Neighbors, politicians denounce RR track plan in Crystal
Critics of a proposed railroad track in the Minneapolis suburb of Crystal gathered at a community center Wednesday night and denounced the project as a threat to public safety.
More than 100 people showed up at the Crystal Community Center, where speakers also said the connector track would increase neighborhood noise, shutter businesses and sink property values. U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., had called the meeting to press for an extensive environmental study of the project.
Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat announced that the county had purchased a property in the path of the rail project in an effort to halt its progress. "The simplest best answer here is that BNSF find another option and not file that application," Opat said as the crowd cheered. "Then this is done."
The proposed track would connect an eastbound Canadian Pacific mainline and BNSF's southbound Monticello branch line. BNSF says the change would shift traffic from the Canadian Pacific line, which sees about 25 trains a day, and bring more oil trains through Minneapolis and western suburbs.
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Gov. Mark Dayton recently joined local governments in expressing safety concerns about the project. He added his voice to those seeking an environmental impact study.
Legislators at the meeting said they want the Surface Transportation Board, which is responsible for approving the project, to look at other alternatives. They said it's a nonpartisan issue.
"I can't imagine the devastation that this would have on the character of our communities," said Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope.
Dan Justesen said he's in the process of opening a brewery in the Bryn Mawr neighborhood. He's concerned about increased oil freight traffic from the western suburbs down to historic Minneapolis parklands and creeks.
"I just think this is a tremendously horrible idea, that you're going to reroute hazardous cargo right down through a nature center and right through an environmental potential catastrophe," he told BNSF officials at the meeting.
BNSF spokesperson Amy McBeth said the company is investing $326 million this year for capital improvements to expand its network, especially in the northern corridor from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. She said the industry needs to meet growing transportation demands for oil and other freight.
"If it's not moving by the railroad it's going to move by truck on your highway and your roads that are taxpayer funded," she said. "Moving it by rail allows it to move safely, economically and more environmentally friendly."
Phillis Johnson-Ball, deputy director of the office of environmental analysis at the Surface Transportation Board, said the board had not yet received an application or proposal on the connector track. She explained that a connector track may require a different, less extensive environmental review process than a completely new railroad track.
"But the board can reclassify that action and we can prepare an [environmental impact statement] if the board finds there is a potential for significant environmental impacts," she said.
Ellison said the railroad industry is a profitable business and he's hoping other members of Congress will change federal laws so that local communities don't assume all financial burdens.
"The railroad is an institution that exists at the pleasure of the American people and it's been given tremendous leeway because they move goods and services that we all use and need," he said. "But that must be balanced with our health and safety expectations."