(The Associated Press circulated the following article by Carson Walker on November 9.)
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Opponents of an agreement between the city of Brookings and the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad persuaded voters to reject the deal. Now the mayor says those foes have a responsibility to help draft an arrangement upon which everyone can agree.
“We have this group who say they can do better, so it will be important to bring this group in and have these open discussions,” Mayor Scott Munsterman said Wednesday. “My job will be to bring people together and get all the different opinions in the room.”
The agreement failed Tuesday 3,834 votes to 2,987, or 56 percent to 44 percent.
Karen Cardenas said she and the other opponents welcome the chance to work with town leaders. The state’s congressional delegation will also likely have to be part of the discussions, she said.
“I don’t believe working alone any citizens are going to get the results we need to,” Cardenas said. “We’re looking at a win-win situation. We don’t want anyone in this field to come out badly, including the DM&E. But I think we’re going to have to have some help from outside the community.”
In March, the Brookings City Council voted 6-1 to approve the arrangement with the railroad, which wants to upgrade and extend its line.
Opponents then gathered enough signatures to refer the issue to a public vote.
The DM&E, which earlier moved its headquarters from Brookings to Sioux Falls, already runs trains on aging tracks throughout the region.
If the estimated $6 billion expansion project goes through, the DM&E would become only the seventh large-scale Class 1 railroad in the country.
The plan is to upgrade its 600-mile line through Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming and add 260 miles of new track to Wyoming’s Powder River Basin so it can transport clean-burning coal to power plants to the east, using several dozen trains a day. Transporting corn-based ethanol and other agricultural products also is part of the plan.
The federal government’s Surface Transportation Board signed off on the proposal in February.
The Federal Railroad Administration has accepted public comments on the DM&E’s application for a $2.3 billion loan. Next it will review the comments and rule on the environmental aspects of the project. The FRA then has 90 days to approve or deny the loan.
Had Brookings voters approved the agreement that was proposed by city leaders, the railroad would have agreed to pay for the local cost of upgraded warning devices on five major streets, which would allow trains to go through town without blowing the whistle.
Without an agreement, that’s not possible, said DM&E President Kevin Schieffer.
“I do have a lot of faith in the mayor and City Council there and will look to them for direction on how they want to proceed. They are still working partners and have done everything in good faith,” he said.
Rochester, Minn., is the only other city on the DM&E line without a formal agreement with the railroad.
The issue may have been a factor in Tuesday’s defeat of Republican U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht of Minnesota’s 1st District.
He lost to Democratic challenger Tim Walz, who tried to please both sides of the proposed DM&E expansion, which has widespread support in farm country but fierce opposition in Rochester, where the tracks run near the Mayo Clinic. He said he supports the upgrade but wants to look for a way to keep the trains out of Rochester.
The Brookings group opposed to the agreement received $5,000 from Rochester opponents.
“Local communities like Brookings and Rochester have too much to lose not to demand better protections than the railroad is currently willing to give,” Lee Aase, a Mayo Clinic spokesman, said in a news release.