North Coast Senator, Mike McGuire, Introduces Bill to Stop Coal Train
Coal Train [Photo by Netoe via Wikimedia Commons]
Senator Mike McGuire introduced legislation today to stop one of the largest environmental threats the North Coast has seen in decades — a proposal from a secret, clandestine operation, hiding behind an anonymous LLC out of Wyoming, that wants to ship millions of tons of coal through the Northern California counties of Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Trinity, and Humboldt.
The shadowy rail operation would utilize a portion of the now defunct North Coast rail route, which runs approximately 320 miles between Marin and Humboldt counties. The coal would then be loaded onto ships in Humboldt Bay, sold overseas, and burned.
Senator McGuire’s SB 307, which was introduced last week, would help stop that proposal, or anything like it in the future, in its tracks.
“This toxic coal train would run through the heart of so many thriving communities and along the Russian and Eel Rivers, which are the main source of drinking water for nearly one million residents,” Senator Mike McGuire said. “This dangerous proposal must be stopped, which is why we have introduced SB 307. This critical bill will ban any state funding from being invested to improve the rail line for coal shipments north of Willits and it bans any state funding to buildout a potential coal storage terminal at the Port of Humboldt. No way, no how are we going to let this happen.”
The secrecy behind the toxic coal train is completely offensive, as well as the fact these bad actors have met behind closed doors with some local officials to try and make this toxic dream a reality. This anonymous group has also filed a request to kill the build out of the Great Redwood Trail. The Trail, which will be the longest contiguous rail-trail in America, would stretch from the bustling waters of San Francisco Bay to the fog-shrouded redwood shores of Humboldt Bay.
SB 307 explicitly states that state money can not be spent to initiate, improve or operate rail service on the now defunct North Coast rail line north of the City of Willits. Further, it bans state money from being spent on the buildout of any new bulk coal terminal facilities within the County of Humboldt.
In addition, Senator McGuire has made significant progress on the Great Redwood Trail. SB 69, which was approved in the Assembly by a vote of 71-0 and then in the Senate by 38-0, will close down the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) once and for all, and transfer their property and rights to the Great Redwood Trail Agency and to Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART).
The Great Redwood Trail will meander through ancient redwoods, state and national wildlands, oak-studded golden hills and along our incredible rivers. The Trail will also be an economic driver for the dozens of rural communities it runs through.
“Coal is the dirtiest and most damaging source of energy out there. It’s the number one cause of global warming and it’s the number one 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,” Senator Mike McGuire said.
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Legislate against rumors. What would we do without him?
Start our own?
I didn’t know this outfit was using state monies to fund this project. Maybe McGuire knows something we don’t. Otherwise seems like the legislation would mean absolutely nothing.
Is McGuire against just coal or against rail? It’s hard to tell. The process he himself initiated was to maintain the rail corridor for future rail reactivation. Perhaps the future has arrived ahead of his schedule.
Exactly.
Good lord, this might lead to jobs and economic activity, maybe even sawmills. Can’t have anything like that.
Sawmills running on coal-fired steam?
Nope, wood fired like they used to. Lots of forest debris too. This used to be an option until the first generation of smog nazis in the 1970s. The commies take the long view.
With modern scrubbers and some common sense it might be a way to raike the forests.
These radicals are against the railroad ever reopening, they hate coal and reject more business opportunities in our area than any normal community would that wants to provide good paying jobs for their community.
What a dumb ass. This worthless “senator” believes, spreads and actually authors lies, then tries to make them true by legislation. Why anyone would vote for him is beyond belief. There is a possibility part of his claim is true, but if something could bring jobs, he’d vote against it no matter how good the jobs are. He is a great part of the lost economy in Humboldt and elsewhere.
“Lies” are manna for the right wing so simmer down.
What lies, Alf? The coal passes through and ships overseas. What jobs?
So there will be no local jobs to store the coal, restore and operate the railroad, dock workers etc. Nope, no jobs whatsoever…..
Don’t forget the never ending job of repairing the line when it continually washes out in the river valley, like it has so many times.
So you don’t believe improvements could be made when investing millions in reopening the line?
Oh please. Like they are really going to run a train up here And the price to repair the infrastructure would be astronomical. And winter rains and landslides. They going to just do summer runs. Sounds like a scam. Collect investor dollars, then off to the Bahamas in your 40 foot catamaran
I detect a scam too. It doesn’t make sense to me why coal would be shipped from Wyoming through the Central Valley to Humboldt when there are established direct lines to established bulk ports. Maybe someone is scamming the Tribes on whose land the coal would be mined?
Do you even know that every deep water port along the west coast is near capacity and we have a deep water port that could make our local economy worth something yet we just sit and stare at it and do nothing productive with it.
