Wahington County Illinois - A large swath of the Office of Environmental Analysis (OEA) report relates to ecological concerns.
 
In addition to air quality implications of growing train traffic, transportation officials also consider possible effects on endangered species, water resources, and even the energy economy of the United States.
 
As with several issues evaluated by the report, the merger is expected to have minimal or occasional positive ecological impacts on a national scale, but more noticeable repercussions at the local level, thanks to unevenly distributed traffic.
 
Washington County Changes May Disrupt Endangered Species
 
Regulator said the proposed CPKC merger would have mostly temporary impacts on wildlife, but conceded some risk for endangered species in the Midwest.
 
Daily train counts are expected to reach nearly 20 in the Washington County area if the merger is approved.
 
While that kind of traffic can disturb nature as well as people, the OEA said the repercussions would be limited since wildlife along the tracks is already used to moderate rail traffic.
 
"Animals living near active rail lines have likely already become habituated to train noise over many years of regular exposure," the draft impact environmental impact statement said.
 
"To the extent that wildlife may still use the remaining patches of forested habitat along the existing rail line, those animals have likely adapted to the fragmented and heavily altered state of the habitat, as well as intermittent noise from passing trains."
 
The planned capital improvements, however, pose a more probable risk, according to the document.
 
"The Proposed Acquisition would affect biological resources primarily because it would result in the 25 planned capital improvements," the OEA said.
 
"Activities within portions of the rail Right-Of-Way (ROW), such as land clearing, earthmoving, constructing the rail bed, laying rail line, and relocating roads could result in temporary and permanent impacts on wildlife."
 
Affected railway communities in Iowa are a habitat area for one endangered species, the Indiana bat, as well as a threatened species that's currently a candidate for endangered classification, the northern long-eared bat.
 
According to the draft assessment, the railroad's planned capital improvements in the state could effect up to 27 acres of habitat for those species in the event of a merger.
 
"Multiple structures and forested areas on the eastern end of the study area provide suitable summer roosting habitat," a table from the document's appendix said of the project planned east of Washington.
 
"The railroad ROW and streams act as foraging or flight corridors."
 
Overall, the OEA concluded that railroad projects "may affect, but are not likely to adversely affect" the threatened bat species, but cautioned that its findings were tentative.
 
"The planned capital improvements would be added only as needed to support increased traffic," the impact assessment said.
 
"Therefore, the Applicants have not completed detailed design and engineering for the 25 planned capital improvements. Accordingly, OEA's analysis of the potential impacts from implementing the planned capital improvements is based largely on conceptual design information, as well as conservative assumptions about how construction would proceed."
 
For non-endangered species, the OEA said railroad projects would likely disrupt plant communities, up to 8.7 acres of them for the siding near Washington.
 
"Land disturbing activities would occur within portions of the ROW for the capital improvements, such as clearing vegetation for staging areas and other temporary facilities," the assessment said.
 
"Although OEA expects vegetation to recover in the temporarily disturbed areas, clearing woody shrub and forest vegetation could permanently alter the vegetative cover class."
 
The railroad has proposed a number of their own mitigation measures to offset possible impacts.
 
For one, the applicants offered to not conduct tree removal during the bats' active season (April 1 to Oct. 1) and limiting tree removal to only the most necessary locations.
 
Other pitched practices include directing lighting away from habitats, limiting ground disturbances, and thoroughly checking for bats at construction sites.
 
"If construction of the Capital Improvement Projects would require removal or alteration of structures that provide suitable habitat for the northern long-eared bat or the Indiana bat during the active season for those species, the Applicants will first conduct an inspection," one voluntary mitigation measure said.
 
"The inspection will be completed by a qualified biologist. If the inspection finds bats or evidence of bats, then the Applicants will not commence work on the structure until coordinating with OEA and USFWS to determine appropriate follow-up. The inspection must be completed during the same year that the work takes place."
 
Non-Wildlife Ecological Impacts Are Minimal Even Locally
 
Other than endangered species, the effects of a merger on county-scale ecological issues border on trivial, according to the draft impact assessment.
 
For greenhouse gases, the draft statement said a merger would likely help reduce emissions nationwide, as freight is diverted from road vehicles and other train lines making more frequent stops.
 
"Because rail transportation is more efficient than trucks, decreased truck emissions from truck-to-rail diversions would more than offset increased locomotive emissions from truck-to-rail diversions," the packet said.
 
"The Proposed Acquisition would result in a net decrease in GHG emissions of approximately 96,638 tons of CO2e per year compared to the No-Action Alternative.
 
This estimate is very conservative because it does not account for additional potential reductions, associated with new rail operations-related efficiencies."
 
Those benefits are diffused, and hard to translate to a local scale.
 
Downsides at that level are easier to confidently assess.
 
"The Proposed Acquisition could result in an overall net decrease. However, OEA expects that localized emissions of air pollutants from locomotives would increase along certain specific rail line segments, which could affect air quality along those rail lines," the draft document said.
 
While a handful of communities are expected to exceed EPA-determined thresholds of concern for some of the pollutants assessed by the OEA, none of them fall within Iowa counties.
 
As for water quality, the agency concluded very little risk of major impairments resulting from the merger.
 
"The probability of a release of any size would remain very small and OEA does not consider a large release that could significantly affect water resources to be a reasonably foreseeable outcome of the Proposed Acquisition," the packet said.
 
"Construction activities related to the planned capital improvements, would not involve significant water withdrawals, changes in aquifer recharge areas, or excavation."
 
In its assessment, the OEA also evaluated the implications of a merger for energy resources, concluding that it would divert some movement of those products from other means of transport, but not increase their overall shipment volume around North America.
 
The combined railways would ostensibly move liquefied petroleum and other chemical products from Alberta, Canada, as well as various fuel-related resources from the Gulf Coast, although applicants said they support a shift from shipping crude oil to shipping DRUbit, a non-flammable permutation of the same compound.
 
Nationwide, regulators said the single-line option established by a merger would result in a net reduction of 7.97 million gallons of fuel per year, mostly by outcompeting truck transportation.
 
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