EJ&E sale opponents make case at hearing

The purchase would allow CN to divert much of its Chicago traffic to the suburban EJ&E line, which runs through Griffith and Gary.

While improving travel times through the Chicago region as a whole, the new traffic pattern would mean large increases in train traffic in Griffith and at Gary's Kirk Yard rail classification site, located near the airport.

Officials from across Lake County met in Portage to air these concerns with the federal Surface Transportation Board's Section of Environmental Analysis.

Plans call for about five times the train traffic in Griffith, more than three times the traffic at the Kirk Yard, as well as an increase in hazardous cargo shipped through Gary.

"We'll never be out of (air quality) non-attainment," worried Griffith Town Council President Stan Dobis.

Lake County is currently below federal air-quality standards for ozone and fine particulate matter, which triggers tighter environmental regulation for the area.

The STB received 3,600 comments on the proposed purchase of the EJ&E during the public comment period that ended in February.

"That's more than we've every gotten in the history of our agency -- ever," environmental section chief Victoria Rutson said. "You as a group are speaking with a very loud and very clear voice."

The environmental section is preparing an impact statement that will incorporate those comments, and present a description of the positive and negative impacts the proposed purchase would have, as well as ways to alleviate the down sides.

The report is expected to address a wide spectrum of topics, including impacts on safety, air quality, commuter delays and rail congestion.

The three-member Surface Transportation Board will use the report to inform its decision on whether or not to approve the purchase, or to approve it under the condition that certain problems be addressed.

Rutson said that she expected a draft copy of the environmental report to be finished this summer or fall.