It’s official. The proposed Tongue River Railroad is done. Today the Surface Transportation Board issued a decision officially ending the Tongue River Railroad. On November 25, 2015, the Tongue River Railroad Company had asked the STB to hold the application in abeyance, which means they wanted the STB to suspend work on the permit application but keep the docket open until the proposed Otter Creek mine received a permit from the state of Montana. On Earth Day, April 22, 2016, the Surface Transportation Board met and decided to deny…

By now you know that Arch Coal declared bankruptcy. We all knew it was coming. At first I didn’t think there was much to say about it beyond what the news articles were reporting but then I read Tom Lutey’s recent story in the Gazette and I think it is worth addressing the comments by John Tubbs, the director of Montana’s Department of Natural Resources (DNRC). Tubbs told Lutey that it was unlikely that Arch Coal would let Otter Creek collapse given the amount of money they had invested…

“If there is any hope for the world at all, it does not live in climate change conference rooms or in cities with tall buildings. It lives low down on the ground, with its arm around the people who go to battle everyday to protect their forests, their mountains and their rivers because they know that the forests, their mountains and their rivers protect them. ” – Arundhati Roy. On Monday, I sat on the bench just outside the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council chambers. At 12:24 my friend…

Arch Coal lost nearly 90% of its stock price on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in the first eight months of this year. In a last ditch effort to prevent their stock from being delisted from the NYSE, on August 4, 2015, Arch Coal initiated a one-for-ten reverse stock split to increase the market price per share of their common stock. Delisting procedures are initiated when a stock price trades under $1.00/share for over 30 consecutive trading days. To stay listed with the NYSE, a company is required to maintain certain…

On July 27, 2015 the Northern Cheyenne Tribe renewed their request for a 120-day comment period on the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Tongue River Railroad. This time the request was accompanied by a letter of support from Governor Bullock’s office. A previous request from the Tribe for a 120-day comment period, supported by Senator Jon Tester and State Auditor Monica Lindeen, was initially denied by the Surface Transportation Board. This morning we received a notice from the STB that they are extending the comment period…

On June 15, 2015 at the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s annual conference in Washington, Matthew K. Rose, Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s (BNSF) executive chairman, said the following concerning infrastructure investments that BNSF made in the Powder River Basin (PRB). “Less than 10 years later, I don’t anticipate that we’ll see that level of coal volume again. That leaves us with millions of dollars in investment in what will eventually be stranded assets.” Rose also stated that PRB coal accounts for about 20% of BNSF’s traffic, down from 25%. He…

Photo copyright Colin Ruggiero

On Monday representatives from the Surface Transportation Board came to Ashland, Montana to host a public meeting about the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Tongue River Railroad. They call it a meeting. I call it a box they can check off when they go back to Washington D.C. The word meeting implies a coming together of people to have a discussion. They make it very clear they won’t be answering any questions from the public. The STB and ICF staff read a pre-written script that was approved by…

According to the Surface Transportation Board (STB), coal miners are going to lose their job if the proposed Otter Creek mine and Tongue River Railroad (TRR) are built. Seems counterintuitive doesn’t it? I’ll explain shortly but before I get started let’s get some things out of the way in the spirit of full disclosure. Am I the right messenger on this? Probably not but no one else seems to want to dive into these waters so here it goes. You all know that I am personally opposed to…

The Surface Transportation Board (STB) released the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Tongue River Railroad on April 27, 2015 and gave the public 60-days to comment. The document in printed form weighs over 20 pounds and presents 11 different alternative routes. Commenting on an environmental impact statement is tricky stuff. In order to get an actual response to your comment you have to submit a “substantive” comment. A substantive comment, as defined by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), is a comment that suggests the…

It’s here. On April 17, 2015 the Surface Transportation Board (STB) released the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for the proposed Tongue River Railroad (TRR) and I am just getting around to writing about it. I was prompted by a reader who commented on my last TRR blog, “why haven’t you written about this yet!!!” The answer is that I am trying to read and take notes and check references on thousands of pages of the DEIS (weighs about 20lbs) so I can write substantive comments in the short 60-day time frame…