Tongue River Railroad EIS Hearing - Colstrip (Days 10 & 11)

Fearing thunderstorms again, we abandoned our wonderful campsite on the McRae ranch south of Colstrip, Montana for a hotel room in town, (thanks to the gracious help of Mike Scott with the Sierra Club out of Billings).  It was a good opportunity to catch up on social media work, put the finishing touches on the Colstrip Generating Station video, and prepare for the next EIS hearing for the Tongue River Railroad held on Wednesday in Colstrip. 

On the evening of Wednesday June 10th, we once again joined with various people throughout surrounding communities to voice concerns about the railroads impacts and the impacts of the proposed Otter Creek Mine should the rail line be built. Clint McRae's comments were straight on, addressing many issues that would be detrimental to local ranchers which were left out or skimmed over in the Environmental Impact Study, such as damage to water pipes they use to water their cattle, not informing ranchers where side line rails will be included that would double the distance of a culvert and make it difficult for cattle to cross, the lack of addressing the full economic impacts it would have on their ranches, and many others. Several other ranchers, including Clint's father Wallace, spoke to other concerns. Others spoke up for the Amish communities that had difficulties getting to meetings and having access and time to read the draft EIS statements.

Others, including myself, provided testimony to the proposed impacts the mine would have through our own experiences with coal.

 

 Following the initial round of comments, several speakers who were not given enough time to finish their comments were able to do so. I did as well, speaking directly to the panel of officials who came to "hear" the public comments, pleading they take into account the people of the region, the friends and families we'd met, and that none of them should have to suffer the same forms of Benthamite Utilitarianism the people of Appalachia have had to endure.