BNSF Railroad moves ahead in project for second
railroad bridge at Lake Pend Oreille;
Department of Lands schedules public hearings |
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March 21, 2018 |
BNSF Railroad continues to move ahead in its
efforts to obtain necessary permits to build a
second railroad bridge across Lake Pend Oreille,
which would run adjacent to the current train
bridge across the lake. The Idaho Department of
Lands, one of the agencies from which the
railroad needs to obtain clearance and approval,
set May 23 as their date for public hearings on
the application received from BNSF Railway Co.
to construct the bridge.
Department of
Lands Hearing Scheduled
The Idaho Department of Public Lands has set two
sessions for public hearings on the application,
those sessions to be held on May 23, 2018 as
follows:
Wednesday, May 23,
2018
First session:
8:00 AM Pacific - Ponderay Events Center, 401
Bonner Mall Way, Suite E, Ponderay ID
Second session:
6:00 PM Pacific - Sandpoint Middle School
Gymnasium, 310 S. Division, Sandpoint ID
Idaho Department of Lands officially extended
the public comment period to be open for nearly
90 days, instead of the usual 30 days. "IDL is
required to accept public comments for 30 days,"
said Department of Lands information officer
Sharla Arledge, "but the comment period will be
open for close to 90 days to give the public,
agencies, and neighboring landowners more time
to evaluate the application and submit
comments."
As the administrator of the Idaho Lake
Protection Act, the Idaho Department of Lands
regulates encroachments and activities on, in,
or above navigable lakes in the State of Idaho.
Therefore BNSF Railway Company must obtain a
permit from IDL under the Idaho Lake Protection
Act and corresponding administrative rules
before project construction can begin.
Public
commenting, how you can comment, samples of
current public comments
Comments from the public can be submitted to the
Idaho Department of Lands via e-mail at:
comments@idl.idaho.gov
Or comments can be submitted through the IDL web
site at this link:
https://www.idl.idaho.gov/comment.html
As noted above, public comments will be accepted
through May 23, 2018, the same date as the
public hearings announced above.
The BNSF application to the Idaho Department of
Lands, public comments received so far on the
application, and other information are available
for viewing on the IDL web site which you can
see by
clicking here.
BNSF Railway has also submitted required
applications to the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, to the Thirteenth Coast Guard
District, and to the Idaho Department of
Environmental Quality, all required by law prior
to the bridge being approved and constructed.
Samples of
some of the public comments
As of the date this article is written, there
are approximately 70 public comments listed on
the IDL website above. On our NewsBF review of
those comments, the great majority of them are
canned, boilerplate, word-for-word, identical
statements submitted by individuals from around
the country, which implies that they were
submitted as the result of a campaign to
encourage people to submit a comment, all of
them submitting the exact same suggested
comment. Most of those seem to be from the
state of Washington.
However, a few independent and original comments
are noted, including the following:
• From Joan Sutton of Sagle:
"I sincerely hope BNSF will be allowed to build
the second bridge across Lake Pend 'Oreille. The
original bridge is over 100 yrs old and trains
must constantly stop to allow for trains coming
the other way. They have done no damage to the
lake in all these years and those protestors are
just ridiculous."
• From Judith Butler of Hope:
"I am writing to oppose the Sandpoint Junction
Connector project and urge you to do the same. A
second track, “passing lane” for trains should
be done over land not water where the damage
from a spill would be far greater."
• Frank Ferris of Nucla, Colorado:
"Since energy is the basis for our standard of
life, I support energy related projects (2nd
bridge) and I strongly urge your timely approval
of the project’s necessary permits."
• From Royal and Jana Shields of Sagle:
"This email is regarding the building of a 2nd
bridge for the BNSF across Lake Pend Oreille. My
family has lived within a half mile of the
existing bridge for over 40 years. We would like
to go on record as being in favor of a second
bridge to help alleviate the bottle neck of
backed up trains. We have witnessed the
construction of the recent replacement piling on
the existing bridge approach and continuous
maintenance."
