HEALTH Strings Under the Big Sky - Explore Big Sky

32 June 29, 2012
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environment
Big Sky Weekly
federal board: a do-over for
the Tongue river railroad
by deb Courson smith
big Sky connection
BILLINGS – Tongue River Railroad Co. will have to backtrack a bit on plans
to build a new rail line to haul coal from Otter Creek.
The federal Surface Transportation Board has directed the company to reapply
for a permit because the project has changed, and court rulings found the
review of possible environmental impacts wasn't complete.
Tongue River rancher Mark Fix says it gives his family a reprieve, since their
property was targeted for the project—without their consent.
"The way it sat before all of this happened is basically, they could have come
out and condemned me at any time," he says.
The Tongue River Railroad was first proposed in 1980 when coal mining was
expected in the Ashland area. The proposed route was changed to serve shipping
of Wyoming coal—and, more recently, coal from Otter Creek—eventually
reaching ports in Oregon and Washington for shipment to Asia.
The Otter Creek tracts are leased by the state, thus bringing in new revenue.
Fix, who chairs the Northern Plains Resource Council's Tongue River Task
Force, says he hopes discussion of the project will broaden to include how it
could negatively affect revenues in agriculture and tourism.
"Obviously, we hope that it will never get built. We think that it's more important
to leave that coal where it is," he says.
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