According to the Surface Transportation Board (STB), coal miners are going to lose their job if the proposed Otter Creek mine and Tongue River Railroad (TRR) are built. Seems counterintuitive doesn’t it? I’ll explain shortly but before I get started let’s get some things out of the way in the spirit of full disclosure. Am I the right messenger on this? Probably not but no one else seems to want to dive into these waters so here it goes. You all know that I am personally opposed to…
The Surface Transportation Board (STB) released the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Tongue River Railroad on April 27, 2015 and gave the public 60-days to comment. The document in printed form weighs over 20 pounds and presents 11 different alternative routes. Commenting on an environmental impact statement is tricky stuff. In order to get an actual response to your comment you have to submit a “substantive” comment. A substantive comment, as defined by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), is a comment that suggests the…
It’s here. On April 17, 2015 the Surface Transportation Board (STB) released the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Tongue River Railroad (TRR) and I am just getting around to writing about it. I was prompted by a reader who commented on my last TRR blog, “why haven’t you written about this yet!!!” The answer is that I am trying to read and take notes and check references on thousands of pages of the DEIS (weighs about 20lbs) so I can write substantive comments in the short 60-day time frame…
