The U.S. Surface Transportation Board
(STB) has killed the future of the planned
42-mile-long Tongue River Railroad, citing
the uncertainty of permitting, costs
and a continued weak coal market. The
unanimous STB decision was made public
on April 26. The application for the
line, which had a price tag of $405 million,
was suspended by its backers—Arch
Coal, BNSF and TRRC Financing—late
last year. The origination and service
point for Tongue River, which was first
proposed more than 30 years ago, would
have been Arch Coal’s planned Otter
Creek operation. Arch fi led for Chapter 11
bankruptcy and subsequently shelved its
plans for Otter Creek last month.
Planning had first gotten into high
gear in 2010, when Arch inked a development
rights deal with Montana for
$85.84 million that gave it 14 stateowned
coal parcels in the Otter Creek
Valley. At that time, it was eyeing 2016
for full production of the mine. An Associated
Press report said the STB has killed
opposition from landowners in Montana
seeking a permanent block to keep the
railroad from submitting another permit
later.
As featured in Womp 2016 Vol 05 - www.womp-int.com