Comment EI-24931
Received or sent (printed as 7/14/2016)
I encourage you to evaluate the economic impacts of the Great Lakes Basin Rail Line as a whole project and not individual issues. In Rock County, Wisconsin there are significant economic and environmental impacts this project will create. The amount of land required for the project removes a significant portion of the worlds most productive and profitable land from production. The milk and beef production losses cannot possibly be evaluated enough to understand the long term affects the sound and vibrations can have on the livestock in the affected areas. The lifestyles and incomes of those landowners and livestock owners should not get taken away for the rail line investors to profit from this project. Will there be an action plan for how to move forward with the Rail Line after the Great Lakes Basin Transportation Company files bankruptcy? How can the land owners guarantee that the project will not disturb the surrounding land? How will the rail lines affect the water tables including surrounding housing areas? Even if there are steps taken to help the water flow in the affected fields, there is still more water run off into those smaller fields from the rail lines that will limit the yield potential for those remaining acres. While some folks can justify this project, I don't see the justification of the proposed rail line when there are other methods that can address the backups and delays at the Chicago Rail Yards. Safety of the citizens of Rock County, Wisconsin and all the other towns and villages will likely be compromised, if this proposed rail line is approved. Are there any protected species that live in or around the proposed areas? I encourage you to study and alternate means to resolve the need of an additional rail line in Wisconsin.
Submitted by: Gregory Mair · Janesville, WI
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-24931 · back to the docket sheet