Letter dealing with CN rail sale sparks concern
U.S. regulators are saying there's much ado about nothing over a letter they wrote to Illinois members of Congress indicating the controversial merger of the Canadian National Railway and Elgin, Joliet & Eastern railroad won't be decided until next year.
In the Friday letter to lawmakers who have been critical of CN's plan to buy the EJ&E, Surface Transportation Board officials indicated that "we anticipate that the board will issue a final environmental impact statement sometime in the next few weeks. This will push a final decision in the matter to sometime early in 2009."
The timing is crucial to CN, which faces a Dec. 31 deadline to complete its purchase of the EJ&E from U.S. Steel. If the decision goes past 2008, the deal won't happen, CN has said.
But on Monday, an federal official said the letter was intended only as an acknowledgment to concerns voiced by congressional leaders and does not preclude the agency deciding on the issue before the new year.
CN said in a statement it was optimistic the agency would approve the merger by Dec. 31 and promised to continue to work with communities.
U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean, a Barrington Democrat who has fought the merger from the start, surmised the federal board was "backpedaling" after pressure over the contents of the letter.
The agency has "been under pressure to expedite the normal process," Bean said. "I'm staying hopeful they do the right thing for our communities."
Some Washington insiders predict there's a strong likelihood U.S. Steel will renegotiate if the Dec. 31 deadline passes without a decision.
The region has split on the EJ&E issue. CN and its supporters argue that the merger will allow the Canadian railroad to relocate more freight trains onto the EJ&E tracks, easing a bottleneck in Chicago that delays trains for hours.
Towns located near the "J," which runs in an arc between Waukegan and Gary, Ind., fear it will increase traffic, slow down emergency responders and cause noise and safety problems.