(The Associated Press circulated the following article on September 19.)
WASHINGTON — The Mayo Clinic and Rochester Coalition want the federal government to do a new environmental review for the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad expansion plan.
In comments to be filed Tuesday with the Federal Railroad Administration, Mayo and the coalition argue that FRA did not have the legal authority to adopt an environmental impact statement by the Surface Transportation Board.
A spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, Steven Kulm, countered that the agency has the legal authority to use another agency’s work.
Mayo and the Rochester Coalition also argue that the 2001 environmental impact statement is outdated because the size of the DM&E plan has grown since then. Although the Surface Transportation Board issued another environmental impact statement last year after litigation, Mayo and the coalition argued it made insufficient changes to the original one.
The Mayo Clinic and the city of Rochester are fighting a $2.3 billion federal loan application that DM&E has pending with the Federal Railroad Administration to help pay for the expansion. They argue that the increased flow of higher-speed trains through Rochester, where the clinic is based, would increase the risk of accidents and put its patients in danger.
DM&E spokesman Jafar Karim called the latest filing an attempt to stall the rail project.
The Federal Railroad Administration is taking public comments on the DM&E project until Oct. 10, and then has 90 days to approve or deny the loan.