Great Lakes Basin Railroad Application Denied by Surface Transportation Board

The Surface Transportation Board says it denied the proposal due to GLBT failing to provide accurate financial information with which the Board would have relied on to make a determination on the merits of the project.

By rejecting the application, the STB also discontinued the project's environmental review process.

The proposed Great Lakes Basin rail project has been the center of controversy among farmers and landowners for the past year, but not anymore. "The financial information submitted by GLBT therefore can not reasonably be relied upon by the Board to determine the financial condition of the applicant under the statutory criteria".

JANESVILLE-Assets of $151 are not enough to build a railroad. "GLBT's current assets ... are so clearly deficient for purposes of constructing a 261-mile rail line that the Board will not proceed with this application given the impacts on stakeholders and the demands upon Board resources".

The Federal Surface Transportation Board has rejected an application that would have built the $8 billion rail line, which would have cut through several counties in IL, including LaSalle and Grundy counties in the WSPY listening area. "Despite evidence showing the rail line unnecessary, the proposed 261-mile project would have cut through prime IL farmland, disturbing almost 5,000 acres for the rail line and another 14,700 acres for the railport in Manteno", Guebert, Jr. said.

The Board said it considered the application incomplete and therefore rejected it.