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*** NEWS ***

Resource Recovery, LLC and R.J. Corman Railroad Company/Pennsylvania Lines Inc, propose to construct and reactivate a rail line to the proposed Resource Recovery landfill. Click here for a map (1.3MB) showing the proposed construction (Western segment) and the proposed reactivation (Eastern segment). Note that the reactivation will eliminate 9.3 miles of the Snow Shoe Rail Trail, including the Peale Tunnel and the Viaduct Bridge.

As of April 30, 2009, an alternative route through Philipsburg for the proposed trash trains was suggested by James Long, President of A.W. Long Coal.

Jump to most Recent News

April 14, 2008— Notification is received by various local entities that the R.J. Corman Railroad is quickly and seriously pursuing rail reactivation to the Resource Recovery Landfill. In May, R.J. Corman filed a series of notices with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) including a notice to vacate the Certificate of Interim Trail Use for the section that encompasses the Snow Shoe Rail Trail. This means 9.3 miles of the Snow Shoe Rail Trail, including the Peale Tunnel and the Viaduct Bridge, will be no longer be available for rail trail use if we cannot stop this proposal.

The following letters and dockets posted by R.J. Corman Railroad—Pennsylvania Division to the STB are being provided as a service to allow the public to make informed comment:

• STB Notice from RJ Corman RR letter and map
   
• *NEW* STB RJ Corman RR segmented map showing "eastern" and "western" line along with current rail-trail use
   
• 222411 RJ Corman Railroad Acquisition and Operation Exemption, Line of Norfolk Southern Railway (Fletcher & Sippel)
   
• RJ Corman Partial Dismissal of Construction and Operation Exemption (Fletcher & Sippel)
   
• 222408 RJ Corman Railroad Petition to Partially Vacate Certificate of Interim Trail Use or Abandonment, Snow Shoe Track, Centre and Clearfield Counties (Fletcher & Sippel)
   
• 222416 RJ Corman Railroad Construction and Operation Exemption, Clearfield Co. PA (Fletcher & Sippel)
   

June 16, 2008— PPC files a Petition to Hold Proceeding an Abeyance with the assistance of an STB-seasoned attorney. The PPC Petition and Exhibits follow:

• PPC Petition to STB Cover Letter
   
• Petition for Leave to Late File
   
• Petition to Hold Proceedings in Abeyance
   
• Declaration of Joann Gillette
   
  • Exhibit 1: Point of Access Study for I-80/Gorton Road Interchange
     
  • Exhibit 2: Centre County MPO Coordinating Committee Minutes (Sept 27, 2005)
     
  • Exhibit 3: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Letter dated November 5, 2005
     
  • Exhibit 4: Centre County Planning Office Consistency Review for Federal Highway Administration (July 19, 2005)
     
  • Exhibit 5: Centre County MPO Coordinating Committee Minutes (March 28, 2006)
     
  • Exhibit 6: PennDOT to Federal Highway Administration (December 1, 2006)
     
  • Exhibit 7: Federal Highway Administration to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Jan 19, 2007)
     
  • Exhibit 8: Federal Highway Administration response to PennDOT dated January 25, 2007
     
  • Exhibit 9: Federal Highway Administration response to Rush Township (Apr 19, 2007)
     
  • Exhibit 10: DEP Notice of Suspended Review dated October 2, 2006
     
  • Exhibit 11: DEP Notice of Suspended Review response dated February 7, 2007
     
  • Exhibit 12: DEP response to PPC on status of Landfill Permit Application dated May 19, 2008
     
  • Exhibit 13: DEP Water Management deficiency letter dated October 2, 2006
     
  • Exhibit 14: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Public Comment Notice (Jan 16–Feb 14, 2007)
     
  • Exhibit 15: U.S. EPA Comments dated Feb 13, 2007
     
  • Exhibit 16: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Comments dated Feb 14, 2007
     
  • Exhibit 17: PA DEP Small Minerals Surface Mine Permit Application Notification to Centre County Planning (Feb 5, 2007)
     
  • Exhibit 18: PA DEP response to PPC and Deficiency letter for Small Minerals Surface Mine Permit Application (Aug 24, 2007)

July 2, 2008—Resource Recovery, LLC, file a response to PPC’s Petition:

• Resource Recovery, LLC’s Verified Statement of Support for the R.J. Corman Railroad Company/Pennsylvania Lines Construction and Operation Exemption

July 3, 2008— RJ Corman Railroad Lines—Pennsylvania Lines files a response to PPC’s Petition:

• Reply of R.J. Corman Railroad Company/Pennsylvania Lines Inc. to Petition to Hold Proceedings in Abeyance

July 10, 2008— DCNR’s files a Statement of Support of PPC’s Petition to Hold Proceedings in Abeyance and an Intent to Participate with the STB proceedings:

