Comment EI-20834
Received or sent (printed as 12/19/2014)
Catherine Testa’s Comments/concerns re: STB Docket No. FD35852 Railroad accidents/fire/vandalism and the availability of emergency responders to attend the disaster -what if they can’t get here or are delayed because the bridges that allow access to North Merritt Island are in the open position or worse yet - stuck in the open position- what about the safety of the residents and the wildlife and the environment….??? Increased Noise Environment destruction Decreased Property values Personal safety is at risk Hazardous waste polluting and hurting the residents and wildlife This is a wildlife refuge – I have never heard of a cargo train line going through a wildlife refuge before. What else is next – a garbage dump or a hazardous waste disposal site? It almost sounds like this is a done deal – Put the railroad over the river (via a bridge not on a berm to affect the river which is already compromised) at a point which will allow the fewest amount of rail miles on Merritt Island – avoiding all residential areas and the wildlife preserve. Make the bridge high and don’t allow it the affect the Banana River! What about the wildlife – while crossing the tracks they would be subjected to being run over by the train or crushed/injured by falling debris from the train. What happens if the train derails – how many scrub jays, indigo snakes, other endangered animals – and what about people – or children - how will they be protected from the train or falling cargo? This is a rural neighborhood – it needs to remain safe and quiet for all the residents – 2, 4, 6, or 8 or more legged or winged – we all need to be safe. How about during construction? – What about the heavy construction equipment being moved throughout the neighborhood – down my road, how much noise will be created by the equipment – What about the flooding that will be created when they build up the land under the railroad tracks – who will compensate the homeowners for the damage to their land and home?? Building up the berm – how will this affect the natural movement/migration of the wildlife??? Will this affect their reproduction habits – will this endanger more species or kill off those already endangered?? What about the noise pollution?? We can already hear the train that is in Cocoa – and that is miles away – how much louder will this be if it is in my backyard??? – It will be unbearable! What about the emissions from the trains – smoke/soot/smell/health hazards/pollution and tons of noise! All of this in a preserve!!!!! Shame on the Port Authority for proposing this project. What about the construction phase – how will so many people affect the wildlife preserve?? Will they smoke and possibly cause brush fires during a dry season??? Will they be bitten by poisonous snakes or will the project call for killing all poisonous wildlife to protect the workers?? (or better yet – kill off all the wildlife just to make sure you kill all the poisonous ones – you wouldn’t want someone to get bitten- overkill to be safe – kill the wildlife and you don’t need a preserve!) The nearest hospital is about 30-45 minutes away! Do we have the Florida panther here on Merritt Island – I’ve been told we do. I believe I saw one in Tingleys Marina & RV Park within the last year. Maybe the panther is where the train is going – will the train break for the Florida Panther?? Or will we lose another treasure thanks to greed. And just think of the natural God given beauty of North Merritt Island – I just don’t want to see the majestic Bald Eagle being hit by the Port Authority train – what tourist would want to see that? I much prefer to see the Bald Eagle in my backyard enjoying a fresh caught fish or in the trees arguing with the hawks. That would be a great way to get more people to come here and spend their money! It’s bad enough that we have electric lines ruining the skyline – now we will have a railroad blocking the sunset and the sunrise. The noise will wake us up in the night and kill the silent beauty of the day – it will block the sounds of the birds, frogs, alligators, pigs, owls, woodpeckers, hawks, bats, and children playing. North Merritt Island is a sanctuary for the animals and for the people who have chosen it to be their home! If we wanted to live next to the noise and the pollution of the train we could have stayed in New York! The wildlife refuge has been here for decades – the animals have been here longer than the people – doesn’t that count for anything? What or who is more important – the Port Authority’s profit or the residents/taxpayers and wildlife of Brevard County? The residents/taxpayers and the wildlife of Brevard County are more important! How can we be paying for cleaning our beautiful lagoon and paying to make it filthy at the same time? We are the ones who are paying for both ends of the deal with our taxes! All the wildlife and endangered species in the refuge would be put at risk, as well as the water quality in our lagoon and aquifer. One spill of the oil or any big train accident and we would have such a mess. How hard would an emergency be in the middle of a wildlife refuge? In addition, the big ecotourism revenue for the county from the Indian River Lagoon will go away – as the river dies so will the ecotourism revenue die. The last huge university study revealed $1.2 Billion in annual tourist revenues for Brevard County and $3.2 Billion in annual revenues for the entire 5 county lagoon area. That income would have to be made up somehow...Ecotourism also provides jobs – which will be lost…. The surface water flow to Sykes Creek would be obstructed, as trains can't run in water...so tracks would have to be built up. It would be too expensive and logistically difficult to put it on a trestle through the refuge, so properties on the East side of SR 3 including Chase Hammock and Crisafulli are at most risk of flooding and the folks on the East side have nowhere to go unless they have rowboats. The tens of thousands of jobs, jobs, jobs" the Port rants about, end up really being ~30 after construction. An attorney with the LWV talked to each of the "vendors" at the Port asking how many more employees they would need for this new transport system (e.g., Morton Salt may add 1 or 2 workers, etc.). That would have a cumulative number in the teens to low twenties and adding some folks running the computers on the locomotives are a few more. Why not be generous and say 50 "new exciting jobs", tops? But from that huge double digit number, you would have to subtract the hundreds (maybe more) of hard-working truckers and loaders who currently have quite good paying jobs transporting goods and would lose them to rail cargo systems as well as the ecotourism lost jobs. Rail cargo is automated now. There would be very few "well-paying jobs" from this proposal. It is Orange County, OIA, the City of Orlando and the hotels, motels and attractions (Disney is a big one) in Orlando that the project would benefit from this debacle (as well as the Port Authority) - at Brevard's (and especially NMI's) expense. We would lose our ecotourism revenue and our quality of life. All North Merritt Island will have mega reduced property values and quality of life – we the residents of North Merritt Island should not have to pay so the Port Authority profits! 49 U.S.C. § 10901: Section 10901 provides that the Board must approve a construction request unless it finds that the construction is “inconsistent with the public convenience and necessity.” I believe this project is inconsistent with public convenience and necessity."
Submitted by: Catherine Testa · Merritt Island, Fl
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-35852/comment/EI-20834
File docketyard.org/document/2824fe09ef94344826db0b1946bf3f2e9d8b342e8ed64df0f0c58a21b59b3bae.docx · back to the docket sheet