WASHINGTON – Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern will have to study the environmental impacts of their proposed merger, the Surface Transportation Board said today.
The railways will have to prepare an environmental impact statement partly due to projected increases in rail traffic on several line segments, most notably on CP’s former Milwaukee Road line from Sabula, Iowa, to Kansas City, Mo., the board said in its decision.
The board’s office of environmental analysis will host six online public scoping meetings from Nov. 30 to Dec. 9 to hear feedback from the public, communities, state and local agencies, and environmental groups regarding the potential impact of the merger.
A projected rise in rail traffic in CPKC lines was among the factors that triggered the need for an environmental review, the board said. The threshold for an environmental review is a 100% increase in gross ton miles over a particular line segment or an increase of at least eight trains per day.
CPKC main lines in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas would exceed the threshold, the STB noted.
The environmental review must be completed before the board issues a decision on the merger.
I can think of no more useless exercise that an EIS on rail lines that have existed for over a century. The stupidity of government bureaucracy on full display.
Here comes a two year delay to the merger!
Perhaps they should determine the environment will not have a negative impact, and prepare a Negative Declaration, which states their preliminary review of merger will result in positive to negligible negative effect on the environment?
I wonder what the traffic counts were on Sabula, IA- Kansas City, MO many decades ago when it was still a Milwaukee Road line. Anybody know?
When the SP was interested in buying the Kansas City line from the Soo, the traffic was about what is proposed under the merger Chicago-Sabula. There will definitely be more Twin Cities-KC traffic then there was then.
THE WORST THING TO HEAR, I’m from the government and I’m here to help you! As said by PRESIDENT REAGAN. A few years ago the federal EPA tried to clean up contaminated water at an old gold mine in southwest CO,they caused a flood of contaminated water that polluted a river through an Indian Reservation. As Erkel said DID I DO THAT?
If this merger makes running trains more efficient then it should be a plus for the environment .
Highways when built or modified, such as with additional lanes, new interchanges, etc. must have full EIS documents and all estimates must be projected 30 years out.
Traffic rises and falls on railroads all the time. Requiring a environmental review is a waste of hard earned dollars and is another reason government should be kept out of our lives as much as possible. It’s just stupid to make the companies incur this cost.
I am not a fan of this or any other railroad merger but, I am a fan of common sense.
What a joke, if I was running the STB there would be no environmental review, trains are a net positive for the environment, that’s been scientifically proven already.
In the 5 years I have lived on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington State, traffic on SR16 has doubled at least, I have not seen any environmental review. In another couple of years SR16 will probably be gridlocked a good part of the day.
Do highways get environmental review when traffic increases? Just Asking.
Whoops. “Looking forward statements” can get you in trouble.