Railroad debate draws a Cabinet visit

12/05/2006

The U.S. transportation secretary went to Rochester and South Dakota on Monday to hear both sides in the dispute over the DM&E expansion plan.


Brady Averill,
Star Tribune
December 4, 206


With a $2.3 billion loan application awaiting her agency's approval, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters came to South Dakota and Minnesota on Monday to hear from friends and foes of a railroad that hopes to use the loan to help fund a $6 billion expansion that would increase train traffic through Rochester.


The Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern (DM&E) Railroad wants to upgrade 600 miles of track as well as add 260 miles of track.


A group of Rochester residents and businesses, including the Mayo Clinic, opposes the project and wants federal officials to require the railroad develop a plan to address safety concerns, including the threat of a derailment that could spill dangerous chemicals. The group, the Rochester Coalition, has argued the railroad has a poor safety record.


A public comment period on environmental impact statements ended Oct. 10. Once the Federal Railroad Administration, a division of the Transportation Department, reviews and signs off on the comments, it has 90 days to approve or deny the loan. Peters will have a say in whether the loan is approved, said Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., a critic of the project.


At a news conference following Peters' session with coalition members, Coleman said legitimate safety concerns need to be addressed before the project moves forward. Although he had earlier called for a mitigation plan to be in place by the end of this month, Coleman said he would give Peters time to consider what she learned Monday.


"I think it's fair to say that she wants to go back and process what she heard," he said.


Before Peters stopped in Rochester, she also met with DM&E President Kevin Schieffer, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, shippers and farmers at the railroad's Sioux Falls, S.D., headquarters.


"I think the secretary is on a fact-finding mission. She asked a lot of good questions," said Schieffer, who said he offered to attend the meeting in Rochester but wasn't invited.