The East Side Pioneers Neighborhood Association (ESPNA), formed by concerned Rochester, Minn., neighbors in early 1997, includes approximately 1160 residents, including home-owners and renters. Close to Rochester’s center, the Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern (DME) railroad corridor would bisect the association. Michael LaPlante, president of ESPNA, recently blogged about the DM&E issue and the concerns the group has with the impending merger with Canadian Pacific.
We are alarmed by the course of events surrounding the proposed merger between the CPR and the DME railroads. The Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) denial of the $2.5 billion loan didn’t seem to curb the DME’s infatuation with the risky Powder River Basin project.
It is obvious by recent news accounts from South Dakota and Wyoming that the real prize in the CPR-DME merger, is not the inherently unstable ethanol industry as some have intimated but is instead the Powder River Basin project. Property owners are now fighting a particularly aggressive DME railroad that is seeking to seize their land from them, using a tweaked version of eminent domain legislation that will speed the land condemnation process for railroads in South Dakota.
LaPlante goes on to say:
It is especially worrisome to also note that even the CPR, a Class I railroad, with a markedly better safety and operational record than the DME, has had a catastrophic accident. Recall the CP anhydrous tanker accident in Minot, ND, six years ago, resulting in one death and several hundred injuries. With this in mind it is rather chilling to read statements made by the CPR regarding the poor condition of the DME railroad. The CPR appears helpless to rectify the situation. The CPR acknowledges that they do not have enough capital on hand to immediately and adequately address the needed improvements. It also seems that there will likely be gaps, for some time in the future, in needed safety implementation and improvements on the CPR-DME railroad corridor.
Source: RNeighbors blog
Tags: Canadian Pacific, DM&E, East Side Pioneers Neighborhood Association, Powder River Basin, STB
July 5, 2008 at 10:28 pm
Pretty scary talk, where did you hear that?