Comment EI-22425
Received or sent (printed as 5/6/2016)
To: Dave Navecky Environmental Analysis Surface Transportation Board Docket #: FD35952 I am opposed to the approval for the Great Lakes Basin Project for the following health and environmental reasons: In January 2012, The Health and Environment Impact Project (www.theimpactproject.org) conducted a study called: Tracking Harm: Health and Environmental Impacts of Rail Yards THE Impact Project Policy Brief Series. This study came to the following conclusions: Case-Study - BNSF Hobart BNSF’s Hobart rail yard in Commerce, California is the largest rail yard of its kind in the United States. The 243-acre yard, which BNSF says has reached capacity, handles 1.5 million containers a year. The facility is classified as an intermodal yard, meaning inside the yard containers are transferred from trucks, which travel the 20 miles from the port, to rail for distribution across the country. According to a Health Risk Assessment done by the California Air Resources Board, communities living near the yard are exposed to an increased risk of 250 chances in a million of developing cancer. It is estimated that 315,000 people are exposed to an excess cancer risk of at least 10 in a million around the BNSF Hobart rail yard.1 Source: Li, W. (2007). Health Risk Assessment for the BNSF Railway. Hobart Railyard. California Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board. www.arb.ca.gov/ railyard/hra/bnsf_hobart_hra.pdf As noted in this study, the constant and heavy exposure to railroad emissions from continual train traffic in addition to the potential dangers of derailments and hazardous waste spills, increase the risk of cancer. Emissions, accidents and spills affect farmland usage and productivity, livestock wellbeing and productivity in addition to the increase risks to the human population. Thank you for your time and consideration. Patricia Hamilton
Submitted by: Patricia Hamilton · R.A.I.L.E.D. · Hebron, INDIANA
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-22425 · back to the docket sheet