The review process is well underway for the CSX project to increase the Virginia Avenue Tunnel’s single track tunnel to a vertical height that will allow the company to operate double-stack intermodal container freight trains. The construction in the 4,000 feet tunnel, estimated to last 3 to 5 years, will enable the railroad to expand its capacity to transport freight.
Today is the community’s last opportunity to give comments to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. To express how the project will affect the neighborhood email Contact@virginiaavenuetunnel.com
Copying the District Department of Transportation at Faisal.hameed@dc.gov and the Federal Highway Administration at Michael.hicks@dot.gov wouldn’t hurt, either.
It may not be a sexy thing to do, but if you live near the area or make use of the parks, you may want to voice your concerns directly to the Federal Highway Administration and to the District Department of Transportation on how you use the parks and the roadways along Virginia Avenue and throughout the Hill and Navy Yard areas.
Like it or not, the construction will have an impact on our lives. Therefore, make your voice heard on the impact statement and read the full proposal, environmental assessments, and presentations right here.
A template suggestion for those who are opposed to the construction project as currently proposed (with apologies for awkward formatting):
“To Whom it May
Concern:
I write this letter
on behalf of my family in response to the July 2013 Draft Environmental Impact
Statement (“DEIS”) published by the District of Columbia Department of
Transportation (“DDOT”) and the Federal Highway Administration (“FHWA” and
collectively with DDOT, the “Agencies”), both acting under the direction of CSX
Transportation Inc. (“CSX”) for the planned reconstruction and expansion of the
Virginia Avenue Tunnel (the “VAT”) in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Southeast
DC.
I am deeply troubled
by the lack of rigor conducted by the Agencies and CSX in preparing this DEIS
and the findings published in the document.
Not only does the DEIS fail to meet the minimum standards required under
the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (“NEPA”) by failing to take a
“hard look” at all the impacts to the affected environment, but it also
directly threatens the health, welfare, and safety of my family, my neighbors,
and the Washington, DC community more broadly.
First, the DEIS
fails to address the authority permitting CSX to expand the VAT’s current
footprint and right of way. Second,
contrary to NEPA requirements, the DEIS fails to demonstrate a sufficient
purpose and need for the project, and it does not consider all reasonable
alternatives, most notably any rerouting alternatives that could greatly reduce
the timeframe and footprint of this massive construction project. Fourth, the
DEIS does not even address the broader safety, hazardous material, and
environmental concerns that the NEPA contemplates for such level of
review. Fifth, the DEIS fails to provide
concrete measures to mitigate the adverse environmental impacts created by the
project.
Because of these
reasons, the DEIS limits the Agencies’ and public’s ability to make an informed
choice regarding the alternatives presented in the document. Therefore, the DEIS must be significantly
rewritten and/or supplemented to address these points with rigorous analysis
before a Final Environmental Impact Statement is issued and a Record of
Decision is made. Until this occurs, the
Agencies and the public large do not have an avenue through which to provide
meaningful input into the current build alternatives. Without a more rigorous
and complete EIS, the Agencies are required to choose the no-build option.”