[S]HELBURNE — Marchers banged pots and pans and chanted, “Environment, yes! Pre-emption, no!” in a protest Sunday against plans to build a road salt storage facility near the LaPlatte River.
The “Reckless Rail Rally” began at the Shelburne Community School, then the line of several dozen people moved down Harbor Road toward the Town Hall.
Vermont Railway and Barrett Trucking want to build the facility on a 32-acre parcel the railroad owns behind Harbor Industries to replace a salt shed on Flynn Avenue in Burlington. City Market intends to build a grocery store on the Burlington site.
Vermont Railway, a subsidiary of Vermont Rail System, also plans to build a fueling station, an access road, offices and parking on the Shelburne property.
The town and the railroad are in a legal battle over whether the project should be subject to state and local environmental and zoning review. That case is slated for hearings this week before a federal judge, who is expected to decide whether, and to what extent, those regulations are pre-empted by federal laws placing regulatory authority for railroads with the Surface Transportation Board.
In a Feb. 2 letter to the town, Vermont Rail System owner David Wulfson said the project will still get a thorough environmental review by federal officials. He has said he hopes to start construction this spring.
Protesters at the rally voiced their frustration that the railroad has already cleared trees from 18 acres at the project site near the LaPlatte River.
Dave Connery, a Shelburne resident and member of the group Vermont United, which helped organize the rally, spoke to the crowd. “We’re gathered here to talk about Shelburne, about the environment, about pre-emption, about Act 250, about the LaPlatte River and how it was great that the eagles came back and we want to keep seeing them,” he said.
The other groups behind the rally were Citizens for Responsible Railroads and the Toxics Action Center.
Gary von Stange, chairman of the Selectboard, said he just wants a level playing field and called for Vermont Railway and Barrett Trucking to go before the Act 250 panel that administers Vermont’s land use law. “The town’s goal is not to stop this project. Its goal is simply to have this project abide by the same rules as every other project,” von Stange said.
In an interview Monday, Selden Houghton, intermodal fleet manager for Vermont Rail System, said the company has to go through some federal review, including for a construction stormwater permit and an operational stormwater permit.
“We remain committed to this project, and it will be built according to all applicable laws and regulations. We look forward to how it’s going to benefit our Vermont community as a whole,” Houghton said.
Road salt is shipped by rail and transferred to trucks for distribution to municipal customers. “Right now our salt storage capacity is limited and we only have enough salt that we can bring in during the summer months to get us through the first part of the winter,” Houghton said.
In his letter, Wulfson said the relocation of the salt facility will be better for the environment and keep the highways safer by reducing truck traffic and keeping large trucks from going through residential streets, because the new site would have direct access to Route 7.
Shelburne resident Lisa Espenshade expressed concern over where the construction would go if it weren’t in Shelburne. “That accusation, ‘You just don’t want it here,’ that’s very effective to stop everyone from saying anything at any time. So it’s important to be thoughtful about this,” Espenshade said.
Her daughter, Eva Espenshade, said she was happy with the turnout of young adults at the rally. “I think a big problem, something that really discourages teenagers, kids or young adults from participating in this sort of activism, is the language they use. It’s very complex and it’s very easy to get embarrassed because you don’t know what this means,” Eva Espenshade said. She said the organizers did a good job of making the issue understandable.
Lydia Clemens, a member of Citizens for Responsible Railroads, told the crowd that she used to be nostalgic for the railroad of her childhood. “The romance of the trains of that era is gone. We’re in a new era, an ugly era, the era of big rail,” Clemens said.
Charlotte resident Emma Burrous said hearing Clemens’ speech at the rally raised even more concerns for her. “After hearing today, the railways in general need an incredible amount of regulation,” Burrous said.
“It’s a very complicated issue, and it’s one that needs to really slow down and then come under a tremendous amount of oversight,” Burrous added. “The transparency issue is huge.”
