STB authorizes 35-mile Alaska Rail extension
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefThe Surface Transportation Board issued a decision Monday authorizing the Alaska Railroad Corp. (ARRC) to build a 35-mile line connecting Port MacKenzie in south-central Alaska to a point on ARRC’s existing main line near Houston, Alaska. The line would provide a rail transport option between Port MacKenzie and the interior of Alaska, where trucking is now the only mode of surface freight transportation.
The authorization is subject to environmental mitigation conditions, said the STB:
“The Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA), working with the assistance of several federal agencies, has completed a thorough environmental analysis that carefully compared 12 potential routes and the No-Action (or No-Build) alternative, in order to take a hard look at potential environmental impacts as required by the National Environmental Policy Act , and identify the environmentally preferred alternative.
“Based on that analysis, OEA has recommended extensive environmental conditions to avoid, minimize, or mitigate the transaction’s potential environmental impacts, although it notes that adverse impacts could still occur to certain resource areas. The proceeding has included ample opportunity for public input during the environmental review process, and OEA incorporated the comments of agencies and other interested parties inpreparing its environmental analysis and developing its final recommended environmental conditions in this case.”
The board noted that the no-action alternative “would avoid the environmental effects of construction and operation, but would fail to provide freight rail services between Port MacKenzie and the interior of Alaska, leaving trucking as the only available mode of surface freight transportation.”
ARRC filed its petition to build the line on Dec. 5, 2008.
