Comment EI-32575
Received or sent (printed as 10/13/2022)
This merger exclusively benefits the railroad. There are NO benefits for the city, residents, businesses, or the environment. Our city has built a tourism industry over the past few decades focusing on the Mississippi River and our levee. This merger is a detriment financially, with increased noise pollution and additional safety risk. The railroad used strong arm tactics to get the cities to agree to the money offered. They said if you don’t accept this offer, you may not get any money. The railroad is not taking any responsibility for safety, they expect these towns to use the money to mitigate any safety concerns cities may have. Public safety must be a priority and you should make the railroad mitigate these issues before any merger can happen. There is not one benefit for the residents of the city. Some are not impacted directly in their homes as we and many others are (the noise will reduce property values along with reducing our quality of life) but they will be negatively impacted. As property values decline along the tracks and tourism suffers due to noise pollution and safety concerns, the city will lose tax revenue and be forced to raise the property tax levy rate impacting all residents. This merger will increase noise pollution. Each train may make the same noise as the train before it but that is not the measure of the cumulative effect of the noise of each of train. Currently, there may be one or two trains during any one event on the levee. People can cover their ears once or twice, but triple the number of trains and it will ruin all festivals and activities on the riverfront. Consider the environment. The highest increase in rail traffic due to this merger will be right by the Nahant marsh, the largest wetland on the upper Mississippi. One gallon of oil contaminates a million gallons of water. This is nothing but a Keystone pipeline on wheels. They will transport 2.7 million gallons of oil at over 40 mph.
Submitted by: Connie Allen · Connie Allen · Le Claire, 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-32575 · back to the docket sheet