My colleague Olga Parsons wrote a great recap of the latest round of updates on the train situation, so if you want the details, please head over to her site to check it out.

In the meantime, many of you have asked what specific actions you can take to make an impact.

Our Federal elected officials need to hear from you on the importance of this issue.  The Surface Transportation Board, a Federal agency, has some discretion on whether or not it will require an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) before the connection can proceed.  We need to do everything we can to make sure that a full environmental review is performed.

Please consider contacting our Federal officials by phone, mail, or email.  Ask them to petition the Surface Transportation Board to require a full Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed rail connection in Crystal.

Senator Al Franken
Email: https://www.franken.senate.gov/?p=email_al
Phone: 651-221-1016; 202-224-5641
Address: 309 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510

Senator Amy Klobuchar
Email: http://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/email-amy
Phone: 612-727-5220; 202-224-3244
Address: 302 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510

Representative Keith Ellison
Email: https://ellison.house.gov/contact/email-me
Phone: 612-522-1212; 202-225-4755
Address: 2100 Plymouth Ave N; Minnesota, MN 55411
2263 Rayburn Building, Washington, MN 20515

Also, Governor Dayton wrote a letter to the acting chair of the STB today, and it does a good job of succinctly explaining the issue.  Check out that letter here.

As always, if you have any questions or if I can be of assistance, please let me know.