COAL PLAN OPPOSED
NCRA estimates $2.4 billion needed to restore north-south rail line
North Coast lawmakers have vowed to block a secretive plan to restore an abandoned stretch of defunct North Coast railroad to export coal overseas from Montana, Utah and Wyoming through the Port of Humboldt Bay.
State Sen. Mike Mcguire (Dhealdsburg) called the proposed plan “one of the largest environmental threats” the North Coast has seen in decades.
“California banned coalfired power plants for good reason,” Mcguire said in a prepared statement. “Coal is the dirtiest and most damaging source of energy out there. It’s the No. 1 cause of global warming and it’s the No. 1 contributor to our climate crisis. The people of the North Coast won’t stand for this. We rallied against Big Oil to protect our coast from offshore drilling — and won. And we will win this fight against Big Coal.”
Originally reported by the Lost Coast Outpost, the newly formed North Coast Railroad
Company, LLC filed a pleading with the Surface Transportation Board on Aug. 16 in opposition to the North Coast Railroad Authority’s request to railbank the dilapidated rail line, which runs approximately 320 miles between Marin and Humboldt counties, to build the proposed Great Redwood Trail.
The 14-page filing asserts the NCRA “has failed to satisfy the strict standards for (a motion of exemption)” to railbank the rail line. According to federal law, a proposal to submit an offer of financial assistance “should take priority over a trail use proposal because of the strong Congressional intent to preserve rail service wherever possible.”
“NCRCO. is a prospective, non-carrier offeror that intends to invoke the Board’s (offer of financial assistance) procedures to acquire the line and restore it to operating condition to support future, highvolume traffic flows,” according to the document. “For the moment, it is sufficient to indicate that NCRCO., capitalized to the tune of $1.2 billion … is a well-funded, interested party with thoroughly-developed plans to restore the line and deploy it in the transportation of high-volume shipments by rail over the Line.”
Mitch Stogner, executive director of the NCRA called the plan “absurd” and advised NCRCO. “stop the secrecy and do their homework.”
“Over the last 30 years, we have seen numerous ill-conceived plans from people who say they want to run a railroad here on the North Coast, and not once has it worked out,” he said in a prepared statement. “They usually disappear as quickly as they arrive, and I’m guessing this proposal is no different.”
Stogner noted the rail line was closed by the federal government in 1998 due to “collapsed tunnels, rails sliding into the canyon, unstable soils and landslides” and said the rails have only degraded in the time since.
“According to our best estimates, the cost to restore the line would exceed $2.4 billion and would remain unreliable due to the regular slides and washouts, especially along the environmentally sensitive Eel River Canyon,” he said. “And, of course, that does not include whatever billions it would cost to upgrade the Humboldt Bay Harbor to transport coal. All of this is widely known, and exactly the reason the state of California has directed us to focus on the Great Redwood Trail — a mission our board is working hard on.”
North Coast Rep. Jared Huffman (D-san Rafael) reiterated that federal policy re
“Coal is the dirtiest and most damaging source of energy out there. It’s the No. 1 cause of global warming and it’s the No. 1 contributor to our climate crisis.” — State Sen. Mike Mcguire
quires the Surface Transportation Board to prioritize maintenance or restoration of a rail line wherever possible.
“Those of us that know the condition of rail line and the sensitivity of the Eel River Canyon as well as the political opposition that this project would face up and down the North Coast, I don’t believe this project is ever going to be viable. However, that decision is going to be made by the Surface Transportation Board,” Huffman told the Times-standard Tuesday. “They’re going to look at the financial viability of the applicant and basically make a very narrow determination based on whether they think they’re adequately capitalized to open this back up as a railroad. It is conceivable that the Transportation Board could greenlight this.”
However, Huffman said there are several ways to halt the proposed project.
“One of them is NCRA itself because the NCRA is faced with losing its right of way to a coal train,” he said. “I believe it would have the option of withdrawing the abandonment request and keeping (the rail line) in public ownership to at least have more time to work on a strategy.”
Sonoma-marin Area Rail Transit could also block NCRCO. from bringing coal through the North Bay, Huffman said.
“The coal trains don’t just materialize in Willits, they’ve got to get all the way from Sacramento through the North Bay and up to Willits, most of that track is owned by SMART,” he said.
“SMART would have the ability to set terms and conditions for any freight company that wanted to use that track … they absolutely can impose terms and conditions.”
Huffman also urged community members to express opposition to the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District. Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, district executive director Larry Oetker said the possibility of a coal train is “not something that we are interested in.”
“We are focused on developing Humboldt Bay for an offshore wind terminal and that’s really all we’re working on,” he said. “… The port is not looking to bring coal into the harbor. We have been exclusively focused on are finding things to ship out of the bay that the community thinks is a good fit for our region. We are looking to be a clean, green port.”
When asked if the harbor district has participated in conversations with NCRCO. Oetker said, “No, I have not met with anybody looking to bring coal to the port.”
Mcguire vowed to bring new legislation forward “to stop Big Coal in its tracks.”
“I’m here to promise that, no matter how many billions of dollars these coal barons throw at this project, we’re going to stop this dangerous proposal and put a nail in the coffin of coal, and we will continue to move the Great Redwood Trail forward,” he said.