Adirondack Council may join opposition to reopening rail line.

Very interesting RR info in this article, including Atty John Caffy, whom we were introduced to via the Tupper Project.

Would be nice of the mtns of tailings were removed. Even better if they're put to good use and provide local jobs. Between Barton's and the Tahawus mine, there has to be huge amounts of tailings marring/polluting the land.

Seems Iowa Pacific will proceed regardless and I'ld wager the Transportation Board declines trying to stop them.


" Transportation Board spokesman Dennis Watson said on Thursday that there's no timetable for when the panel will review Iowa Pacific's appeal. "



Read more: http://poststar.com/news/local/adirondack-council-may-join-opposition-to-reopening-rail-line/article_8d4c17d6-37c3-11e1-a74c-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1icmYed9g

So is the rail-trail proposal dead?  Haven't heard from those folks in months.

Snowballs wrote

Would be nice of the mtns of tailings were removed. Even better if they're put to good use and provide local jobs. Between Barton's and the Tahawus mine, there has to be huge amounts of tailings marring/polluting the land.

I can't speak for the Tahawus tailings, but the Barton tailings are essentially inert and don't pose an environmental threat.  They'd be happy to get rid of them, and for many years their policy has been "help yourself" (hence the ruby sparkle in many Johnsburg roads), but I wonder if there really is any kind of market that would make it worth the cost of transporting, even at the low cost per ton/mile of rail transportation.  So I'm curious about the economics of the freight line since hauling tailings from Barton's and Tahawus would be the only business.  Rehabilitating and maintaining 30 miles of track ain't cheap.

Don't know about the rail/trail proposal. No one does. If Iowa uses the Tahawus line, then the question is settled.

Good to know Barton's are inert. Still, large tailing piles are very unsightly in the wilderness and tend to sit forever....

IMO, the Enviros should absolutely support tailing removal especially at Tahawus mine. I've been told there's still minerals in those tailings that are commonly extracted through leaching processes.  

After that, resume the bike trail or enviro debate.

If they don't get rid of that crap now, it will likely be there 500 years from now. I don't know how the Enviros can even think about forcing closure of the RR line WITHOUT first removing the huge industrial gash and waste pile in the very heart of the High Peaks area. You'ld think they'ld be screaming bloody murder trying to get it cleaned up and then allowed to returned to wilderness.

I sure wish it would. It's the exact opposite of what you'ld expect to see in the High Peaks. Instead of pristine wilderness, Tahawus mine is a large festering sore in the midst of all that beauty.

The ADK council are the same Eco-nuts that are opposed to the Tuppper ski area and just about any project where folks that live in the ADKs can acutally make a living.  Their dirty secret is that the ADK council peolple don't actually live in the ADK's.  They are a bunch of super liberal NYC people that drive their Hummers up to the ADKs every so often and claim to be the protectors of the ADKs.  Go protect central park and leave us alone to make a living as we see fit.

Thier MO is oppose any and all projects going on in the Park.  Eco - nuts in their worst form.