Comment EI-25901
Received or sent (printed as 4/8/2017)
I am writing to request that the Great Lakes Basin Railroad that is being considered for my area (Northern Illinois) be rejected. This project will destroy locally owned farmland that has been in families for generations. We have valuable and important and ecologically necessary wetlands that will be filled in--this is a very wet area and the long-term consequences of that are unknown. We are a path for many migratory birds. A beloved apple orchard that many of us have gone to for generation after generation will be destroyed. We in Northern Illinois value our farmland, our farmers, and the food they produce for this great nation. We are not a rich community, and I would argue that one of the reasons we have been targeted, when other richer areas have been excused from consideration, is because we are really just plain old rural Americans that others think can be easily taken advantage of. Should a derailment occur, the oil that the railway will carry will need to be burned off and it will make tens of thousands, if not more, of us sick. Please, consider that this will destroy more than land. There has to be less populated areas with less farmland that could be considered rather than putting it smack dab in the middle of the small towns here. We deserve to have a voice too, and our voice is loud and clear: NOT HERE.
Submitted by: Erin Fisher · Roscoe, 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-25901 · back to the docket sheet