The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) determined that the proposed Midwest Maintenance Facility qualified for a Categorical Exclusion (CE) rather than requiring the more detailed Environmental Assessment (EA) or Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) processes.
According to FRA’s explanation of environmental documentation, a categorical exclusion applies to categories of actions that do not individually or cumulatively have a significant effect on the human environment and therefore do not require an EA or EIS.
FRA states that projects qualifying for a CE should not involve significant impacts to air quality, noise, water quality, land use, travel patterns, natural or recreational resources, or other aspects of the human environment.
The proposed project would relocate Amtrak maintenance operations from the largely nonresidential 14th Street Yard to the Canal Street Yard, immediately alongside homes in Bridgeport.
Residents have been told that the new maintenance facility is expected to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
That raises a fundamental question:
What project did FRA actually evaluate when it determined that a categorical exclusion was appropriate?
FRA’s own guidance on categorical exclusions says project sponsors should document the entire scope of work, including temporary and construction-related impacts. FRA says supporting documentation may include project-area maps, technical studies, data and methodologies, and correspondence with agencies or stakeholders.
FRA’s Categorical Exclusion Worksheet also calls for maps identifying sensitive noise receptors such as schools, hospitals, and residences, along with technical reports developed to support the environmental analysis.
Residents are seeking the complete environmental-review record to determine:
What size, design and operating conditions were presented to FRA?
Did the project description specify 24/7 operations?
Were nearby homes, schools, parks and residential blocks identified and evaluated?
What studies were conducted concerning diesel emissions and air quality, noise, vibration, idling, lighting, traffic, train movements, hazardous materials, waste handling, stormwater, soil or groundwater contamination, and construction impacts?
Were cumulative impacts considered?
What mitigation measures, operating restrictions or monitoring requirements were considered?
Did FRA consider whether an Environmental Assessment or Environmental Impact Statement was warranted?
Did the project's size, design or anticipated operations change after the environmental review was completed?
FRA’s guidance states that additional documentation and technical studies may be necessary to demonstrate that a project meets the conditions for a CE, and that FRA will require an EA or EIS when significant environmental impacts are possible or known. Read FRA's CE Worksheet guidance.
This is from the document describing conditions for receiving a Categorical Exclusion:
B. Location & Land Use
Provide evidence that the project is compatible with surrounding land uses and zoning issues, such as describing the comprehensive plan and other specific land use plans for the local area as they pertain to the proposed project. Indicate whether work is to be completed wholly within existing railroad right-of-ways and provide zoning designations for the immediate project work area.
For fixed facilities, attach a map or diagram, at an appropriate scale, identifying the location of the proposal
Guidance on the Federal Railroad Administration Categorical Exclusion Worksheet b/13 3 site and the surrounding land uses and zoning of the site and surrounding properties.
The map or diagram should also identify locations of critical resource areas, wetlands, potential historic sites, parks and recreational areas, or sensitive noise receptors such as schools, hospitals, and residences if applicable. If the surrounding area does not contain critical resource areas, potential historic sites, parks or recreational areas, or sensitive noise receptor sites, the maps should indicate such. If these areas are present, identify how they will be affected by the proposed project.
Earlier Amtrak planning materials described a “satellite maintenance facility” at Canal Street. The project now moving toward construction is an approximately $900 million Midwest Maintenance Facility intended to enable Amtrak to relocate maintenance operations from its existing 14th Street Yard.
Residents want to understand when the project evolved, what version FRA reviewed, and whether changes to the project were subsequently evaluated.
This isn't merely a hypothetical concern about how environmental review works. FRA has reevaluated other Amtrak projects when designs advanced or project scope or environmental impacts changed. For example, FRA states that it will perform NEPA reevaluations for Amtrak's Sawtooth Bridges project as necessary to address changes in project scope, environmental setting, or environmental impacts.
Bridgeport residents have submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to the Federal Railroad Administration and Amtrak seeking the underlying environmental records, including the CE documentation, project scope, supporting studies, environmental analyses, agency correspondence, and records concerning changes to the project.
We will post those records here as they are received.