(The following story by Kevin P. Craver appeared on the Kane County Chronicle website on September 26.)
CHICAGO — Canadian National Railway on Thursday made good on its promise to go to court to force a federal regulatory decision on its proposed purchase of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway.
The Montreal-based railway filed a petition in the U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia district asking it to require the Surface Transportation Board to rule on the transportation merits of the purchase by the end of the year.
Thursday’s filing came nine days after the STB rejected CN’s request to rule on the purchase by Oct. 15 and rule on the environmental impacts at a later date. Time is running out for CN to make the purchase – EJ&E owner U.S. Steel told CN in July that it would not extend the $300 million stock purchase agreement past Dec. 31.
CN President and CEO Hunter Harrison said the company was forced into legal action because of the STB’s inaction.
The company announced its intent to buy the 200-mile EJ&E in September 2007, and formally filed on Oct. 30.
“Given the substantial, wide-ranging public interest benefits of our planned acquisition of the EJ&E, we cannot permit regulatory delay to imperil this transaction,” Harrison said in a news release.
The 59-page filing states that the STB had a 180-day deadline to rule on the purchase, which CN said passed more than four months ago.
CN wants to ease rail congestion on Chicago freight lines by putting more trains on the EJ&E, which loops around the city from Waukegan to Gary, Ind. But to representatives of the communities along the EJ&E, such a move would increase traffic delays, pollution and emergency response times.
Those representatives were quick Thursday in prepared statements of their own to criticize the court filing as the latest move by CN to bypass the will of the people. U.S. Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan, said CN wants to “ram it down our throats without considering the full impacts on our residents,” while U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said that “… when [CN] could not change the rules, they decided to try to change the referees.”
Fellow U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, D-Barrington, had similar sentiments.
“Today’s announcement of legal action is a desperate attempt to circumvent the environmental review process and community involvement, and is typical of the disdain this company has shown for American taxpayers,” Bean said.
Groups supporting the sale include elected officials from the city of Chicago, the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Business Roundtable.
CN had promised in its earlier request to the STB that it would not increase rail traffic on the EJ&E with the sale’s approval until the release of an environmental impact report, expected in early 2009. The STB in its response said such a promise would be impossible to check for compliance.