The court of appeals reversed an order of the Surface Transportation Board in part, affirmed in part, and remanded the action for further proceedings. The court held that the Surface Transportation Board failed to take the requisite “hard look” at certain material environmental impacts inherent in a proposal to build a 130-mile railroad line in Montana.
The Tongue River Railroad Company, Inc. (TRRC) submitted three applications (TRRC I, II, and III) to build a 130-mile coal-hauling railroad line in Montana’s Tongue River Valley. The Surface Transportation Board (Board) or its predecessor, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), approved each of the applications. The first was approved in 1986, but that proposed railroad segment was not constructed. The second application was approved in 1996, with mitigation conditions. The third application was approved in 2007.
