Comment EI-23411
Received or sent (printed as 6/5/2016)
I am not a farmer but I live on a farm. In 2014 I built a house on 5 acres of the family farm in Boone Grove, Indiana. I used 1 and one-half acres for my home and yard. The remaining acreage which used to be a cornfield I wanted to return to nature. I dug a three-forth acre pond which I stocked with bluegill, catfish, large mouth bass and minnows. I planted nearly 500 trees of 40 different varieties, 300 shrubs of 15 different varieties, nearly 1800 perennials of 100 different varieties and 1025 bulbs of 20 varieties. Because of the clay in this area each hole for every tree, shrub, perennial and bulb had to be cleared of the clay and filled with garden soil. It took nearly 1000 cubic yards of soil for this task. To give it a natural look, I had brought in 500 tons of rock. The results are beautiful. The area is filled with birds of numerous varieties which I feed, ducks, geese and one lone crane. The bog pond off the main pond is filled with water plants, frogs and minnow nests. I have truly brought this acreage back to nature as I intended. Now I learn that a proposed rail line will run 150 yards from this natural habitat I have created. How can this be allowed??? Additionally and with a greater impact, this proposed rail line will destroy existing land use patterns and miles of tiles. Safety issues at crossings and potential train accidents to which emergency vehicles will not be able to reach are a major concern. It is hard for me to believe that the STB has even allowed this proposed rail line to reach this point. It is a pure disaster for Porter County. Please do not allow this proposal to go any farther.
Submitted by: Jacki Stutzman · RAILED member · Valparaiso, 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-23411 · back to the docket sheet