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11/15/2024
The Surface Transportation Board yesterday directed Union Pacific Railroad to cure certain deficiencies in its responses to earlier board-ordered document requests related to UP's interest in constructing an Arizona rail line.
The board also reinstated the schedule for submissions addressing whether UP engaged in "anticipatory demolition" of historic properties in violation of the National Historic Preservation Act, according to an STB press release.
The case started when UP petitioned the board for an exemption from prior approval requirements of federal code regulating rail line construction. UP wants the exemption so that it can construct a 6-mile rail line, known as the PIRATE Project, to connect the Pecos Advanced Manufacturing Zone to UP’s mainline at the border between Maricopa County and Pinal County, Arizona.
Last year, while preparing the final environmental assessment for the project, the STB's environmental analysis office discovered that there had been "significant ground disturbance and damage" to NHPA-eligible archaeological resources in the area of the project. To obtain more information about the circumstances surrounding the damage, which occurred in five different areas, the STB directed UP to provide additional information and documents on whether UP engaged in “anticipatory demolition” of historic properties.
By Feb. 14, 2024, UP submitted thousands of pages of documents, some containing extensive redactions. The board determined that its ability to review UP's responses was hindered by several deficiencies in railroad's documents. Its decision directs the railroad to address the deficiencies, and delays the schedule for submissions related to whether UP disturbed or damaged protected resources.
STB Chairman Robert Primus concurred with the decision and wrote separately to address the timetable and reasons for delay in the proceeding, saying, "The board takes disturbing and desecrating ancestral sacred lands extremely seriously and will not compromise the time needed to thoroughly investigate this matter.”
Click here to reach the STB's decision.