HomeMy WebLinkAboutResolution 093-2013 Resolution No.93-13
Resolution to the Surface Transportation Board on the Petition
of the State of South Dakota Finance Docket No. 35081.
Whereas, Brookings County is located on the eastern edge of the State of South Dakota and
serves as both an economic and agricultural trade center for a 45-mile radius around the City of
Brookings; and
Whereas,the City of Brookings,the fourth largest community in South Dakota, is a regional
employment and trade center, and home to several industries that rely heavily upon rail service
including: distribution centers, soybean processing facilities, grain elevators, ethanol plants, and
multiple manufacturing industries; and
Whereas,the Brookings Area is implementing an economic development strategy resulting in
the development of industry clusters reliant upon rail service, one of which is a $56 million
dollar facility which will begin construction in 2013 to produce high value oils from agricultural
crops and will be constructing a rail spur to access the rail line; and
Whereas, the Canadian Pacific Railroad owns and operates the only rail line that serves
Brookings County and the surrounding region; and
Whereas, the maintenance and improvement of the rail line, and its connections to larger rail
carriers serving the nation, is vital to the economic future of the Brookings region; and
Whereas,the Honorable Dennis Daugaard, Governor of the State of South Dakota, has
petitioned the Surface Transportation Board to require the CP to demonstrate compliance with
the commitments which it made for capital improvements and safety compliance on that
railroad trackage in South Dakota at the time of the purchase thereof from the Dakota
Minnesota and Eastern (DME) Railroad; and
Whereas,when the CP acquired the DME railroad in South Dakota, it made commitments to
expend capital sums to improve the railroad lines;
Now,Therefore,the Brookings City Council does hereby adopt, in its entirety, the Petition of
the State of South Dakota to the Surface Transportation Board and the City of Brookings
endorses the Petition with the unqualified support for the request for relief set forth therein;
and further
The City of Brookings does direct that a certified copy of this Resolution be submitted to the
Surface Transportation Board of the United States in such proceeding now known as Canadian
Pacific Railway Company, et al. —Control—Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad Corp, et al,
Finance Docket No. 35081.
Passed and approved this 3rd day of September, 2013.
CITY OF BROOKINGS
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Tim Reed, Mayor
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hari Thornes, City Clerk