Rail authority must refile application for Brunswick

The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority’s efforts to obtain state Department of Environmental Protection approval for an Amtrak Downeaster layover station in Brunswick are on hold because the authority failed to provide required information in its application.

Bill Bullard, project manager of DEP’s Division of Land Resources Regulation, issued a letter Wednesday to the rail authority’s Special Projects Manager James Russell that lists a number of deficiencies in areas including water quality treatment, erosion control and the construction of a wet pond, storm drainage system and sewer system.

As a result, the authority will have to file a second application that addresses those deficiencies, the letter says.

A group of Brunswick residents and some state lawmakers have raised concerns about the rail authority’s plan to build the $12 million, 60,000-square-foot layover facility. They say it would lower quality of life and property values while curtailing economic development at the nearby Brunswick Landing office park.

Rail authority executives have said the facility will make service more efficient. It also is key to the Downeaster’s expansion plans.

Regulators OK new rules for loan-backed securities

Financial firms that sell securities backed by loans, like the kind that fueled the 2008 financial crisis, will have to give investors details on borrowers’ credit records and income under action taken Wednesday by federal regulators.

The Securities and Exchange Commission adopted the rules for securities linked to mortgages and auto loans on a 5-0 vote.

The SEC also imposed new conflict-of-interest rules on the agencies that rate the debt of companies, governments and issuers of securities. That vote split 3-2, with two Republican commissioners opposing adoption.

– From staff and news services

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