Opponents of a rail yard that would be used to accommodate trains that would haul coal ash to a Wayne County landfill will have another month to comment.

A public comment period that was to have expired Wednesday has been extended to March 4, but the rules have not changed, said Billy Birdwell, spokesman at the Corps of Engineers Savannah Office.

"We just want to give people the opportunity to provide information to the Corps on the railroad,'' Birdwell said. "We're not concerned about what the train hauls or what goes into the landfill.''

There are other agencies, notably the Georgia Environmental Protection Division and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, that regulate landfills. The Corps is concerned only with its jurisdiction over the 30.7 acres of wetlands that would be affected by Republic Services' plans to build a rail yard to haul ash from coal-fired power plants along the eastern seaboard.

Opponents said at a meeting last week in Jesup they are frightened that the groundwater will be contaminated from the arsenic, mercury, lead and other heavy metals contained inside the coal ash should the lined landfill rupture. They assert ash is toxic, but in October 2014 the EPA decided it was not opening landfills to its disposal.

That leaves the wetlands as opponents' only avenue to stop the coal ash from coming to Republic's enormous landfill at Broadhurst near the city of Screven.

Birdwell stressed any comments must center on the railroad.

"Comments on the landfill will be of no value to us. We're concerned only with the construction of the railroad and its affects on the wetlands and waters of the U.S.,'' Birdwell said.

Comments may be made by email to cesas-rd@usace.army.mil. The Corps advises that a reference to the project, such as Wayne County rail yard, be made in the subject line.

Comments may be mailed to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Division, 100 West Oglethorpe Ave., Savannah, GA, 31401. The project may be referenced on the envelop.

Terry Dickson: (912) 264-0405