Comment EI-32000
Received or sent (printed as 4/24/2022)
Please do not increase freight capacity for trains carrying hazardous substances through Lake and north Cook counties. Residents complain their homes already vibrate to the point they're repeatedly woken from a sound night's sleep when tankers pass. Vibrations can loosen pipelines at connections, causing gas leaks. Residents along rail corridors who depend on well water fear a derailment of hazardous substances or leak from a ruptured pipeline will compromise their only source of drinking water. Some communities have no fire hydrants. The most important thing needed to combat such an incident is water access. Foam doesn't work because the resulting fire is too hot; foam dissipates unless tankers are first cooled with water. Residents living where access to water is unavailable for firefighters must wait until it is transported to the scene, provided they survive the potential atomic bomb-sized explosion. Residents along rail corridors where cargo can include any of nearly 400 hazardous substances assume all of the risks and receive absolutely no benefit. Aggravating the possibility of another catastrophic incident such as that experienced by citizens of Lac-Mégantic in Quebec, Canada, which killed 47 unsuspecting residents and decimated the core of their city center - not rebuilt to date - is inconsistent with our campaign outcome to protect students and staff at schools and other public facilities located near rail corridors where hazardous substances are transported or stored. We strongly opposes both a KCS merger with CP as well as one with CN based on the dangers associated with transporting toxic and explosive substances on turn of the century railroads by an industry that continues to thumb its nose at safety standards and tolerable working conditions. We consider industry practices extraordinarily dangerous and negligent. We do not support increased capacity, nor do we support the exploration of alternative routes that will compromise other communities.
Submitted by: Gerri Songer · La Coalition Rail Safety Campaign, Woods & Wetlands Group - Sierra Club IL Chapter · Hawthorn Woods, 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-36500/comment/EI-32000 · back to the docket sheet