(The Associated Press circulated the following article on August 23.)
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad could know by year’s end whether it will get a $2.3 billion federal loan so it can haul coal from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin to Midwest and Eastern power plants.
The Federal Railroad Administration said it will take public comment on the project until Oct. 10. It then has 90 days to approve or deny the loan.
The DM&E secured federal regulatory approval for the project in 2003, but it has not obtained financing.
“This brings the goal line into focus a little more, and after 10 years of this stuff it’s looking closer,” said Kevin Schieffer, chief executive officer of the railroad. “We get daily calls from the utility industry, ‘Get this thing built. It’s important to get going on it.’ In the next couple of months, we will get a determination as to whether from a policy standpoint the government, the FRA and others agree with that,” he said.
In Minnesota, the Mayo Clinic, Olmsted County, city of Rochester and the Rochester Chamber of Commerce make up the Rochester Coalition that is fighting the project and wants DM&E to bypass Rochester.
“We now know how much time is left on the clock. We have an opportunity now to convince the federal government that granting the largest loan in American history to America’s most dangerous railroad is a terrible idea,” said Lee Aase, a spokesman at Mayo Clinic.
The coalition says DM&E has a history of derailments. The railroad says it’s operating on 80-year-old track and that the expansion and modernization project would improve safety.
Part of DM&E’s project would rehabilitate existing line through South Dakota and Minnesota to handle the coal trains.
At the western end of the DM&E line, the Mid States Coalition for Progress and the Black Hills Sierra Club oppose building new rail across the prairie and worry about the environmental impact of coal train traffic.
“We definitely will take advantage of that,” Sam Clauson of the Sierra Club said of the comment period.