MPR: Feds Serve Southern Minnesota a 'Railroad Sandwich'

Feds Serve Southern Minnesota a "Railroad Sandwich"
By Cara Hetland and Art Hughes
September 27, 2000

The federal Surface Transportation Board released a long-awaited report on September 27, recommending a route for the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad to haul coal from Wyoming through South Dakota and Minnesota. The board issued a draft environmental impact statement after more than a year of research and public comment.

THE DM&E EXPANSION PLAN is the largest and most challenging construction proposal ever before the Surface Transportation Board. The recommendation modifies a company-proposed route to avoid any environmentally-sensitive areas along the Cheyenne River. The STB has already granted preliminary approval to the expansion. The 1,000 mile route includes the construction of 280 miles of new rail and upgrading 600 miles of existing line.

DM&E President Kevin Schieffer says the route is the most important part of the draft environmental impact statement. He says most people want to know how many - if any - towns the railroad has to bypass in order to receive final approval.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
DM&E Web site
City of Mankato
Coal Train Issues Coalition

The environmental impact statement does not offer conclusions about bypasses in Pierre and Brookings, South Dakota and in Rochester. Schieffer would prefer not to bypass any community but is negotiating with a Brookings group to build a bypass there as long as the group deals with the land owners and comes up with $25 million.

"My personal belief is that regardless of any issue we've got going right now, there won't be one built because it's not necessary, but we have offered somebody the option," says Schieffer.

The Surface Transportation Board says DM&E must build a bypass around Mankato because that's the only spot on the line where the railroad rents track from Union Pacific.

Mankato City Administrator Pat Hentges says the city agreed the rail companies would have two lines running parallel through town. But the companies can't agree on that which Hentges says is good and bad news for the community.

"The bypass is going to sandwich Mankato between two railroads. The Union Pacific who's operating on the current corridor and now the traffic of DM&E will be going around the southern and western portions of the city," Hentges says.

And that means twice as many coal trains through Mankato each day. The DM&E expansion plan is driven by deregulation of the electricity markets and the Clean Air Act. DM&E would haul 40 million tons of low-sulfer coal in its first year of operation and double that within four years. Many rural towns need an expanded rail to survive, something that's got support from agricultural interests.

But the people who live closest to the Powder River basin, who are emotionally tied to their open spaces and peaceful living, will fight to prevent the new line from passing through their land.

Nancy Darnell is the spokesperson for a group of Wyoming landowners. A Burlington Northern train skirts along her property so she knows the smudge of pollution on the typically crystal clear horizon.

"There will never be a morning when we wake without hearing the rumble of the train and the whistles blow, and for that to happen to what's left of the wide-open spaces of Wyoming and America, we think, is a crime," says Darnell.

Wyoming landowners are willing to go to court to prevent the expansion.

Next: The effect on Rochester

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