noise, air, and water pollution from daily transit of trains and boats as well as inevitable spills. Communities of people all along the route will also be greatly impacted, including myself. We will suffer from increased health issues, traffic congestion, increased noise, environmental degradation, lowering of tourist attraction, increased taxes, and lowering of property values. Thank you for your serious consideration of the broad scope of the environmental impact this rail line would have on us all. We need to move instead toward a clean energy future which will slow the destructive effects we've already unwittingly brought on ourselves and our delicate environment.
Submitted by: Lisa Marcus · Seattle, 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-19960 · back to the docket sheet