Comment EI-24413
Received or sent (printed as 7/7/2016)
July 7, 2016 Docket #FD 35952 Dave Navecky, Phillis Johnson-Ball, Victoria Rutson; Frank Patton is boasting that the proposed GLBT freight rail line “will be the largest U.S. rail project in the last 125 years”. He says “eminent domain for railroads goes back to Abraham Lincoln.” “If you didn't have that possibility, there would be no railroad or interstate highways or schools, because at one point everything was farmland.” THAT'S NOT TRUE. It was not farmland. It was vacant, underutilized, unattended, uncultivated land with no people or towns for hundreds of miles. That was 100 years ago. Today...let's take away the existing nation wide bus transportation, airline travel industry, short sea and intercontinental shipping and current trucking industry. Let's take away the existing 70 mph highways with improved high speed on and off ramps. That's over 164,000 miles of highways in the National Highway System that form the backbone of our 4 million mile public road network. Take away all the existing paved roads, even asphalt roads. Let's take away all the air conditioned cars that cruise at 80mph. Let's take away the 140,000 miles of rail line that already exist with diesel powered train engines. Let's take away all the farmers that have been producing food and grain on the limited irreplaceable cultivated farm land that is left after 100 years of eminent domain. Let's replace all this with horse and buggies, stagecoaches, steam ships, horse drawn wagons, dirt roads, gravel roads, cars that went 20mph. Let's bring back Charles Lindbergh and the Wright brothers. Unfortunately it is impossible to put back all the acres of actual open land with no people and no farming that once existed 100 years ago. That irreplaceable land is gone forever. The effect of eminent domain is different now than it was 100 years ago. Eminent domain was needed 50, 60, 100 years ago to improve shipping and transportation mobility in a newly developing country. Eminent domain 100 years ago took actual vacant land that had no towns, farms people or drinking wells. Eminent domain and proposed new freight railroad criteria should not be the same today as it was 100 years ago. Hopefully people making decisions today are not relying on 100 year old thinking. An overwhelming need for this new privately owned toll rail line has not been proven. It is hard to argue the point that this GLBT freight rail line and subsequent eminent domain is necessary when several class I rail lines have said they don't want it and won't use it. Unneeded existing railroad track has been abandoned or given over to bike paths just within the last 30 years. Millions of dollars have already been spent on “CREATE” with positive results and improvements in relieving rail road congestion in the Chicago area. There are existing rail lines available. If not available, why can't eminent domain take the already existing rail lines thereby drastically lessening the negative environmental and community impact in other areas?? This is not 100 years ago. An overwhelming need and benefit to society, not to a private company, should be addressed before personal property, farm land, communities, water sources and overall environment is negatively, irreparably impacted. I do not believe there is a valid beneficial need and strongly recommend this project not move forward and be denied. Respectfully, Sandy Linden, Cedar Creek Township, Lowell, Indiana
Submitted by: Sandy Linden · Lowell, IN
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-24413 · back to the docket sheet