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>From the Surface Transportation Board, Washington, D.C.
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The Surface Transportation Board announced today that it has accepted for
consideration the Tongue River Railroad Company Inc.'s (TRRC) supplemental
application to build and operate a rail line in southeastern Montana.
Low-sulfur, sub-bituminous coal from mining sites in the Otter Creek and
Ashland, Mont. area would move over the line.
TRRC
filed
a
revised
application for construction authority on October 16, 2012, but modified
the
planned
project with its December 17, 2012 supplemental application. The
supplemental
application describes TRRC's preferred route on the 42-mile Coldstrip
Alignment,
between Coldstrip, Mont. and Ashland/Otter Creek, the southern portion of
which
had
been
approved
for construction by the former Interstate Commerce Commission. The
proposed
line would be operated solely by the BNSF Railroad Company, which owns a
one-third
interest in TRRC's parent company.
The
Board
will
now
consider
the transportation merits of the proposal while its Office of
Environmental
Analysis (OEA) proceeds with its preparation of an Environmental Impact
Statement
(EIS) concerning the proposal's potential environmental impacts. In
November
2012, OEA held public scoping meetings in the project area to assist it in
defining
the range of issues and alternatives to be considered in the EIS. OEA
will
subsequently
issue a final scope of study for the EIS, and, when scoping is completed,
OEA
will
issue
a
Draft
EIS
for
public
review and comment. Comments received will be addressed in a Final EIS,
and
the
Draft
and
Final
EISs
(including
public comments) will serve as the basis for OEA's recommendations to the
Board
regarding
whether, from an environmental perspective, TRRC's supplemental
application
should be granted, granted with environmental conditions, or denied.
The
Board's
decision in
Tongue
River Railroad Company, Inc.—Rail Construction and Operation—In Custer,
Powder
River and Rosebud Counties, Mont., FD 30186
( http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readingroom.nsf/WebDecisionID/42845?OpenDocument )
, may
be
viewed
and downloaded at the Board's website,
www.stb.dot.gov
,
under
"E-LIBRARY /
Decisions & Notices/ 01/08/13."
###
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