DAVENPORT, Iowa — Quad Citizens got another chance to voice their opinions about the Canadian Pacific - Kansas City Southern railway merger in a meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 13 at Davenport's RiverCenter.
The meeting coincides with the release of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement from the Surface Transportation Board's Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA).
The federal agency went into detail about how the areas that will be the most impacted by the merger are right here in the Quad Cities.
"Here in eastern Iowa, the projected increase in traffic is the largest increase of anywhere in the combined network and there's approximately 14.4 additional trains per day," an OEA spokesperson said.
"The different topics that we analyzed in the draft EIS, and see, we considered a range of different potential impacts: including impacts related to freight and passenger rail safety, grade crossing safety and grade crossing delay, track to rail diversions, noise and vibration, air quality and climate change intermodal facilities track energy cultural resources, and hazardous materials release sites," the spokesperson continued.
The 20-minute-long presentation wrapped up with the conclusion that the biggest impact on residents will be increased noise levels. Officials say that, while annoying, the effects are not dangerous.
Following the presentation, members of the public made their voices heard.
"The environmental impacts list hazardous material transportation, crossing delays and water resources as low risk or minor adverse impacts. I'm here to say that where these issues concern with Camanche, they are major impacts and high risk as it pertains to our citizens. The potential environmental impact to our city, our region, our country is indeed understated," said Camanche City Administrator Andrew Kida.
Camanche was offered just $200,000 by the railway for its proposed merger settlement. In comparison, Davenport was offered $10 million.
"The requests of Camanche are reasonable. Our request should not require grant funding from the federal and state government with what CP has presented," Kida continued. "The mitigation should be the sole responsibility of Canadian Pacific. It should not be the responsibility of the citizens of Camanche or the US taxpayers. Canadian Pacific has used matching federal dollars as an incentive for Camanche to come to an agreement. As a taxpayer and a veteran, I find it disturbing that a foreign company uses our tax dollars to buy our silence. Their attorneys and representatives.... have been intimidating and threatening. They say things like, "This is the best offer you're going to get if you go nuclear, you will get nothing and you won't get money from the STB." That is a quote."
The federal agency did not answer any questions posed during the meeting. However, they have extended the public comment acceptance period to Oct. 14th.
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