The Surface Transportation Board rejected the application from Great Lakes Basin Transportation, Inc. effectively discontinuing the environmental review.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Surface Transportation Board rejected the application from Great Lakes Basin Transportation, Inc. effectively discontinuing the environmental review.
The transportation company submitted the application for authority to construct and operate a 261-mile rail line stretching through Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana.
According to the STB website, it states the application from GLBT is incomplete, causing the rejection.
“GLBT has failed to provide the Board with accurate financial information upon which the Board can rely to make a determination on the transportation merits of the project as required…” as read on the website. “The financial information provided in GLBT’s application, as supplemented, is fundamentally flawed, making it impossible for the Board to determine whether GLBT can meet the statutory criteria.”
The documents also brought up the recent balance sheet released by the transportation company, which show the current assets at $151.
“GLBT’s current assets of $151 are so clearly deficient for purposes of constructing a 261-mile rail line that the Board will not proceed with this application given the impacts on stakeholders and the demands upon Board resources,” as read on the website.
The proposed rail line had stirred controversy since first announcing the multi-state project.
Illinois Farm Bureau President Richard Guebert, Jr. released a statement Thursday regarding STB’s rejection.
“We’re extremely pleased to see the Surface Transportation Board reject Great Lakes Basin Transportation’s application to construct and operate a rail line through Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Despite evidence showing the rail line unnecessary, the proposed 261-mile project would have cut through prime Illinois farmland, disturbing nearly 5,000 acres for the rail line and another 14,700 acres for the railport in Manteno,” Guebert, Jr. said. “We’re happy to see that the Surface Transportation board concurred with our written objections when they found Great Lakes Basin Transportation’s application to be incomplete and the company’s assets insufficient to complete such a project.”
Guebert, Jr. also thanked Senator Dick Durbin, Representatives Robin Kelly and Adam Kinzinger along with the state and local officials for their support in the project opposition.
