norfolk southern dillerville yard consolidation project

More documents

Recommendations

Info

$LATEX Tips - eDisk$

[NB - Subsequent investigation of this issue by Gannett Fleming indicates that complaints involving West NileVirus should be direct to the Lancaster County Mosquito Control Coordinator (717-394-6851) at the PennState Cooperative Extension Service for investigation. The Cooperative Extension Service is responsible tomonitor, test and treat waterbodies that contain mosquitos that may transmit the West Nile Virus.]29. Q) Why can’t infiltration ponds be used at this location?A) Even after the non-media solids are removed from the dump, the groundwater beneath the site will remaincontaminated. Infiltrating water at this location would move this contaminated water into the surroundingwaterways more quickly than they are expected to leave the site under existing conditions.30. Rich Pugh of Gannett Fleming provided an overview of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)process and how it applied to this project. Mr. Pugh explained that any project that used federal funds neededto conform to NEPA. In this instance, part of the federal money dedicated to this project is being routedthrough FHWA and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation administers NEPA on behalf of theFHWA. The NEPA process covers three levels of NEPA actions. Category I Actions require EnvironmentalImpact Statements that typically cover large projects where significant adverse effects are anticipated.Category III Actions are covered by Environmental Assessments. Environmental Assessments are used toevaluate projects where the degree of impacts to the environment is unknown. Categorically excluded projectsare NEPA actions where significant impacts to the environment are not expected.In December, a scoping fieldview was held with the FHWA to review existing conditions in the study area andassess the expected level of impact to result from the project. Based on the result of the fieldview both FHWAand PennDOT concurred that the project could proceed as a Categorical Excluded project under NEPA. TheCategorical Exclusion Evaluation is currently under preparation and will be used to catalogue existingenvironmental resources in the study area and evaluate the impacts expected to result from the proposedaction.31. Q) Do Categorical Exclusions involve less study than an EIS?A) Not necessarily. The amount of documentation included in the CEE depends on the number and type ofenvironmental resources present in the study area and the scale of the project. All required studies areconducted according to well document PennDOT and FHWA procedures.32. Q) Is a Categorical Exclusion project exempt from review then?A) No. Categorical Exclusion documents are reviewed by PennDOT and/or FHWA.33. Robert O’Neill (Gannett Fleming) discussed the types of detailed studies required for the completion of the CEdocument. Three environmental resources categories are considered in the preparation of the CE; natural,cultural and socioeconomic resources are evaluated during preparation of the CE. Natural resources includesuch categories as wetlands, waterways, floodplains, threatened or endangered species, parks, farmlands,hazardous and residual wastes, impacts to homes and businesses, community impacts, secondary developmentimpacts, impacts to archaeological and historic sites, etc. On this project, detailed air, noise and vibrationanalysis will be conducted because of the concerns expressed by the public about these issues.Further, in addition to the need to comply with NEPA, PennDOT is required to comply with two otherregulatory statutes: Section 4(f) of the U.S. Department of Transportation Act and Section 106 of the NationalHistoric Preservation Act. Section 4(f) requires avoidance or minimization of impact to Section 4(f) resourcessuch as historic sites, wildlife refuges, parks, national forest, public recreation areas, etc. Section 106 governsthe identification of historic structures and archaeological sites and the impacts to those resources. These twoprograms run in parallel to NEPA and must be included in the NEPA document. Mr. O’Neill emphasized thatthe level of documentation required for Section 4(f) and Section 106 is exactly the same level of analysisrequired for a project whether a CE or an EIS is being prepared.34. Q) Will the studies conducted for the CE include regional as well as local issues?
A) Regional issues may be considered depending on the resources present in the study area. For example, thestudy area used for the noise or air analysis will be much larger than the study area assessed for wetlands.35. Q) Will the CE include an evaluation of “Quality of Life” issues?A) Yes, the CE includes consideration of such issues as traffic, impact to emergency services, impacts tocommunities and local business, etc. Noise and air studies will be conducted to address communityconcerns about these issues.36. John Legath discussed the lighting for the proposed yard. Mr. Legath described the lighting that will bespecified for this yard. High-mast lighting similar to that used at highway interchanges is not going to be usedon this project. Instead, low-mast lighting about 35-feet high will be placed at switch locations and at 125-feetspacing along the NS access road. No lighting will be placed to the west of Little Conestoga Creek.37. Mike Davis of BarleySnyder discussed the Rail Regulatory Process. Norfolk Southern is subject to federalregulation by the Surface Transportation Board and the Federal Railroad Administration. On this project, NSwill use its power of eminent domain to acquire the property for the west yard. NS will not be entering into anykind of lease agreement with LCSWMA.38. Q) Why is NS using eminent domain instead of negotiating with LCSWMA to acquire property.A) Acquiring this property using eminent domain is easier for NS; they can acquire only the land theyneed/want for proposed rail improvements. LCSWMA will be paid fair market value for the land acquiredand the transaction will be considered a “friendly take.”39. Q) What governs the use of eminent domain?A) Federal statutes govern a railroad's eminent domain power and the federal court systems has jurisdiction toadjudicate disputes arising from the use of this power.40. Q) Will this project be subject to Township Zoning Ordinances?A) No.41. Norfolk Southern discussed the current yard operations. The Dillerville yard currently handles 13 trains perday; this includes eight trains for local deliveries plus five yard trains. Additionally, the Enola-Dillerville trainmakes deliveries to Dillerville and takes empty cars back to Enola during the return trip. The Enola-Dillervilletrain arrives at Dillerville between 5:00 – 8:00 AM and leaves for Enola at 11:00 PM. The Enola-Dillervilletrain is approximately 110 cars long. The local trains that are assembled at Dillerville and make deliveries viathe adjacent Amtrak lines run at regular intervals: 5:30, 7:00 and 11:00 AM and 6:30, 7:30, 8:30 and 11:30PM. This schedule is determined by Amtrak’s operations and these are the times when NS trains are permittedto run on Amtrak lines.Operations in the new yard will be very similar. No new locomotives will be added and no new local trainswill be added. However, the Enola train and the local trains may be longer, depending on business. The yardwill continue to handle two trains from Enola but no more than that. The Dillerville Yard will be capable ofoperating 24 hours per day, but the existing delivery schedule is not 24 hours a day and should not change.Currently, traffic is heaviest Monday through Friday and drops off substantially on weekends.Current commodities handled in the Dillerville Yard include paper, grain, aluminum, steel, wood, plastic andsome hazardous materials. While NS is conscious of community concerns regarding hazardous materials, theyare required to transport these materials if customers ask them to. Cars containing hazardous materialsgenerally do not stay in the yard for long; they are moved as soon as possible after arriving. No car containinghazardous material may remain in the yard for more than 48 hours. The Norfolk Southern officials stressed thecommitment to safety the company has made and indicated that the Dillerville Yard is one of the safest yardsin the Harrisburg Division. Norfolk southern is committed to protecting its employees and surroundingcommunities. Demand for NS transportation stems from providing safe, efficient operations at a fair price.
Page 1: DATE: February 13, 2008NORFOLK SOUT
Page 4 and 5: goods both locally and regionally.
Page 8 and 9: 42. Q) Will the amount of hazardous

norfolk southern dillerville yard consolidation project

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?