Enviros sue to stop DC rail tunnel

A community-based planning and advocacy group says the federal government ignored alternatives to a major freight line renovation, instead greenlighting a project that will enlarge a rail tunnel that cuts through the heart of the District of Columbia. The Committee of 100 on the Federal City sued officials from the Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency along with D.C. officials over their approval of non-party CSX Transportation's plan to open up the rail tunnel that runs beneath Virginia Avenue in Southeast Washington to double-tracking. According to the complaint, the project to expand the tunnel - which runs just blocks away from the U.S. Capitol - was approved without examining alternative routes or a no-build option, in violation to the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedures Act. The group adds that the environmental impact statements on the project contain material misstatements about the alternatives, "including an exaggerated account of the degree to which the Virginia Avenue Tunnel, standing alone, impedes freight rail on the eastern seaboard, which resulted in an inadequate assessment of the 'no build' alternative."...more

Hey, all you commutin' commies and travelin' traitors in DC...WELCOME TO THE WEST.