WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has extended the deadline for environmental comments on the proposed Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger.
The comment period now will run through Oct. 14 instead of Sept. 26, the STB announced on Tuesday.
The STB said no further extensions would be permitted. The board granted the extension to allow more time for affected lineside communities to provide comments on the first Class I railroad merger in more than two decades.
CP has reached mitigation agreements with some communities that will be affected by increased freight traffic. But other communities, principally in Iowa and the Chicago suburbs, remain critical of the merger and its potential impact on their residents.
The STB is expected to issue a decision on the merger early next year.
This is above-and-beyond on the part of the STB. Regardless of the outcome the whiners are still going to whine but the Feds are going the extra mile to exercise due diligence.
No they’re not Daniel, they’re wasting time is what they’re doing, this is either a yay or nay choice, no conditions necessary. Remember that before most of the people complaining now were born these same rail lines probably carried more traffic than even CPKC is proposing will be carried, they just don’t remember or know it.
Great post Gerald (as always), thank you.
Well OF COURSE they are wasting time. You know that. I know that. Charles knows that. But the great unwashed masses who honestly believe their food comes from a grocery store, their water from a spigot and electric from a plug in the wall only have due process as their guiding light. Inevitably someone will cry that they didn’t get their 15-minutes of infamy on their soapbox for this or that reason. Ergo, the powers that be can point to the “15 extra business days” granted for griping. Democracy is served.