Kansas City Southern Railway CompanyConstruction and Operation ExemptionGeismar Industrial Area Near Gonzales and Sorrento, Louisiana

Zusammenfassung

The Kansas City Southern Railway Company (KCS) applied to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), now the Surface Transportation Board (Board), for authority to construct and operate an 8.62-mile rail line from the Geismar Industrial area to its mainline near Gonzales and Sorrento, in Ascension Parish, Louisiana. On July 16, 1997, the Board's Section of Environmental Analysis (SEA) issued a draft EIS. Consistent with Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) regulations for implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), SEA provided a 45-day comment period for the public review of the draft EIS, with comments due by September 8, 1997. In response to several requests to extend the comment period an additional 60 days, SEA granted a 15-day extension for filing comments to September 23, 1997. The Concerned Citizens of Ascension Parish (CCAP) filed an Appeal of SEA's decision and requested the full 60 days sought in their original request. As stated in the original extension decision, SEA believes that the 45-day comment period specified by CEQ guidelines is sufficient in this case. However, in order to allow every opportunity for public input into the Board's NEPA process i