Nope, Humboldt Bay isn’t the only deep water port on the West Coast that isn’t being utilized. (Looks out window of my empty international port). It might have more to do with the larger ports saying “Nope”.
Why is some Wyoming group who won’t name themselves trying to go way out of their way all the way up to Humboldt Bay to allegedly move their coal? Where is the coal coming from? Wyoming?
Which is finding a decline in it’s mining. Still the largest producer of coal in the US, but why this “sudden” need to go way out of their way to get to a relatively undeveloped port infrastructure over a sketchy rail line? The coal would already be in the Bay Area if the line would go from Marin County to Humboldt.
Something does stink, besides the coal.
Have you read the news lately about how there are ships waiting to dock in southern ports because the docks are overfilled? Search it up if you think I’m not being truthful. Maybe companies are trying to find a way to actually ship their product out in a timely fashion and it would benefit our local economy.
“SB 307 explicitly states that state money cannot be spent to initiate, improve, or operate rail service on the now defunct North coast rail line north of the city of Willits.”
That’s Bullshit.
Prohibiting the rail shipment of coal is one thing, prohibiting money being spent to initiate, improve, or operate our rail line is an overreach, and is only to perpetuate the dubious
“Great Redwood Trail”, that will be fraught with innumerable problems of it’s own, that is his pet project, is entirely another.
That’s not OK.
What if the trail thing doesn’t pan out, or ends up being a complete disaster?
No way to resume rail service?
I don’t think so. It’s a bad call.
But I totally agree, a coal storage terminal at Humboldt Bay, is a terrible idea, and should be prohibited.
The rail line is done. Between the inherent costs of reconstructing then maintaining it through the Eel River Canyon and the lack of a market (without major port development, itself a dubious proposition in light of Humboldt’s disadvantages relative to Stockton, Sacramento, San Pablo, or even Coos Bay), there are no economic underpinnings for reopening it. The Great Redwood Trail looks like another boondoggle.
Yes, but this bill seems to be part and parcel to the continuance of that boondoggle.
I am familiar with the area described. It is basically inaccessible. If a rail isn’t feasible, a trail direly isn’t, either. It is a first responders nightmare, especially in inclement weather.
The trail plan lacks proper foresight. It will not be accessible to most, just the select few with above average resources.
Yes, the massive rail-trail conversion is something people latched on to for good feelz without thinking it through. Even where physically possible, converting an easement is fraught with legal pitfalls if the landowner’s interests come into conflict with the new easement. Allowing occasional trains to cross property in exchange for a fee and occasional side money clearing debris off the tracks is one thing. Allowing a public thoroughfare across property is another.
The irony is that if Mcguire gets what he wants ie rail banking he will forfeit the GRT because of those easement issues. I must agree the GRT is a very poorly thought out scheme. No money for it and when the easement issues arise it will snuff out the trail for good IF the Federal agency by some miracle decides to rail bank a line that has such important strategic implications.The federal precedent certainly favors the rail interests.
I wonder if anyone in the trail community thought about seeing if the rail folks might want to partner with the trail folks.
Do we know that this project is being funded by state funds? if not this legislation seems like no more than a fart in the wind.
McGuire started this process of rail banking that by definition is to preserve the rail corridor for future rail reactivation. Maybe the future arrived ahead of schedule.
interesting how we cant have any rail service here in humboldt because these left wing idiots think a trail is better, but the county will ramrod any grower that wants to go as long as trevor bone is in charge were do you think all the algue in the river comes from can’t blame the railroad, it hasn’t spun a wheel in over 20 years and the clear cut logging ended long before that maybe ask john ford he’ s a real genius
We don’t have rail service because the geology of the eel river will not support it. Remember it’s been tried and failed.
hey there slick, there talking about shipping into humboldt bay, not just 100 cars trains of redwood heading to san fran , more then twice the traffic, so glad i had to spell that out for you
Huh?
I find it interesting how many people absolutely despise the railroad where the rest of the country embraces rail for transporting goods. The Eel river and russian river divisions of the railroad are problematic but I’m sure geologists could find ways to make it feasible. We haven’t shut down 101 or 299 yet and they are geologic messes.
this railroad has been demonized and blamed for sediment discharge for as long as the liberials started to move into this ares 35 years ago. hwy 101, 299, 36 hve the same issues every stinkin year but dont hear anything about that, more o fthat cancel culture bullshit
Where you been yee? Liberals started to move into this area over 50 years ago.
ya your right my bad
Good point. I cant remember the last time I drove east on 36 or 299 and not encountered landslide work. Heck north on 101 too.
because every loaded railcar takes three trucks off the hwy, and equates to less registation every year for state of califuckia follow the money , it will tell ya
You are absolutely right. There seems to be an irrational hatred of the railroad in Humboldt despite the area supposedly being so for doing what’s best for the environment.
