(The Associated Press circulated the following article on May 5.)
ROCHESTER, Minn. — The head of Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad has indicated that negotiations for a proposed $2.5 billion expansion upgrade are at a standstill and that local leaders are trying to kill the project.
DM&E president and chief executive Kevin Schieffer made the comments in a May 2 letter to Dr. Glen Forbes, chief executive of the Mayo Clinic. The letter was written days after the Rochester Coalition rejected Schieffer’s most recent settlement offer.
“We’re unclear what you expect us to do at this point,” Schieffer wrote in the letter, obtained by the Post-Bulletin. “But we decided to conclude what appears to be a negotiation with ourselves. Based on the lack of any constructive communication as promised or any alternative proposal from you, our impression is that you are focused on what you call your other ‘options’ — which boil down to continued efforts to kill our project.”
The Rochester Coalition includes the Mayo Clinic, the city of Rochester, Olmsted County and the Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Sioux Falls, S.D.-based railroad wants to upgrade its line across southern Minnesota and South Dakota, and extend the line west into Wyoming. The project has been debated since it was proposed in 1998. Local governments have reported spending more than $1 million fighting the project, as officials fear the increased train traffic would be disruptive.
In responding to Schieffer’s letter, Olmsted County Board Chairman Ken Brown described DM&E’s most recent settlement offer, which includes up to two overpasses based on train-traffic levels and assistance in setting up whistle-free crossings, as “very inadequate.”
“We know that the first train through Rochester that is a mile long is going to need mitigation,” Brown said. “Right away, we need more … than what he is offering.”
It is unclear what amount of mitigation Rochester is seeking. Schieffer said he hasn’t received a concrete counterproposal to his offer.
Chamber President John Wade said Rochester-area officials are no longer pursuing a requirement that DM&E push all of its future coal-train traffic south through Iowa on its sister line, the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern Railroad.
“That’s not going to happen,” Wade said. “There is no silver bullet.”
Brown said the Rochester Coalition is working on a mitigation proposal, but needs a better idea of forecasted train-traffic levels. Rochester-area officials say they hope to get a handle on that by examining the railroad’s $2.5 billion loan application to the Federal Railroad Administration.
But so far, the application has not been authorized for public release because it is said to contain proprietary information, local officials said.
Schieffer has accused local officials of keeping information from the public. Local officials accuse Schieffer of orchestrating a public-relations campaign to siphon public support from the Rochester Coalition’s efforts.
“It’s clear to us that this (May 2) letter was not really written for us,” said Mayo spokesman Chris Gade. “It was written for the news media.”
Neither side was willing to describe negotiations as over. But neither expressed interest in initiating more talks.
“If and when you decide to submit a mitigation proposal, we will be happy to discuss it,” Schieffer wrote.
“If he wants a face-to-face (meeting), we said we’ll do it,” Brown said. “Give us a call.”
Barring a negotiated settlement, the matter will be decided in federal court — probably in Washington, D.C., where the Federal Railroad Administration is considering DM&E’s loan application.