U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky issued this statement following the ruling on Friday of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) on CN’s request for the establishment of time limits on its proposed acquisition of the EJ&E Railroad and the STB’s release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the proposed acquisition.

“In the eleventh hour of the Bush Administration, his appointees on the STB has put Canadian National ahead of the interests of millions of Americans.

“The STB’s double whammy on the CN/EJ&E acquisition today is bad news for Northwest Indiana and I cannot stand for it. By denying CN’s request for the establishment of time limits on the proposed acquisition, the STB appears to have ruled in favor of the affected communities. However, it simultaneously denied the people’s request to extend the comment period on the Draft EIS to 120 days, opting instead to limit it to 60, which is only 15 days more than the minimum required by law. Further, today’s release is much earlier than the late summer release the STB conveyed to me. This accelerated review process tacitly favors CN over the impacted communities.

“The Draft EIS released today is nine inches thick and thousands of pages long, requiring great time for review and consideration. Restricting the public comment period on it to 60 days denies the people of Northwest Indiana a reasonable opportunity to full consider its contents and weigh in on it. On top of that, the STB plans to hold only one public hearing on the issue in the region, a grossly inadequate opportunity for discussion.

“Should the acquisition be approved, it would result in a threefold increase in rail traffic on the existing EJ&E line in Northwest Indiana. With as many as 34 trains per day running on the track, it would bisect our communities, impeding the flow of automobile traffic and create a considerable public safety concern. The proposed acquisition would also create new obstacles to the expansion of the South Shore Line and would hinder expansion of Gary/Chicago International Airport. Public opposition has been widespread.

“I remain vehemently opposed to the acquisition and will continue to work with Sens. Lugar and Bayh, Gov. Daniels, and my like-minded colleagues from Illinois to stop it. In the coming days I will carefully review the entire Draft EIS and determine the best course of action to protect Northwest Indiana’s communities from this threatening transaction.”

Posted 7/28/2008