Comment EI-5016
Received or sent (printed as 2/11/2008)
To whom it may concern: Regarding: Docket #FD35087 It would appear to me that the propose acquisition of EJ&E railroad by Canadian National Railroad falls under the purview of Executive Order 12898 regarding Environmental Justice in Minority and Low-Income Populations. EJ&J’s track passes through low income and minority areas in its most northern reaches as well as it southwest, south, and eastern portions. I have attached a map* generated using 2000 Federal Census data regarding the incomes of the given areas. As you can see by the portions of red that the track goes through there are significant low-income populations that will be effected by this acquisition and resulting increased rail traffic. Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority and Low-Income Populations, was sign by President Clinton on February 11, 1994 and published in the February 16, 1994 Federal Register, Vol 59, No. 32. This order focuses Federal attention on the environmental and human health condition in minority and low- income communities. It promotes nondiscrimination in Federal programs affecting human health and the environment, and provides minority and low-income communities access to public information and an opportunity to participate in matters relating to the environment. If an impact occurs, it would need to be identified and addressed in the Environmental Justice section under Community Impacts in the environmental document. Additionally, documentation should include a matrix of population demographics, detailed discussions of the impacts, avoidance/reduction alternatives, and mitigation and discussion of the project’s public involvement. This Executive Order requires each Federal agency to take the appropriate steps to identify and avoid any disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority and low-income populations. As I understand the order, it requires the sharing of the determined detrimental effects of this action with the minority or low-income populations effected. I am hopeful that providing daylight to the consequences up to and including the increased mortality projections along this track, as it cuts through the center of some of these most vulnerable populations. I am hopeful that an Environmental Impact Statement prepared within the framework of Executive Order 12898 will not allow the future owners from exploiting these vulnerable populations. Sincerely yours, Mike Zachar 157M Helm Rd. Barrington Hills, IL * The rail data was collected from the ESRI Data & Maps Collection of 2006. Census tract data on median household income was collected from SF3 of the 2000 U.S. Census. Maps were created using ESRI ArcGIS Desktop 9.2.
Submitted by: Mihaly Zachar · Barrington Hills, Illinois
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-5016
File docketyard.org/document/7fd392ab5aff7d8d59ccf52b43d88dbbbc70a870a797c2913bcb59b50ac95d5b.pdf · back to the docket sheet