This story originally appeared on Trains.com.
WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board has taken Union Pacific to task for an ongoing lack of cooperation in a new decision on the railroad’s effort to construct a 6-mile rail line in Arizona’s Maricopa and Pinal counties.
The primary matter concerns UP’s request for an exemption for construction of the Pecos Industrial Rail Access Train Extension (PIRATE) to connect UP’s Phoenix Subdivision main line to industrial properties near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. But the ruling released Thursday orders the railroad to rectify deficiencies in submissions as the board looks into whether UP engaged in “anticipatory demolition” of historic properties along the proposed route, resulting in damage to archaeological resources.
That damage was discovered as the board’s Office of Environmental Analysis prepared its Final Environmental Assessment, and led to the board’s placing a decision on the UP request on indefinite hold. [See “Regulators pause environmental review …,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 1, 2023.] Last month, UP CEO Jim Vena wrote the board asking for a status update on the matter, saying the railroad and other interested parties have for six months been waiting “for the agency to provide a clear path forward to resolve the harms” and gain project approval. [See “Union Pacific seeks update on stalled environmental review …,” News Wire, Oct. 3.] Eight members of Arizona’s congressional delegation also wrote the board asking that it “prioritize decisions related to the PIRATE project to prevent any additional unnecessary delay.”