Porter County residents come out against freight line plan

There were signs and buttons, volunteer sheets and contact lists for politicians, but mostly there was information at a meeting held by Residents Against Invasion of Land by Eminent Domain (RAILED).

An overflow crowd pushed the audience from the cafeteria in the Morgan Township Middle/High School to the gym across the hall, where those in attendance easily filled the wall of bleachers. Others stood throughout the meeting.

They were there to learn more about what a 278-mile freight line proposed by Great Lakes Basin Transportation that would run from Janesville, Wis., to LaPorte County would mean for them, and what they can do to make their voices heard.

"So this is what a community looks like when they all band together," said Kathleen Honl, one of the organizers behind RAILED.

The goal of RAILED, she said, is to inform residents about the project, bring them together and encourage them to show up at meetings being held next week by the federal Surface Transportation Board to share what the impact of the rail line would mean for South Porter County.

The rail line, which would have the capacity to host 110 trains a day, "will divide this county in half," Porter Township resident Bob Cauffman said, adding that it would set up a catastrophic scenario in terms of what the rail line would mean for farmers, the environment, first responders and local schools.

Cauffman reminded the audience that the fight against the rail line is not a local one. Even though the county commissioners have already come out against the project, county government cannot stop the project. Several members of the County Council and Board of Commissioners attended the meeting.

Residents must make their voices heard with the Surface Transportation Board, he said.

"They are our friends. We do not want to offend them," Cauffman said. "They are going to help us fight this."

Concerns about noise and the frequency of trains were downplayed Friday by a Great Lakes Basin Transportation official.

Frank Patton, founder and managing partner of GLBT, said Friday morning there will be "an abundance" of grade separations at intersections with roads, so the rail tracks will pass over or under the road, increasing safety and lessening the frequency of noise from train whistles and alarm bells at rail crossings.

"The safety is off the charts how much safer it is," he said. "That takes care of 90 percent or more of the noise complaints, and blocking and closing roads."

Also lessening the noise, he said, will be new technology to quiet trains as they go down the tracks.

He said he agrees that the project could destroy farms but added that selling farms for a subdivision does the same thing.

"I agree with them. They have a valid point, but it's a gray issue, not a black-and-white issue," he said, adding that the rail line could add thousands of jobs to the region and the investment of $2 billion into the state in 2018 and 2019 as the line is built.

During the meeting, Crown Point attorney Nick Snow, who grew up in Morgan Township and lives there with his family, outlined the eminent domain process.

"It's an uphill battle. There's no way around that. It's difficult," he said, adding that the battle may be less about money than what happens in court, but there would be time for due process, and there's a lot residents can do before then that can hold things up.

GLBT can make an offer to purchase the land needed for the rail line, but he urged residents not to make any agreements for land sales.

"Agreements are not a good thing," he said, adding that residents want to avoid a situation where one family doesn't make an agreement but those around them accept the agreements.

"In order to stay united, we don't want to start entering into agreements this early on," he said, adding that if anyone receives a letter, a call or a visitor at their door from someone reaching out to make an agreement, "we want to know when that stuff starts to happen."

The Surface Transportation Board has the power to approve or deny the permit for the railroad through the information it gathers for the environmental impact statement.

"A lot of times, environmental concerns can hold up projects like this," he said, adding that the board could have skipped the environmental impact statement but saw there could be concerns.

The Surface Transportation Board will consider three options, Snow said: allowing the rail line to proceed as proposed, allowing it to go forward along an alternate route or not granting a permit.