Gov. LePage and the Department of Environmental Protection are asking the right questions about the proposed construction of a mammoth railroad maintenance and layover facility in Brunswick. That’s why your editorial (“Our View: LePage administration goes off track on Amtrak layover facility in Brunswick,” Sept. 3) suggesting that their involvement is needless and insincere is factually inaccurate.

You state that because the Federal Railroad Administration issued a finding that construction of the facility will have “no significant ecological impact,” a DEP review is unneeded.

In fact, the railroad agency said the building would have no impact “provided it is implemented in accordance with … all applicable federal, state and local permitting requirements.” Ensuring that the project is adhering to those requirements is precisely what the DEP is supposed to do.

It’s clear that the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, the quasi-state entity behind this project, hoped to escape such scrutiny. When it first applied to the state for a stormwater permit, it failed to notify nearby residents, depriving them of an opportunity to comment on the plan.

After the court threw out the permit, NNEPRA reapplied, but left out so much basic information that was required by law that the DEP rightly rejected it once more.

Those of us who live near this proposed industrial facility have been asking NNEPRA for years about the contaminated soils on the site and how it intends to prevent toxic chemicals like lead and arsenic from leaching into our drinking water during and following construction. This facility – the length of two football fields – sits above an aquifer close to homeowners’ wells. But our concerns have fallen on deaf ears.

Now, finally, with the help of the governor and the DEP, we are going to get some answers. For that, they deserve praise, not condemnation by your newspaper.

Copy the Story Link