SANDPOINT — The Idaho Department of Lands is hosting two hearings in May to gather public comment on a second BNSF Railway span across Lake Pend Oreille.

Both hearings are set for Wednesday, May 23. The first hearing is set for 8 a.m. at the Ponderay Events Center and the second hearing starts at 6 p.m. at Sandpoint Middle School.

May 23 also serves as a deadline to submit comments to IDL, according to the department’s website.

Plans for the proposed bridge, which would parallel the existing railway span linking Sagle and Sandpoint, are being reviewed by state and federal officials. BNSF said the project is needed to smash a bottleneck on the 110-year-old bridge and accommodate growth in freight traffic between Chicago and the West Coast.

Some are welcoming the prospect of a new bridge across the lake, while others are not due to the prospect of derailments and increases in coal and oil exports that contribute to global climate change.

Supporters are engaged in a letter-writing campaign urging the state to approve the new bridge. The support letters vastly surpass those that oppose the new bridge. Many of the support letters appear to be form letters.

“The Pacific Northwest economy is driven in large part by hundreds of industries, including agriculture and manufacturing firms, which depend on a world-class transportation network to get their goods to market. Thankfully, companies like BNSF Railway recognize this need and are willing to spend millions of dollars annually to keep our rail network healthy,” one of the letters reads.

The majority of the support letters are from across Washington state, in addition to Montanan, Wyoming, California, Arizona Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Ohio and Indiana.

The handful of opposition letters posted to IDL’s website so far are from local residents.

“I’m not ready to sacrifice our lake’s health and our economic dependence on tourism just so BNSF can squeeze a few more trains through per day,” Sandpoint resident Ben Olson said in his letter.

But not all locals who have weighed in so far are opposed.

“My family has lived within a half mile of the existing bridge for over 40 years. We would like to go on record as being in favor of a second bridge to help alleviate the bottle neck of backed up trains,” Sagle residents Royal and Jana Shields said in their letter of support.

Written comments on the bridge proposal can be mailed to comments@idl.idaho.gov. Project documents can be downloaded by pointing your web browser to www.idl.idaho.gov/lakes-rivers/lake-protection/index.html

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.