Historically it had been a truism that solar panels, even in ideal circumstances, never generate as much electricity over their usage spans than was required to manufacture them. Within the last decade PV efficiency has improved such that modern solar panels are indeed net energy-producers. That said, when batteries and other hardware (wires, mounting, etc.), the sum of equation remains negative.
Working Highly-Efficient PhotoVoltaic solar panels (HEPVs, which approximately double the efficiency of current models at similar price points) have been produced. Likewise, efficiencies in battery/ electrical storage technology continue to improve as well. Hopefully these innovations will ‘hit the market’ ASAP.
Until then—or until some esoteric fusion/zero-point/free-energy revolution occurs—nuclear and coal remain essential.
You’re going to make a libs head explode.
We don’t need to burn more coal, or to run trains full of toxic materials through our wild and scenic river valleys. Thank you Senator McGuire.
Obama said over and over ” clean burning coal” in every state he ran in that dug coal.
hell, Banjo Joe was a coal miner as a kid.
If these socialist tool bags are for coal? It has to go Okay, right?
Right…
No, the wind has shifted direction…..
It would be great to have rail here again if we had the right place to put it, and a real need for it. If you visit some car-accessible places on the line along the Eel River, like Alderpoint and Ft. Seward, you can see what a lousy place to put a rail line this canyon is. Yes, what’s left is old and neglected now,, but even in its heyday the rail line was fraught with trouble, prone to slip-outs and slide-outs. The geology in this area is simply not suited to sustaining a railroad. The only reason it ever existed is that for many decades rail was the ONLY reliable, quick overland way to get freight from Humboldt Bay to the SF Bay area, and the Bay Area needed our lumber and produce to prosper. And exactly WHAT would we be shipping by rail today? I love trains, but they’re just not practical here as long as we have highway trucks that can go directly from point to point; in a couple of decades, trucks will be much more environmentally-friendly than they are now, and a far more efficient way to ship cargo in areas dominated by mountains made of soft matter scraped off the Pacific Plate only a few million years ago.
Fast forward to the mid-1990’s when the NWP had maybe one or two trains a week running on the line from Eureka to Willits, and then just line crews checking the line’s condition every now and then, and then nothing. I was disappointed not to hear the trains come rumbling through past my partner’s farm; we loved to see and hear them, because we are railfans!
The grandchild of an original ranching family once told me the story of how her grandparents witnessed the driving of the golden spike on the line upstream of Alderpoint back in the day. A train full of VIPs came from the Bay Area to meet a bunch of VIPS from Eureka for the ceremony, and then continue north to Eureka for a big celebratory steak dinner. Only, just after the spike was driven and the locomotive steamed up, someone came down the line yelling thata landslide had blocked the tracks a short distance upstream. While the line was dug out, the locals caught some salmon and treated the VIPS to a salmon barbecue.
As for coal — this coal is going to China. Other West Coast ports have already declined to ship it. The “owners” are a shell company in Wyoming.
I admire McGuire for his energy and commitment to the long-term well-being of his district, which depends in large part on its environmental well-being. I don’t always agree with him, of course, but then whoever agrees all the time with anyone, let alone anyone in office?
The rail route through the Eel River Canyon has always been a nightmare to maintain. Years ago it was a constant battle with the elements and slides, with trains being lost to the river on occasion.
Back then to remove a slide, you just shoved it into the river and kept plowing forward. Try that now. Nobody is going to let anyone shove millions of yards of earth into the river. One plugged culvert can cause a slide or catastrophe.
The downtime to the rail and expense of transporting the spoils to an approved dump site you’d think would be a deal breaker unless subsidized by the state. (Us)
The Eel River Canyon dwarfs all other sediment sources contributing to the lower Eel River.
Coal train, shit, more money in weed. This is a shell company with like 2000 other businesses with the same address!! They are just trying to get federal funds and never accomplish anything. Easy money using archaic funding mechanism from the late 1800s.
Using trains to move weed, yes, using for coal NO!
What river? Am I missing something? Agua por favor, your a joke Mcguire, go get a physical labor job and work for a living. Freeloaders suck.
Wow.
Senator McGuire has come out with legislation against the Wiyot and Crow Indians. Think about it !
He also came out with legislation against himself and the very definition of “rail banking” not to mention the legislation he already got passed.
I don’t think he fully understands the Federal process he himself initiated and should fire his advisor.
He has only helped the Wiyot when it was convenient to him. He has never really cared about them in a meaningful way. What does this have to do with the Wiyot? I must ask.
Early web report said that the Crow were in consultation with the Wiyot.
Oh! So now we find out if there are any “Sellouts” in the band. Pretty small community, so I hope they just stick their chests out and tell the Crow to just fly away.
Who is the “they” of which you speak?
