Opinion ID: 72034
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The EIS Documents

Text: The STB ultimately prepared three EIS documents for the proposed rail. The STB circulated the first, a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS), for notice and comment on November 5, 2004. The Draft EIS assessed the possible environmental impacts of four alternative routes for the rail line and concluded that none was likely to adversely affect the golden-cheeked warbler or listed karst invertebrates. The FWS concurred with the Draft EIS on May 19, 2005. On December 8, 2006, in response to concerns raised by MCEAA and others, the STB circulated for notice and comment a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Supplemental EIS) that analyzed three additional proposed rail routes and concluded that these, too, were not likely to adversely affect any listed species. The FWS concurred with the Supplemental EIS on July 24, 2006. The STB issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (Final EIS) on May 30, 2008, that incorporated large portions of the Draft EIS and Supplemental EIS and set forth additional research and conclusions. The FWS concurred with the Final EIS on September 11, 2008. [16] The EIS documents concluded that the proposed action was not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of the golden-cheeked warbler or any karst invertebrates. The conclusions in the EIS documents were drawn from the results of the STB's own surveys and from the reports that Vulcan prepared in 2001 and 2003 with the advice and guidance of the FWS. In concluding that the proposed action was not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any listed species, the EIS documents specifically considered the cumulative impacts of the construction and operation of Phase One of the quarry. The STB declined to assess the rest of the proposed quarry in its cumulative impacts analysis, concluding that no other development was reasonably foreseeable. The STB concluded in the EIS documents that the proposed rail and the cumulative impact of the Phase One quarry activities were not likely to adversely affect the golden-cheeked warbler because no warblers had been found in the proposed action area, because little suitable habitat existed in that area, and because Vulcan had announced plans to set aside the portions of the site containing the most suitable habitat, including a 200-foot-wide border around the entire quarry, as a buffer zone. The STB also concluded that the proposed rail and the cumulative impact of the Phase One quarry activities were not likely to adversely affect karst invertebrates, despite the fact that a number of karst features were present on the property. The EIS documents reflect the STB's conclusion that any danger that these activities might pose to groundwater and karst features would be adequately mitigated under a Water Pollution Abatement Plan (WPAP) that Vulcan was required by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to implement as a condition of operating the quarry. The STB also noted that no listed species had been found in any of the karst features present in the Phase One area. The EIS documents also contain the STB's assessment of the environmental impact of what the STB referred to as the no-action alternative. SGR contended that if the proposed rail project were not approved, Vulcan would proceed with Phase One of the quarry project using trucks to remove the limestone. SGR estimated that 1,700 truck runs per day, 850 loaded outbound and 850 unloaded inbound, would be required to service the approximately 5 million tons of limestone aggregate per year that SGR projected the quarry would produce in the reasonably foreseeable future. SGR estimated that the same work could be accomplished by just four rail trips per day, two loaded outbound and two unloaded inbound. The STB credited these estimates after considering detailed submissions from SGR. In the Draft EIS, the STB noted that the no-action alternative would displace approximately 125 acres of brushland, which carried the potential for greater displacement of wildlife habitat and populations than the proposed rail routes. The STB also noted in the Draft EIS that the no-action alternative had greater potential than a rail line to increase impervious cover (ground that water cannot penetrate) which in turn could make the land less conducive to the development of karst features, although again, the threat would likely be minimal. In the Final EIS, the STB extensively analyzed the physical and economic feasibility of the no-action alternative and concluded that based on all the information available to date ... truck transport of the limestone from [Vulcan's] quarry to the [Union Pacific] rail line would be feasible. It also found that the available information shows that [Vulcan] could (and would) transport the limestone by truck if the rail line were not built. These findings as to the no-action alternative, which MCEAA does not seriously contest, highlight an important point that is easily lost in the technical and regulatory complexities of this case: Because the STB's approval was not required for any other action associated with the proposed quarry, because no other aspect of the proposed quarry required approval under § 7, and because the quarry would go forward with or without the proposed rail, the implications of the STB's decision were relatively narrow. The STB could grant the exemption, in which case development of the quarry would proceed with rail service; or deny the exemption, in which case quarry development would still proceed with service by truckan alternative that all parties agree would be more environmentally invasive. This court's sole task in evaluating the MCEAA's petition is to determine whether the choice that STB made was arbitrary and capricious. 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). The EIS documents also included detailed studies of the amounts of noise and vibration that the construction and operation activities would produce. The main purpose of the analysis was to determine whether and to what extent the noise and vibration would affect offsite residences and cultural resources, such as prehistoric sites. The STB predicted that there was potential for adverse noise impact from the construction and operation of the rail, but proposed numerous mitigation measures that would decrease disruption. It also noted that the no-action alternative would produce more disruptive noise than any of the rail alternatives. The STB also analyzed the cumulative impact of noise from the quarry. Noise from the quarry is expected to include a once-daily, low-frequency thump from blasting and factory noise from the production facility. The STB concluded that this noise would not materially contribute to the rail noise. The STB also predicted that there would be no adverse vibration effects from the construction and operation of the rail. The STB speculated that pile driving from the rail construction could have adverse vibration effects on nearby water wells, but again listed mitigation measures that would minimize these effects. The STB further found that no vibration from the quarry operations would propagate outside the quarry boundary and therefore concluded that there would be no adverse cumulative impacts from the quarry operations. The STB did not specifically discuss whether and to what degree the predicted levels of noise and vibration might have on the golden-cheeked warbler or listed karst invertebrates.