The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis has issued its final Environmental Impact Statement for the Green Eagle Railroad, a 1.3-mile line that would be part of a new 19-mile rail route and bridge connecting Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negas, Mexico.
The Green Eagle Railroad would be part of a secure corridor for BNSF and Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) traffic, including a new double-track bridge across the Rio Grande.
The report addresses two route alternatives, the Southern and Northern rail alternatives, and recommends mitigation action in three areas: Sound barriers on bridges to address noise; archaeological surveys and monitoring of construction sites to address possible archaeological deposits; and measures to protect potential threatened or endangered species and migratory birds.
A preliminary report had been released in March. The final report was developed after a comment period that included 104 written or verbal submissions from 92 commenters; the final report says none of those comments “required additional analysis or substantive changes to the text of the draft EIS.”
The 150-page final document is available here, with 709 pages of appendices available here. The matter now goes to the STB for a final decision.
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