[MCN] A Gathering To Stop Missoula's Increasing Hazardous Rail Traffic

[Jeffrey J. Smith]

*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*



On Tuesday, March 5, 2019, at 7 p.m. in the second floor ballroom at the
Union Hall, 208 East Main in Missoula, 350 Montana will host Wild Idaho
Rising Tide (WIRT) and the organization’s staunch opposition to an
ill-advised second railroad bridge over Lake Pend Oreille, which is under
consideration by federal agencies and the U.S. Coast Guard.



*This new bridge will mean increasing numbers of trains carrying coal,
volatile hydrocarbons from the Bakken oil fields, and other hazardous
materials will roll through Missoula every day. *



350 Montana spokesman, Jeff Smith, says “At a time when we in Montana are
facing the rising costs of climate change, this is absolutely the wrong
time to build new fossil fuels infrastructure. We need to move in the exact
opposite direction, to a clean, carbon-free renewable energy infrastructure
as quickly as possible.”



Wild Idaho speakers will present the consequences of the new bridge:
increasing rail traffic, noise, pollution, and derailment dangers.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe officials think the new bridge hopes will
alleviate a railroad “funnel” at Sandpoint that currently slows the
movement of hazardous materials going to the West Coast for export.



There are numerous other impacts of Burlington Northern Santa Fe’s of two
parallel railroad bridges across Sand Creek and Idaho’s largest lake. A
second bridge will put lake and aquifer water sources at increased risk to
oil and coal spills. The new bridge will also degrade air quality, native
fish, wildlife, threatened bull trout, and their habitats, indigenous
treaties, public health and safety, historic sites and private properties,
boat navigation and emergency and vehicle travel, and recreation and
tourism.



Wild Idaho Rising Tide has filed a petition to deny and revoke permits for
the expansion and encourages Montana citizens to comment on this flawed and
risky project.



Wild Idaho spokespeople will also speak in Moscow, Idaho on March 6,
Sandpoint on March 9, and Spokane on March 10.



The Coast Guard has scheduled a public hearing on March 13 at Ponderay,
Idaho. Comments on the Coast Guard’s environmental assessment are due by
March 25.



For further event and issue information, visit
https://wildidahorisingtide.org/2019/03/01/no2ndbridge-regional-talks/



Helen Yost, Wild Idaho Rising Tide

wild.idaho.rising.tide at gmail.com, 208-301-8039



Jeffrey Smith, 350 Montana

yswolfhowl at gmail.com 406-880-8320
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