Comment EI-4717
Received or sent (printed as 1/30/2008)
January 30, 2008 Dear Phillis Johnson-Ball: Re: Environmental Filing, STB Finance Docket No. 35087 Kindly take into account my concerns as an American, parent, and homeowner when considering Canadian National’s proposal to purchase the EJ&E tracks in Illinois. I am completely opposed on environmental impact issues alone to CN, or any other company, increasing the number of freights beyond the current 4-6 per day. Indeed, when moving to our home in the rapidly developing residential area in which we currently live eight years ago, I was hearing the EJ&E tracks might be converted to public trails due to dwindling traffic; hearing CN’s proposal to acquire and then increase 400%-600% the number of heavy, long f, a Canadian company, is cause for gravest anxiety since much of the money we have made during our working lives is invested in our house, our home, and, again, a Canadian company is taking advantage of low price of the US dollar with respect to the American dollar without regard to the American people who live here. My concerns are: • One of the two roads connecting our area to rest of our village is a grade-level crossing which means numerous, lengthy freight trains would block this route causing delays in reaching the nearest hospital, delays in fire and police service reaching our area, school bus delays, and, since our area is residential, commuter delays reaching places of employment. This will result in more money spent on fuel, hitherto unnecessary route planning time, and increased air and noise pollution. • CN only projected 3 to 5 years for a 400-600% increase in traffic. Considering our move to this area was to escape the air and noise pollution from leaving first near Midway Airport in Chicago and then near O’Hare Airport in Chicago, the current freight traffic, 4-6 freights , which is more than the 3 trains a day we were told when building 8 years ago, rattles windows, has caused picture frames to fall from walls, and been a noise disturbance both inside and outside our house. With county forest preserves and a wildlife refuge on the other side of the railroad tracks from our house, it is already at the barely tolerable level for quality of life; the 400-600% increase would make healthy outdoor activities futile in our own area resulting in driving to escape again noise and congestion when possible, with fuel usage, air pollution, and traffic congestion resulting, and also leaving already existing American taxpayer funded forest preserves underutilized and polluted. A possible 400%-600% increase for 3-5 years and then, with CN being noncommittal past that time, having to revisit this issue again every time CN, a Canadian company, decides it needs to increase traffic further would be a tremendous burden of time and driving to oppose this every time on my family and well as many of our neighbors. • CN, a Canadian company, would extinguish our hopes of seeing our local, American municipal governments implement the Metra STAR commuter line. Lighter, shorter, swifter trains, passing during normal traffic times would alleviate already congested car traffic in our highly residential areas along the EJ&E tracks. The area along the EJ&E tracks may have been farmland or quarries 20 years ago, but now it is highly residential, with American families, with taxpaying workers, school children, and elderly who would benefit from a light rail commuter line which run along the Fox Valley region, the area where the EJ&E tracks run for most of their north/south stretch. The STAR line would help with relief from the spoke-and-hub commuter rail currently, where our area, numerous municipalities, in the collar counties where the population is equal to if not greater than Chicago, would not be required to travel to the hub, Chicago, 40 miles away, to go to another village in the Fox Valley / EJ&E region which may be only 10 miles away by car, but would require another 40 mile train trip coming from Chicago. We do not have anywhere near the mass transit system Chicago has and are already hampered by local road systems that were laid out in the days when this area was farmland; the STAR commuter line would be a good step in meeting the current and long-term needs of American people who live in this area. • Hazardous materials and Homeland security – The increased readiness costs of first responder containment of hazardous materials due to accidents will divert local government money, paid by American taxpayers, from planning, development, and other functions proper to local governments supporting local residents. Substantially increasing the number of heavy, long freights in a highly residential area, with numerous wage earning taxpayers, children and elderly, will make our area a high-profile terrorist target. Post 9/11 we are already at risk with the number of large corporate headquarters in the area as targets as well as an FAA facility nearby, the sonic booms of the military jets patrolling nearby after 9/11 is still clearly in memory. The greatly increased risk of having 100’s or 1000’s of tons of lethal chemicals or other materials released either accidentally or on purpose 80-90 feet from my teenage daughter’s bedroom window or where my teenage son might be working on his homework is nightmarish to me as a father. I hope in the above I have conveyed the fact that the area impacted is not an uninhabited outskirt of Chicago, but a highly residential area in its own right with its our own traffic and environmental needs to address. CN should work with CREATE, other rail companies, the Northern Illinois Planning Commission, the municipalities in this region, and any other planning groups to develop a long-term freight rail solution that will not adversely impact any highly residential area in northern Illinois and ensure the freight rail problem afflicting Chicago is not transferred to the Fox Valley / EJ&E region, where we live. While CN is flush with cash due to the exchange rate, they should search for corridor further west in Illinois that has not yet been developed yet as a residential area, that would ensure any hazardous materials incidents can be isolated and not be an attractive target for terrorists, and where there would opportunities for whatever local communities are nearby to benefit economically through job creation working in functions supporting freights. The EJ&E tracks should be considered only for the current level of freight or, preferably, for commuter rail or recreational trails, due to our area being filled with homes that are only feet away from the tracks. Thank you for your time, Sincerely, John Puhr 1480 Pheasant Trail Ct Hoffman Estates, IL 60192
Submitted by: John Puhr · Hoffman Estates, IL
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-35087/comment/EI-4717 · back to the docket sheet