I know the Crow people are in dire straights and need a life line. The Wiyot are one of the poorest tribes in the nation. If Bozo is right and the Wiyot people are going to help the Crow people and McGuire intends to prevent that to quote Bozo “WOW!”
Sounds like jobs . The federal government has plans for Humboldt bay . Hey if some coal ends up in the river. It might help filter toxins,pesticides, high level of phosphorus . From all the weed grows run off sounds like 👍 for everyone
Filthy. I grew up in coal country. My grandfather was the only survivor out of 10 in his third coal mining accident. He never went in the mines again. The railroad tracks were littered with coal that had fallen off of the rail cars. We lived a few miles away from the power plant that dusted our community with an oily black soot that coated everything around. Every morning you would have to wipe the sticky dust off of the car’s windows. The trees didn’t grow much due to the acid rain. The river was completely dead from mine runoff until the mid 90’s after the coal industry had failed finally some life had returned to the river.
19th century tech: trains & coal
the railroad as it sits now is in better shape then it was on the morning of dec 25 1964, but yet you left wing morons wouldn’t look at it that way because that would require some work to fix, which most of you liberials wouldn’t know what to do with if it hit you in the forehead . it took 166 days and 800 men back then to rebuild two bridges and 100 miles of roadbed . all of which was done before the invention of the hydraulic excavator . I’ve walk all the trackage from loleta tunnel all the way to dos rios so i’m well aware of the condition of the right of way. quit making everything a political cluster~uck and roll up your sleaves and get to work
I would think with modern engineering technology and equipment this could be done. Just look at some of the advancements in the last 100 years since this was first put in.
But I’m not the one writing checks.
in 110 years of being built, this rail line has pretty much been rebuilt more then twice. theres no reason it cant be done again unless the liberials in high ranking spots of goverment have another bullshit agenda like that stupid fuckin trail. if senetor magiure thinks that by purchasing the lone pine he’ll be able to cock block the rail resurrection he’s got another thing comin. every ranch along this line is extremely piss off with the thought of everybody and there brother to just walk around doing whatever. the only reason why this land is still beautiful to look at up and down the rail is because for the most part people have no access to it to fuck it up.
A person might walk that stretch and it would be true that they are aware of the sad condition the ROW is in now. However, unless they really understand geologically what led it to be in the state it is in now, they probably aren’t aware of just how much money it would take to “fix” it and keep it fixed. The old studies tell the story.
A company doesn’t need subsidies to get started, a few tax breaks will do the trick. Once they begin operations and the political climate is right, it comes to light that the RR company is loosing their ass, and they go for the bailouts. That’s what was done after the crash,then the tunnel burned and that was it.
the reason the row sits the way it is now is because of this bs california government keep the government out of things and let private companies thrive and you’ll get to witness shit getting done . Im well aware of the island mountain tunnel fire in 78 just walked through that 4800′ bad boys two weeks ago . its a crying shame to see that much infustructure just doing nothing because the freaking government can stay out of it . this is just the begin of large companies looking for rail and port service on the west coast. buckle up you left wing fucks you bullshit trail through 115 degree heat in the canyon is not happening . how would you like to be one of the land owners that the ncrs has row through and now you make this into a trail were every tom,dick,and harry can go walk. people have no shitin busness be out in this land, nothing but problem and headaches for all ranchers and dope growers along the route
Never read so many dumb opinions in one place!
“Toxic coal train”. Please explain that. Does this senator not think Humboldt could use the jobs created by this train of evil? Does the senator prefer to see the railroad decommissioned rather than cleaned up and repaired? There’s plenty of railway waste in the rivers that will never be addressed if the railway is not repaired. Oh well, Humboldt has plenty of fast food and government jobs to keep the local economy afloat, right?
I appreciate this! Coal is the last fuel for power (etc) we need to be using now. And yes, it’s appropriate to exclude government funds to enable what does look like a scam, but is certainly a concept from a bygone era. (‘Bye! Gone!!’ And none too soon!!).
The trail would generate jobs in the tourist industry, which our beautiful county could benefit from. It would not pollute and contribute to further climate disasters as would more coal being burned into the atmosphere by China. Yes, that’s where this coal is going to be shipped, China, so they can continue to be the largest polluter on the planet. Or wait, is it us? Either way, it’s a nightmare already of drought, fires, hurricanes, and flooding.(Just ask some of the people who have already lost everything.) IF you don’t think coal has something to do with it, you’re wrong. Thank you to Senator McGuire for working hard to help us stop this horrendous proposal from going forward, even though I sometimes wonder if we’re worth it. Judging by these comments, I wonder.
Oddly enough while China produces 95% of solar panels they only install 5% of them. They are building more coal plants at a much faster rate than solar farms.
I don’t see any evidence that the coal would be going to China. There are other countries using coal for power. Do you know something we don’t or are you just speculating?
China knows better than to buy their own cheaply made crap.