• Bridger Mahlum of Helena, Montana:
"As Government Relations Director of the Montana
Chamber of Commerce, I write on behalf of the
Montana Chamber in strong support of the
construction of the Sandpoint Junction Connector
Project. The positive economic ripple effect in
the Pacific Northwest as a result of this
project will be resounding: increased trade for
countless industries, more efficient product
shipments, and a boost in tourism with
additional passenger trains. Workplace safety is
also a top priority for the Montana Chamber, and
the efficiencies created by the Sandpoint
Junction project will improve the safety of
train traffic in the region. Therefore, we urge
swift approval of the permits needed for
construction.
Infrastructure investment is a core objective of
the Montana Chamber's 10-year strategic plan,
Envision 2026. Increasing rail commerce,
especially at the initiative of BNSF Railway to
privately fund the project, makes the Sandpoint
Junction proposal an easy decision for economic
prosperity."
• Ben Olson, town not listed:
"I am writing to express my opposition to a
proposal by Burlington Northern Sante Fe to
build a second rail bridge over Lake Pend
Oreille. Here are my reasons for not wanting
this second rail bridge:
[Note from NewsBF: Mr. Olson then
goes on to list 5 reasons for which he is
opposed to the bridge, with additional detail
accompanying each reason in his letter, which is
complete and thorough but unfortunately a little
too long for inclusion here. His full comment is
available at the website noted above. He
then goes on to say:]
I urge you to not award this second rail bridge
permit. I was born and raised in Sandpoint and
love this area so much - to jeopardize our
lake's health and our town's economy is not
worth it. NO to the second rail bridge."
Details and
some history on the proposal for the new bridge
The proposed second bridge will stand just west
of and run parallel to the current single-track
train bridge, which lies near Sandpoint's
automotive Long Bridge, on U.S. Highway 95.
BNSF railway had originally begun its formal
plans for a second railroad bridge across Lake
Pend Oreille in 2014. Overall, the idea remained
somewhat quiescent from a public perspective,
and at one point in 2015 the company indicated
the project was being put on hold, at least
temporarily. “Eventually we will add another
bridge,” BNSF spokesman Gus Malonas said at the
time.
Last year, action on the new bridge proposal was
revived, when the company announced in April
that it was moving ahead with the project,
formally known as the Sandpoint Junction
Connector project. Progress on the work's
initial stages moved forward in 2017, with more
plan development, work toward obtaining
necessary permits, and testing necessary for
construction, including driving pilings into the
Dog Beach area of the lake last summer to test
load-bearing capacities. “Bringing [the project]
forward now allows us to adequately handle
current and future rail traffic,” said a BNSF
press release issued last April, adding that the
project would add needed capacity to the rail
system now and into the future.
The plan is for a bridge and tracks that will
allow trains to pass in both directions on the
new bridge. This would ease pressure through
what is currently somewhat of a train-route
bottleneck at the bridge, as engineers currently
need to slow or stop to await clearance to cross
the current Lake Pend Oreille railroad bridge.
Railroad traffic from BNSF and Montana Rail Link
converge in Sandpoint and cross at the current
bridge.
The current railroad bridge at Lake Pend Oreille
was originally built in 1904 for the Northern
Pacific Railway, a transcontinental railroad
that originally operated across the northern
tier of the western United States.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC, with
headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas, is the parent
company of BNSF. The BNSF Railway Company is
the second largest freight railroad network in
North America, behind Union Pacific Railroad.
The company has 41,000 employees, and 32,500
miles of track in 28 states. BNSF reported
full year operating income of $7.3 billion for
the year 2017. The company's
presence in the state of Idaho is concentrated
in the northern half of the state.
BNSF parent company
Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC, and BNSF
Railway are owned by Berkshire Hathaway, Inc.,
whose chairman and CEO is well-known investor
and financier Warren Buffet. Berkshire
Hathaway acquired the railway companies in 2010. |
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