Comment EI-22213
Received or sent (printed as 4/21/2016)
I am very concerned for this proposed rail road. The RR will be within 600 feet of my home. (Electrical and pipelines even closer) 1. (Safety) I am deeply concerned for the safety of my children. They currently ride their bikes to a friend’s house down the street. Now there will be a very busy RR track in their way. With the amount of trains proposed crossing the multiple tracks would be very dangerous. 2. (Safety) The local school bus must now travel fully loaded with kids over two sets of tracts on the country road. This would pose a significant risk to the safety of the local children. 3. (Safety/Water Resources) Currently these trains go through Chicago at much reduced speeds not presenting major derailment or spill issues. This this proposed rail line the same trains will be traveling up to 70 mph. The risk of a derailment now becomes much more dangerous, especially considering how close these trains will be do homes. The homes by the rail line all have well water unlike city water in Chicago. If there was a major derailment or spill (or small leaks over time) the drinking water for a wide area would be affected and contaminated, posing a deadly risk to a lot of people. Additionally a train traveling at 70 mph has a lot more energy and in the event of a derailment could potentially destroy a lot of houses in its path with people still inside. 4. (Noise Vibration) I am concerned about the impact the noise will have to my horses. 5. (Noise Vibration) Everyone on the path of this train moved out to the country to get away from the noise of Chicago and now this project is brining that noise back. 6. (Socioeconomics) I am very concerned about my home value and the impact it will have on resale and being upside down on my mortgage. I’m sure this would impact everyone on the proposed rail path. The railroad will not compensate people that along the path for the decreased home values. This will have a major impact on the financial ability of all home owners along its path. Home owners will stop spending money on home improvements as there will be no return on investment this close to a major rail line. Home foreclosures will also affect the areas by the rail line as people will move away and will not be able to sell their home. 7. (Socioeconomics) The amount of land taken up from by the rail line and any land that will now become no longer farmable will pose a significant decrease in crop production. Leading to decrease in money generated from the sale of those crops. This could impact money generated for the three states and farmers. Potentially even forcing the some of the farms to close down and further impact the revenue generated from farming. A better plan would be to utilize the existing or abandoned rail lines and improving transportation time on them. This will have ZERO environmental impact as they already exist. As 90% of the project (about 7 billion dollars) will come from federal grants, can’t that money be used more wisely to improve the existing rail system in the area? In the long run this plan will not affect the environment as the rail lines already exist; it would be a much smarter use of the federal money and would not pose any additional safety concerns.
Submitted by: Andy Nekrasov · Manteno, 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-35952/comment/EI-22213 · back to the docket sheet