Re: September 8, 2017 article in the Rose Law Group Reporter regarding the Red Rock rail facility
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are published for discussion purposes only.)
Dear Mr. Riske,
In response to your article dated September 8, 2017 in the Rose Law Group Reporter regarding the Red Rock rail facility I would like to provide you with the following bullet points on why this is bad for the Arizona State Land Department and the citizens of Arizona, and represents poor planning:
- The location is adjacent to the scenic Picacho Peak State Park view corridor, and would cause noise and light pollution, degrading the scenery.
- The Arizona State Land Department is selling 950 acres in the middle of their 10,000 acre landholding. The design of the switching yard prevents an east-west arterial for over six miles thus making the remaining Trust Land less desirable, which would lower those Trust Land values overall.
- A rail yard or rail accident involving nuclear waste in that area could close the I-10 freeway for up to two years, causing a major economic hardship for Phoenix and Tucson, and even potentially the entire southwestern United States. (The I-10 corridor in that area is a key transportation corridor for the entire southwestern United States.)
- A rail yard or rail accident involving hazardous materials (chlorine, sulfuric acid, etc.) would impact the community of Red Rock with over 2,100 people and the Picacho Peak RV Resort with over 500 people, as well as travelers on the I-10.
- The rail yard would be located between two mountain ranges and adjacent to Picacho Peak, causing a pinch point of rail and highway, which also makes the rail yard a convenient terrorist target. The U.S. Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) prohibits these types of development. [See 42 U.S. Code § 5195c – Critical infrastructures]
- Any nuclear or hazardous materials incident in the area would require the re-routing of all the highway traffic. The local roads there are quite insufficient for this and would be overwhelmed, stopping the flow of traffic and commerce.
- Located in an area of known ground fissures;
- Severs wildlife corridors;
- Disturbs natural washes and drainage corridors;
- Potentially pollutes ground water, the CAP Canal, and the recharge facility located on the adjacent land;
- The project has been pushed by Union Pacific promising 290 high-paying jobs, but everyone we spoke with stated that they would just close the Tucson facility and move those employees to this location, with no net gain in jobs. Most new rail yards are fully automated with driverless locomotives to breakdown the trains from a central tower.
cc
Governor Ducey
Lisa Atkins, Arizona State Land
Pete Rios, Pinal County Supervisor
Mike Goodman, Pinal County Supervisor
Steve Miller, Pinal County Supervisor
Anthony Smith, Pinal County Supervisor
Todd House, Pinal County Supervisor
Rep. Vincent Leach
Sonoran Institute