• DCNR's Statement of Support of our Petition to Hold Proceedings in Abeyance and Intent to Participate

July 17, 2008— R.J. Corman Railroad Company—Pennsylvania Lines Inc. files a response to DCNR’s Statement of Support:

• Reply of R.J. Corman Railroad Company/Pennsylvania Lines Inc. to Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Statement of Support

July 17, 2008—Ed Abel, president of RRLLC, files a response to DCNR’s Statement of Support of the PPC Petition to Hold Proceedings in Abeyance:

• Verified Statement OF E B. Abel Jr. in Response to Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resource's Statement of Support for PPC's Petition to Hold Proceedings in Abeyance

August 15, 2008—Surface Transportation Board Decision (Docket #35116)

The Surface Transportation Board is Requiring Additional Time to Review R.J. Corman Railroad Exemption Requests. The STB has determined the R.J. Corman rail reactivation request is extremely complex. They want more time to review the various filings/motions before they decide on how they want to proceed. This could take up to 9 months.

November 26, 2008 — Headwaters Charitable Trust (HCT), the organization that leases the 9.3 mile section of the Snow Shoe Rail Trail (that includes the Peale Tunnel and Viaduct Bridge) to the Snow Shoe Rails to Trails Association (SSTRA), filed a statement with the Surface Transportation Board requesting the STB consider the financial investment they have in the Trail as well as their attempts to enter into an agreement with Resource Recovery.

Both R.J. Corman Railroad Company and Resource Recovery filed a response to HCT’s document requesting that the STB not consider their concerns.

January 2, 2009 — The STB, the federal regulatory agency that oversees railroad issues, issued a Decision proposing an action regarding the R.J. Corman Railroad Company Inc/Resource Recovery LLC railroad construction/reactivation proposal. The action is Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement; Notice of Availability of the Draft Scope of Study for the Environmental Impact Statement; Notice of Scoping Meeting; and request for Comments on Draft Scope. Read the details of the Decision.

February 24, 2009 — With help from our attorney, Robert McKinstry of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP; Darryl Farber, Assistant Professor in the Science, Technology, and Society Program in the College of Engineering at Penn State University; Chris Plum, President of Carbon Trap Technologies; and Penn State Student Jamie P. DeVries, PPC prepares and submits their scoping comments. (2.7MB PDF).

April 28, 2009 — The R.J. Corman Railroad attorney rebuts PPC’s comments to the Surface Transportation Board and offers letters of support for the rail line from Rex Energy, Robindale Energy Services, Inc., and A.W. Long Coal.

April 30, 2009 — James Long, President of A.W. Long Coal, suggests an alternate alignment for the rail reactivation that would take the trash train right into Philipsburg.

June 5, 2009 — PPC’s attorney sends a response to the April 28, 2009 R.J. Corman letter. The response document is broken up into managebale downloads as follows:

Late July 2009 — The Surface Transportation Board (STB), the regulatory agency charged with reviewing rail line construction and operation requests, issued two Decisions with regards to the R. J. Corman Railroad/Resource Recovery, LLC request to reactivate the rail line to the proposed Resource Recovery Landfill.

The first Decision (July 27, 2009) basically states that R. J. Corman Railroad does not need STB authority to reactivate the rail-banked section, i.e., the 9.3 miles of the Snow Shoe Rail Trail can be used for Trash Trains; however, this section will be included in the environmental review.  R.J. Corman Railroad had requested this section be exempt from the environmental review which would have excluded impacts from the landfill and to the Snow Shoe Rail Trail.

The second Decision (July 31, 2009) is for the Final Scope of Study for the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).  The STB has determined, “expanding the scope of the EIS to include the landfill development as a connected action is not warranted.”  No explanation is provided.  We all know — without the proposed landfill, there is no need for this rail line. In fact, Resource Recovery, the developer of the proposed landfill, will fund most of the construction cost for this rail line!

PPC sent a letter petitioning the STB to reconsider this Decision and contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and our federal and state legislators to ask for their help in getting the STB to reconsider reviewing the rail line and landfill as a connected action. There is no need for rail service without the landfill.

October 1, 2009 — The Surface Transportation Board responds to PPC’s Request to reconsider the landfill as a connected action.  The STB would not change the proposed action from "single" to "connected", which would have given equal weight to the impacts of the railroad and landfill, but instead indicated PPC’s concerns would be addressed in the Environmental Impact Statement.

Stay tuned on this issue. The STB has a Freedom of Information Act website that is updated daily. Most correspondence received on this "docket" application can be found at the STB website. Scroll down to FD_35116_0 to see if the STB received your letter and/or what (and if) your representatives and other citizens are writing!

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