Comment EI-32241
Received or sent (printed as 9/21/2022)
My name is Dave Bowman and I live at 621 4th Avenue in Camanche, Iowa. As you know the merger will result in between 20 and 30 long (as in at least 1.5 miles) trains passing through our towns each day. These trains will be carrying oil from Canada to refineries in Mexico. Additionally, the railroad is already planning to reduce the size of the crews on these trains, as a cost saving measure. Basically we have a Keystone Pipeline on wheels. The only beneficiaries of this merger are the executives and stockholders in the railroads. There is zero benefit and a lot of risk for any and all residents in the affected communities. The noise, the inconvenience, the loss of property values, the impact on our personal safety should one of these trains block access to emergency services. In my town, Camanche, God forbid one of these long trains is blocking the tracks and something happens at the nuclear plant across the river. All of that pales to the risk to the environment when one of these trains derails and ruptured cars dump their cargo into the river. When something happens, whether in two years or twenty, I will have little satisfaction in saying “I told you so” to those who supported this merger. Because all the I told you so’s in the world will not undo the damage caused when a derailed train dumps thousands of gallons of oil into our precious river. Thank you.
Submitted by: Dave Bowman · Camanche, IA
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-32241 · back to the docket sheet