(The following story by Brad Cooper appeared on The Kansas City Star website on February 1, 2010.)
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A national environmental group with deep pockets and specialized legal expertise is joining the effort to block a permit for one of the area’s biggest development projects.
The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit Monday to halt the environmental permit issued for a massive rail yard proposed for southwest Johnson County.
The organization claims that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to adequately evaluate the environmental effects of the nearly 500-acre rail hub that would be located about 30 miles south of Kansas City.
The lawsuit contends that the rail hub, along with a proposed warehouse complex next door, will generate substantial air pollution not only for people who live near the project but for the region.
“The thousands of trucks expected to move in and out of that rail yard every day will produce toxic diesel fumes that could pose serious health problems for the surrounding communities, including increased rates of asthma, respiratory disease and cancer, said Melissa Lin Perrella, a lawyer for the organization
In December, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit for BNSF Railway to build a $250 million freight yard after conducting an environmental review. The corps concluded the project wouldn’t have a significant impact on the environment.
However, the Natural Resources Defense Council and other critics want the corps to conduct a deeper and more expansive environmental investigation of the project’s effects on the environment.
“The corps’ initial environmental review for the project indicates that air quality impacts have been understudied and unreported,” the NRDC said in a statement.
The corps couldn’t be reached for comment today. But BNSF said it is confident the permitting process thoroughly examined the environmental issues involved.
“We look forward to providing the project’s significant economic, environmental and fuel-efficiency benefits to the Kansas City region,” spokesman Steve Forsberg said.
The lawsuit filed by the NRDC is separate from one brought by Hillsdale Environmental Loss Prevention Inc. and several other plaintiffs. Unlike the lawsuit filed earlier, the NRDC litigation doesn’t list BNSF Railway as a defendant.
While based in locations throughout the country, the NRDC says its filing the lawsuit on behalf of 3,100 of its members who live in Kansas, including 739 who live in Johnson County and 11 who live near the proposed rail yard.
The NRDC’s entrance into the case is significant because of the hefty resources it has its disposal. During 2007-08, the organization raised $108 million in revenue, according to its tax returns from that year. As of June 30, 2008, the NRDC had assets of $186 million.
The NRDC’s decision to join the legal fray “guarantees there will be some funding at least for the plaintiffs,” said John Ragsdale, who has taught environmental law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
Group’s like the NRDC have a national constituency with dues paid by thousands of people throughout the country enabling them to assemble a pretty large war chest with fairly small donations, Ragsdale said.
“Many of these groups have staffs of attorneys…that are very, very competent and skilled,” Ragsdale said. “They can bring a strong force to bear as opposed to a private plaintiff who’s going to have to hire a private lawyer who may be competant but not as speciliazed or have the resources to draw on.”
BNSF wants to build what it calls a logistics park that would include a special facility – known as an intermodal hub – for transferring freight arriving on West Coast trains to trucks for shipment elsewhere.
The railroad plans to develop the intermodal hub on 492 acres while a private developer — the Allen Group — builds out the other 500 acres for a distribution and warehouse complex that could store some of the incoming freight.
Overall, the entire project promises the creation of roughly 13,000 jobs at full build out in an estimated 20 years.
BNSF is seeking $50 million in federal stimulus money to get the project started. An announcement could come sometimes this month although critics argue it shouldn’t be eligible for funding since its environmental permit is the target of lawsuits.
BNSF and the Kansas Department of Transportation say the project is “shovel ready” since a judge has yet to act on the first lawsuit filed by the Hillsdale group.