WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have concluded that construction of the proposed Savage Tooele Railroad in Utah would have no impact on the environment provided that mitigation measures are followed.
The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis on Friday released its final environmental assessment for the proposed short line, which aims to revive Union Pacific’s former 6-mile Warner Branch, restore a quarter mile of ripped-up track, and build 5 miles of new track in the Lakeview Business Park, which is being developed in Grantsville, southwest of Salt Lake City.
The environmental report recommends that the STB impose 37 voluntary mitigation the railroad had proposed, along with 25 additional mitigation measures.
The STB now must rule on the transportation merits of the project.
It is so damn stupid that a lot of “mitigation” has to be done because a train is going to run on a track that has been there over 50+ years, the same should Tennessee Pass ever be reactivated. Stupid, stupid, stupid, and costly. Had trains continued to be run, nothing would be needed.
So, when is some environmental whack-job group going to file suit in some liberal jurisdiction to stop this project? Kipp Meyers is correct when he wonders why nothing gets done in this country.
62 environmental mitigation measures for 11 miles of track, 6 of which already exist. It is no wonder nothing ever gets done anymore in this country. I would like to see a list of these 62 environmental mitigation measures to see how many are the height of foolishness
Chapter 4 of the final EA (which is linked in the story) lists all the mitigation measures, most of which were agreed to voluntarily by the railroad earlier in the review process.
The Environmental Assessment is only 150 pages long. Hard to believe our EPA could be so efficient.