(The following article by Terry Woster was posted on the Sioux Falls Argus Leader website on October 5.)
PIERRE, S.D. — The state Railroad Board listened on Wednesday to two Pierre residents’ concerns about the effect of an expanded Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad, then voted 5-0 to support a $2.3 billion federal loan for the project.
“I don’t think we cannot support this,” said board member Dan Baker of Rapid City. “This is probably the last, best chance we have for fast railroad service, especially as it affects international markets.”
Carl Anderson, a board member from Aberdeen, agreed, saying, “I think we’d be conspicuous by our absence if we didn’t support the project.”
Larry Melvin and Bob Parsons, both of Pierre, asked the board to delay any endorsement.
They said they worried about the safety and environmental effects of a greater number of faster-moving DM&E trains moving on track that crosses the center of the capital city.
“We have a railroad track that is very close to a lot of homes and businesses,” Melvin said.
He also asked the board members “to go trackside and talk to the people” to find out what residents, not business or political leaders, think of the loan and the project.
“You’re not really following what the people want,” Melvin said.
DM&E wants to upgrade its track across South Dakota and build new track to coal fields in southern Wyoming. Coal from those fields would be carried across the state and Minnesota to power plants in the east.
If the project is built, 30 or more trains a day could travel through Pierre, projections suggest. Parsons said that would destroy the town. “Why in the world they are able to go right through the enter of our town … is beyond me,” Parson said.
Parsons also said coal, which is the target of an expanded railroad, is becoming an obsolete energy source and the future will lie with synthetic gas.
He said coal is “dirty, it is inefficient. When you ship it, it creates a mess. When you burn it, it creates a mess.”
Board member Jack Parliament said the proposed expansion and upgrade would create a newer and safer railroad.
DM&E had a derailment last year near a Pierre motel, Melvin said. More and faster trains each day could add to safety worries, he said.
Board member Anderson said he walked the track after that accident. Rail on that stretch of line was very old, he said.
“Some of the steel that’s on that track today was made around the turn of the century – the last century, not this one,” he said. “As far as faster trains, there are federal standards … You’re going to end up with a lot safer track than you’re living with today.”
Baker said the Pierre opponents raised important issues, but he said unit coal trains already run on BNSF Railway lines across northern South Dakota to the Big Stone power plant. He said coal is shipped by train through many cities, including Denver and Amarillo, Texas.
“I think if you look at the safety aspect of rebuilt railroads … I think the safety records are very good,” Baker said.
The board’s action endorses a letter from Chairman Todd Yeaton of Highmore to Joseph Boardman, the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration.
The letter says the expanded DM&E will mean economic development, increased competition and better prices for shippers, as well as lower power costs and a safer railroad.