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Northern Cheyenne officials reject coal railroad plans
Northern Cheyenne officials reject coal railroad plans18 hours ago • By Tom Lutey
tlutey@billingsgazette.com
The Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council voiced unanimous opposition Monday to the controversial Tongue River Railroad, considered crucial to developing Otter Creek coal in southeast Montana.
The council, citing concerns about damage to tribal culture and the environment, voted 9-0 to oppose the $403 million railroad proposed by partners Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Arch Coal, and candy bar magnate Forrest Mars, which {sic} owns a ranch in the area. The railroad would open southeast Montana to large-scale coal surface mining, with Asia being a potential market.
Concerns about the railroad were multiple, said Conrad Fisher, Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council member.
....
The vote comes two days before the federal Surface and Transportation Board will stop taking public comment on an environmental report looking at the impacts of the proposed railroad.
Draft environmental review for Tongue River Railroad released
Larry Mayer/Gazette Staff
The city of Livingston wants federal regulators to consider the impacts that increased coal train traffic would have on the city in a pending analysis of the proposed Tongue River Railroad. Coal trains are seen here near Forsyth.
April 17, 2015 10:19 am • By Clair Johnson
cjohnson@billingsgazette.com
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board on Friday released its delayed draft environmental study of the 42-mile-long Tongue River Railroad being proposed in southeastern Montana by coal developers.
The $403 million rail line would transport low-sulfur coal from the proposed Otter Creek Mine and other possible mines in the Powder River Basin along the Montana-Wyoming border to U.S. markets and to West Coast ports for shipping overseas.
The proposed rail line is co-owned by BNSF Railway Co., of Fort Worth, Texas; Arch Coal Inc., of St. Louis; and candy industry billionaire Forrest Mars Jr.
The draft report by the Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis examined the potential environmental impacts of 11 alternatives. Ten of the alternatives are different rail alignments that could be built, and one alternative considers the effects of not building the railroad.
Re: Forrest Mars, Jr. He lives in McLean, Virginia.
Public activities
As owner of the Diamond Cross Ranch, an 82,000-acre (33,000 ha) parcel along Montana’s Tongue River and on the northern end of the Powder River Basin, Mars has been active in opposing the development of his part of what's been called the "most productive coal and natural gas fields in the nation." Companies that hold the oil and gas leases to his land, rights originally made possible by the Stock-Raising Homestead Act and the Mineral Leasing Act, are seeking to exercise those rights on his ranch. Mars is reportedly concerned about the large amount of water that energy exploration and production projects consume, water needed by his ranch.
Mars and his ex-wife donated the funds that made it possible for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to reconstruct an 18th-century coffeehouse in Colonial Williamsburg.
The ex-couple made significant contributions to the privately owned governing body for Fort Ticonderoga, though a falling-out between Executive Director Nicholas Westbrook and Mrs. Mars led to her resignation from the board and the end of the then-couple's financial support.
Wealth
According to Forbes magazine as of 2010, he was the 52nd richest person in the world, the 26th richest American, and the richest Virginian.
As owner of the Diamond Cross Ranch, an 82,000-acre (33,000 ha) parcel along Montana’s Tongue River and on the northern end of the Powder River Basin, Mars has been active in opposing the development of his part of what's been called the "most productive coal and natural gas fields in the nation." Companies that hold the oil and gas leases to his land, rights originally made possible by the Stock-Raising Homestead Act and the Mineral Leasing Act, are seeking to exercise those rights on his ranch. Mars is reportedly concerned about the large amount of water that energy exploration and production projects consume, water needed by his ranch.
Mars and his ex-wife donated the funds that made it possible for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation to reconstruct an 18th-century coffeehouse in Colonial Williamsburg.
The ex-couple made significant contributions to the privately owned governing body for Fort Ticonderoga, though a falling-out between Executive Director Nicholas Westbrook and Mrs. Mars led to her resignation from the board and the end of the then-couple's financial support.
Wealth
According to Forbes magazine as of 2010, he was the 52nd richest person in the world, the 26th richest American, and the richest Virginian.
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