Comment EI-25394
Received or sent (printed as 10/4/2016)
I am writing to oppose the Great Lakes Basin Railroad because of the effects it will have on our environment. It being 1100 miles will impact too many wild areas. While trains are more energy efficient than automobiles, they do have their own effects on the environment, including producing nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide, and particulate matter that can contribute to air pollution and negative health effects. The construction and use of railroads can also contribute to the fragmentation of ecosystems and wildlife habitats. Railroads act as physical barriers when animals are unable to cross through their usual habitats due to physical characteristics of the infrastructure. In addition, wildlife can be affected by an increase in mortality due to collisions and human disturbance. This being a toll train and not a speed passenger train is ludicrous this day and age. To spend 15 billion on old fashioned tracks only to make this route faster is NOT NEEDED. Why not take the 15 billion and upgrade the current tracks to be fast tracks with less polluting fast trains? This proposal no matter where you put it will destroy home values, businesses and wildlife. Water tables will be polluted. In Rockton, Nygren wetlands are way to close to this. Every County has nature that should not be disrupted and destroyed by something that isn't truly needed.
Submitted by: Richard & Chrissie Spanton · Rockton, 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-25394 · back to the docket sheet