Environmental Impact Statement and Section 4(f)/303 Statement

On January 31, 2007, FRA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) on the EIS previously prepared by the Surface Transportation Board (STB) for the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad’s (DM&E) Powder River Basin Expansion Project (Project). The DM&E has applied for a $2.3 billion Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing (RRIF) loan from the FRA for the Project.   FRA also issued a Section 4(f)/303 Statement for the Project.

BACKGROUND:  On August 18, 2006, FRA advised Federal, state, and local agencies, Native American Tribes, the public, and other interested parties that FRA had adopted and was recirculating the Final EIS and Final Supplemental EIS for the Project prepared by the STB.  FRA's review of the EIS concluded that the action encompassed by the DM&E RRIF application is substantially the same as the action documented in the EIS and SEIS, that the EIS and SEIS adequately assess the environmental impacts associated with the Project and meet the standards of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) NEPA Regulation (40 C.F.R. Parts 1500-1508), and therefore FRA could adopt the EIS and SEIS. Because the STB’s EIS for the Project did not include an evaluation pursuant to Section 4(f) of the Department of Transportation Act (49 U.S.C. §303(c)), the FRA prepared a separate Section 4(f)/303 Statement.  Also, FRA’s undertaking under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act is substantially the same as the undertaking addressed by the STB, and consequently FRA joined, as a concurring party, the March 2003 Section 106 Programmatic Agreement for the Project.

THE DOCUMENTS:

Record of Decision  (512 kb/.pdf)

Appendices A-D to the Record of Decision (5.6 mb/.pdf)

Appendix E to the Record of Decision (281 kb/.pdf)

Section 4(f)/303 Statement (870 kb/.pdf)

Appendices to the Section 4(f)/303 Statement (3.1 mb/.pdf)

Notice of Adoption (137 kb/.pdf)

The STB website  has the Draft EIS, Final EIS, Draft SEIS and Final SEIS available for viewing at www.stb.dot.gov under Environmental Matters, Key Cases, DM&E Links.  The EIS is also located in 70 libraries in the Project area. The documents can also be inspected at the FRA office listed below.

Documents and comments may be viewed on the DOT docket system at http://dms.dot.gov under docket number FRA-2006-26099.