Comment EI-24030
Received or sent (printed as 6/23/2016)
Dear Mr. Navecky, I am extremely saddened that I am again writing about the safety concerns associated with the Great Lakes Basin Rail Line as it pertains to agricultural pursuits along the proposed route. This was made very clear tonight with the loss of a farmer in nearby Union, IL. He was hit and killed when attempting to maneuver a train crossing at Olson Road on a tractor hauling a sprayer unit. This accident happened at a road crossing. This will play out over and over again on the crossings proposed in the middle of split fields where farmers will need to cross with slow-moving and very large equipment again and again during the crop year. Many tractors and other equipment now have tracks instead of tires. They are not built to maneuver over steel rails. Damage to the equipment is likely and the chance of a track sticking in rail equipment is a definite possibility. Please deny this new rail proposal that splits farms all along the route as it will force dangerous crossings daily by farmers who have no choice but to get their equipment across broken up fields and over even more road crossings making transport of equipment a daily safety concern. I can't even imagine what this Union, IL farm family is feeling tonight. We should not have to put our farm colleagues in harm's way for a private enterprise like Great Lakes Basin RR to make their stockholders and administrators wealthy. Sincerely, Lori A. Pepper Boone County, IL Farm Owner (Flora Township)
Submitted by: Lori Pepper · Sleepy Hollow, IL
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-24030 · back to the docket sheet