BY HEATHER AUGUSTYN, Times of Northwest Indiana Correspondent
LAPORTE | Members of a local group that opposed an expressway through southern Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties are supporting their neighbors, who face a struggle similar to the one that took place in their own backyards.
Stop Intermodal Save Our County, a new LaPorte County group, opposes the forced elimination of generational farms for industrial development. The group is getting support from members of Citizens Against the Privatized Illiana Tollroad, which successfully opposed the taking of farmland for Gov. Mitch Daniels' proposal to create the Illiana Expressway from Interstate 65 to Interstate 94.
"We'll do whatever it takes to stop this," said Ty Murray, one of the new group's organizers.
State and local officials are negotiating a major Norfolk Southern Corp. intermodal rail transfer yard in the LaPorte County community of Union Mills. The 3,000-acre yard would serve as a site for transferring shipping containers between trucks and rail cars.
Dave Ahlberg, president of the anti-expressway group, said the mission of his group and the one in LaPorte County is no different. He said members of his group are supporting the cause of Stop Intermodal Save Our County in any way possible.
"We have mutual goals because the wolf is at the back door. There's the obvious connection between the intermodal and the Illiana Expressway. This is by no means won. We know it's coming back and if either project goes through, the other will follow," Ahlberg said.
Murray, a business and property owner, said: "We are not opposed to jobs and growth for the community, but this is literally taking LaPorte and transforming it to the likes of East Chicago. We don't want our community to go from a rural community to an industrial community."
Murray said the intermodal facility will handle mostly overseas containers and is not promoting jobs here, but instead encouraging the loss of U.S. jobs to overseas interests. He said because of the site's nature and its large size, it will impact the entire region.
"This is the size that there would be an increase in traffic and they would have to put a lot of infrastructure into it. There would be a lot of eminent domain to take all of that property," Murray said.
Ahlberg agrees with Stop Intermodal Save Our County's cause, saying the elimination of farmland will hurt the entire region.
"We're dedicated to preserving our country life," Ahlberg said. "This is unique farmland in LaPorte County. It's not only corn and soybeans, but it's blueberries and vegetables, huge acres that go to the canners, and to pave over it breaks our heart as much as theirs.
"You can never deny that you don't want to lose your home, but paving over and destroying a huge amount of land like this doesn't sit well with us."
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