Comment EI-23552
Received or sent (printed as 6/8/2016)
The proposed great Lakes Basin Railroad, has been opposed by so many groups, if the Surface Transportation Board approves this plan, I want you to explain why so many thousands of people are wrong in thinking this is a bad idea, but you think it is a good idea. Please address the specific questions of how drainage will be handled, especially seasonal and once every ten year storm temporary streams and drainage basins. How the land and water will be protected when a train derails and how it will be protected from the simple everyday pollution for over 100 trains traveling over it. How dissecting farms in may cases into tiny plots of virtually unusable land will be good for the environment. There are many parcels that will be too small to farm and no one would live near such a train line with 100 trains going by a day. How noise will be controlled as the quiet line" is a concept that will not work with so many at grade crossings. How the unsightly fly overs will be made attractive so as to not impeded the beauty of the countryside. Why this is proposed to be a Chicago bypass, but all it does is run the lines through the far southern suburbs, it does not bypass the populated areas. How can CREATE, the Farm Bureaus, the Chicago Department of Transportation and the many other government and private groups can be wrong in their environmental assessments. How the rural first responders will be trained and how they will evacuate everyone within 1 mile of the track in the event of a derailment, and that would also include the evacuation of livestock. How the line actually helps the environment at all as it will block drain tiles, slices land in half, destroy trees and scenic views, will harm the delicate river ecosystems in the places it cuts through river valleys. How the line ruining wildlife habitat, especially for the wild turkey, bald eagles, prairie grasses and orchids is an acceptable loss for a line with no clear purpose. Finally I would like to know why you would feel a private company has the right to take land away from it's rightful owners to simply make a profit, especially when 2 of the 6 railroads the line purports to service say they have no intention of using it? Please if you approve this line, and you should not approve it, explain how you can think it is a good idea and how it will not harm the environment."
Submitted by: Dennis Scheppler
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-23552 · back to the docket sheet