Comment EI-18172
Received or sent (printed as 5/10/2010)
TO: Surface Transportation Board RE: STB Finance Docket No. 35095 SUBJECT: Environmental Comment by Fred Hirschmann David Navecky Surface Transportation Board 395 E Street, SW Washington, DC 20423-0001 Attention: STB Finance Docket No. 35095 Dear Mr. Navecky, I would like to go on record as being opposed to all rail routes leading from the existing Alaska Railroad line to Point MacKenzie and the deepwater port the Matanuska-Susitna Borough has been trying to develop. If a route must be selected, then the longest Willow Route follows high ground with the least disruption to recreation areas, residential areas and sensitive wetlands. The route that the borough seems to prefer, the Houston Route, crosses myriad wetlands that will require an inordinate amount of fill. A good share of that route, especially in the vicinity of the lakes south of Houston and around Papoose Lakes and Crooked Lake, are open marshy fens, basically quaking bogs where wetland vegetation covers former glacial kettle lakes. It’s inconceivable to me that a railroad grade could or should be built through such a non-weight bearing environment. Winter frost heaving coupled with wetland subsidence of the railroad bed will make train derailment a distinct possibility. Wetlands are the worse location for a major fuel spill. We will see that problem firsthand over the weeks to come in Louisiana. Millions of dollars are being sunk into the Port at Point MacKenzie with virtually no economic return to the taxpayers of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough or federal taxpayers. A ship or two a year has used the facility. The Borough cites the development of perhaps hundreds of mines and logging most of our boreal forest to supply a steady stream of railroad cars. Past logging has proven unprofitable and the dreamed of mines simply don’t exist. Anchorage already provides railroad and port facilities and this hasn’t spurred massive resource development in Alaska’s Interior. This huge push to extend the railroad reminds me of the former boondoggle of building massive grain elevators for barley that would be grown at Delta. The predicted agricultural boom never happened, but millions of dollars were spent. Real Estate speculation in the vicinity of Port MacKenzie has been the tail wagging the dog concerning millions of dollars being spent to develop this area. This is the same location that has garnered so much national ridicule as being one of two Alaska locations for the infamous “Bridges to Nowhere.” Our former Borough Mayor, a local realtor, began much of the push to develop the Port and build road, railroad and bridge infrastructure. Years later, there are just a few people living and working anywhere around the Port. It has been a huge drain of taxpayer dollars. Sincerely, Fred Hirschmann 3660 S. English Bay Dr. Wasilla, AK 99654 Phone: 907-373-3750
Submitted by: Fred Hirschmann · Wasilla, AK
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-35095/comment/EI-18172 · back to the docket sheet