(The following story by Kathy Cichon appeared on the Suburban Chicago News website on August 28.)
CHICAGO — The DuPage County Forest Preserve District says it will work with Canadian National Railway if a deal to buy the EJ&E tracks goes through.
The district is most concerned about trains carrying hazardous materials that would travel through the Pratt’s Wayne Woods preserve.
To prevent any potential contamination should a spill occur along the tracks, the district might work out a mitigation agreement with CN to ensure the protection of Pratt’s Wayne Woods.
Preserve President D. “Dewey” Pierotti Jr. said that by working together the company will have the district’s “limited cooperation.”
“In this case, we’re protecting ourselves,” he said.
In February, the forest district said it could not allow CN to use about an acre of district land near Powis Road and the intersection of the CN and Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway tracks inside the Wayne preserve. CN wanted to use the site to build a track to connect the two rail lines.
But instead of building the link — dubbed the Munger Connection — on forest property, an alternative for the railroad is to tighten the radius of the track’s curve so it only sits on property owned by ComEd.
Forest officials are worried that should an accident happen there, the preserve could still be affected.
According to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement issued by the Surface Transportation Board last month, the total number of train accidents on the EJ&E line is likely to increase by 28 percent. In addition, the STB said because of the large increase in the volume of hazardous materials that would be transported on the EJ&E line, there would be an increase in reportable hazardous material releases. However, the report also stated “the likelihood of a release of hazardous materials would still be remote, less than once every year.”
“One is too many,” said John “Ole” Oldenburg, director of natural resources for the forest district.
Any contamination, he said, would negatively impact wildlife as well as water resources at the Wayne preserve. The district hopes to discuss with CN ways technology can be used so, “if there was a spill, that could be contained on the property,” Oldenburg said.
Commissioners agreed to enter direct negotiations with CN to develop a mitigation strategy, rather than wait for the STB to issue a final recommendation.
The district would look at requiring CN to pay for all mitigation efforts.
In the impact statement, the STB said it encourages local agencies to form “mutually acceptable negotiated agreements to mitigate adverse environmental impacts” should the board approve the sale of the EJ&E to CN.