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 (AP)  Sen. Norm Coleman said Thursday that he will
oppose an expansion plan by the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern
Railroad unless the Department of Transportation comes up with a
plan to address the concerns of the Mayo Clinic.


      "I need to soon see a mitigation plan," Coleman, R-Minn., said
in a conference call with reporters. "If there isn't a plan, then
I'll do everything in my prerogatives as senator to stop this
project, either through the appropriation process or the
legislation process."

      Coleman said he wants to see a plan by the end of the year.

      The DM&E secured federal regulatory approval for the project
earlier, but it is now seeking approval for a $2.3 billion loan
from the Transportation Department's Federal Railroad
Administration.

      The project would rebuild 600 miles of track across South Dakota
and Minnesota and add 260 miles of new track to reach Wyoming's
Powder River Basin coal mines. It would cost an estimated $6
billion, with $2.3 billion coming from the federal loan and the
rest from private funding.

      The Mayo Clinic and the city of Rochester, Minn., oppose the
project, arguing the increased rail traffic could threaten the
safety of the clinic's patients. The rail line runs only a few
blocks away from the Mayo Clinic, which wants DM&E to build a
bypass around the city.

      John Wade, president of the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce,
said, "We very much appreciate Norm Coleman's involvement and
advocacy on behalf of the Mayo Clinic and the city of Rochester."

      The Federal Railroad Administration issued a statement saying it
had received Coleman's request for a study in September.

      "We appreciate the concerns expressed by the senator and have
placed his letter in the public docket to be thoroughly and fully
considered as the loan application review process continues to move
forward," the statement said.

      DM&E President Kevin Schieffer said in a statement, "The DM&E
Railroad would welcome negotiations on mitigation for Rochester."

      In ratcheting up the pressure, Coleman is taking the baton from
fellow Minnesota Sen. Mark Dayton, a Democrat who is retiring.
While not declaring that the railroad would enter Rochester "over
my dead body," as Dayton famously did, Coleman is nonetheless
drawing a line in the tracks.

      "If the concerns of the Mayo Clinic are not satisfied," he
said, "this project won't go forward."

      Coleman said Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters has offered
to come to Rochester.

      "My response at this point is, we don't need more meetings,"
he said. "We simply need to know, is there a plan? Is there a way
to mitigate the concerns?"

      Coleman said he was still hopeful a plan could be worked out.

      "Is it building tunnels? There's a whole range of things," he
said.

      And he said he was confident he could block the project by
winning legislation to prevent the loan.

      "I presume I can get a pretty broad bipartisan coalition -
conservatives who are concerned about the funding itself,
environmentalists who are concerned about the impact on the
environment," he said.


Gallery

Brookings voters get a say on DM&E agreement

The war of words over DM&E

Politics and posturing determines last man standing on DM&E expansion project

Politics and Government News

Fred Frommer

Author

Sen. Norm Coleman said Thursday that he will
oppose an expansion plan by the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern
Railroad unless the Department of Transportation comes up with a
plan to address the concerns of the Mayo Clinic.


Coleman says he'll oppose DM&E expansion without mitigation plan

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