Coastal Commission Calls for Environmental Review of Mendocino Railway’s Infrastructure Repair Project Amid Concerns

The Skunk Train 2009 [Photo from Drew Jacksich via Wikimedia Commons]

The Coastal Commission complains that it has not had proper time or notice to review the current project, which includes installing electric and communication lines along 40 miles of track between Fort Bragg and Willits, repairs to 27 bridges, and the removal of 32,000 railroad ties that are infused with a cocktail of toxic chemicals. The railway says it plans to spend about $21.5 million on the work. It says the railway consulted a U.S. Fish and Wildlife database to determine that its proposal would not endanger any listed species. 

However, the categorical exemption worksheet does not mention the California Endangered Species Act, which includes three species of fish in Pudding Creek and Noyo River, which runs alongside the track for about thirty miles.

The Commission says its objections are based on the project’s “reasonably foreseeable coastal effects,” which include pollution from the Skunk Train’s historical equipment, train derailments, and the lack of relevant best management practices for removing and disposing of the railroad ties. Its letter notes that there are roughly four train derailments per day in the United States, and that Mendocino Railway, which has 381 curves on its 40-mile track, had two derailments in 2015. That’s the year of the most recent and long-lasting collapse of the tunnel, which was also unusable in 1976, 2005 and 2013. The letter states that if a train went off the tracks and into Noyo River or Pudding Creek, “An accident of this nature would negatively affect water quality and aquatic life at the site and downstream.”

Fort Bragg resident Jade Tippett went further, writing in a letter to the Coastal Commission that he believes the railway’s project endangers the city’s drinking water. The railroad ties contain an estimated 7.5 tons of arsenic and four tons of copper, and Tippett believes that the combination of removing and replacing them with a backhoe (as the railway proposes); “the siltation from ground disturbance and the expected use of herbicides for vegetation control will inevitably migrate or wash into the Noyo River.” That’s where Fort Bragg gets more than half of its drinking water.

In his own letter to the Commission, Torgny Nilsson, attorney for Sierra Northern Railway, insists that Mendocino Railway is “a federally regulated rail carrier with existing freight rail operations;” and is therefore not subject to the Coastal Commission’s authority. The project, he wrote, will take place entirely within the railway’s right of way and will “facilitate continued freight operations which predate enactment of the Coastal Act and will occur approximately 2,000 feet from the coast.” 

But the railway’s status as a public utility that’s not subject to local authority is far from being settled — as is its ability to carry freight.

During an eminent domain trial last year, when Mendocino Railway tried to force Willits property owner John Meyer to give up his land, Robert Pinoli, the president and CEO of the company testified that the railway hauled 120 cars full of steel and aggregate for a streambed restoration project. But in her decision, now-retired Judge Jenine Nadel wrote that he provided no evidence to support those claims, adding that, “The intention to provide services in the future is not sufficient to establish the railway as a public utility.” And she admitted into evidence a letter from the California Public Utilities Commission, saying the railroad is not a public utility. In 2006, the Railroad Retirement Board granted a request by Mendocino Railway to exempt it from paying into the retirement and unemployment funds for railroad employees, because it can’t engage in interstate commerce. Mendocino Railway’s status as a public utility, and whether it is subject to local permitting authority, are being hashed out in the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

As for the Coastal Commission, it’s asking the Department of Transportation for a project description and analysis of the effects the railway’s proposal will have on the coastal zone. Nilsson, the railway attorney, says this is ambiguous, and “this preliminary response should not be considered a waiver or concession” of the railway’s “right to take further action.”

But at its March 14 meeting in Sacramento, the Commission voted unanimously to send a letter outlining its position to the Federal Railroad Administration, objecting to the Administration’s request for a negative declaration, based on a single worksheet with what it finds is insufficient information. 

Commission Deputy Director Cassidy Teufel specified the purpose of the March 14 discussion. “In this case, the Commission is not being asked to consider the merits of the project, its consistency with the Coastal Act, or if it should proceed,” he explained. “It’s simply considering if it would have coastal effects and therefore warrants additional review.”

Nilsson, the Mendocino Railway attorney, expressed amazement over objections to old arsenic-laden ties being replaced with more environmentally friendly materials, but Teufel disputed the assertion, saying, “Although the negative determination does not specify which preservative treatment would be used for the new railroad ties, a letter recently submitted by Mendocino Railway notes that they would be treated with creosote, (which) is one of the most environmentally harmful types of wood preservative, known to leave significant amounts of hydrocarbon residue in initial years that adversely affects aquatic, marine and terrestrial species of habitats.”

Fort Bragg City Council member Lindy Peters presented a letter signed by the entire council in closed session, describing the indispensable role of the Noyo River to the community. “It is a place to work, recreate or find tranquility of solitude, bolstering coastal tourism and our local economy,” he read. “In fact, many visitors come to Fort Bragg to ride the tourist excursion train nicknamed Skunk. And while we support the continued operations of the Skunk Train, the concerns expressed in the Coastal Commission’s Deputy Director Report are valid. Environmental review is an important step in the development process, serving to prevent or minimize reasonably foreseeable damage to the environment…It is imperative that the city’s primary source of drinking water is preserved.”

Former Commission Chair Donne Brownsey, who also lives in Fort Bragg, also called for environmental review and more transparency from the federal government, which has not made the loan application available either to the Commission or the city of Fort Bragg. “Mendocino Railroad is not being treated unfairly or being targeted by the Commission,” she asserted. “What is unusual is for a federal agency to request a negative declaration, given the scope of this project, and to provide so little information and data on the elements of the proposal. Unfortunately, Mendocino Railroad has not inspired confidence in the community that it will follow state and local rules.”

In 2016, the Mendocino Railway received a cleanup and abatement order from the California Regional Quality Control Board for unauthorized discharge into Pudding Creek at the site of the collapsed tunnel, where there were reportedly no erosion controls in place. 

Commission attorney Matt Christian stated that the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, or CZMA, which grants the Coastal Commission its authority to regulate the coast, is not in conflict with the federal regulation of railroads.

David Schonbrun, Vice President of the Train Riders Association of California, believes the train is a federal concern, and rebuked the Commission for its ignorance of railroading procedures. He also pointed out that Commission Chair Caryl Hart also chairs the Great Redwood Trail Authority, which he blasted as anti-environmental.

“Do you really want the Commission to carry water for an agency with an anti-environmental policy?” He demanded, adding that, “Freight rail is the environmentally superior way to ship goods. This Commission should support getting trucks off the highway.” 

However, two years ago, when Mendocino Railway wanted to buy thirteen miles of track north of Willits, consultant Marie Jones found that in order for the train to compete with trucks to haul freight, it would have to charge $211 per railcar. That would be impossible to recoup, given the estimated $22.5 million price tag to rehabilitate that section of line. Jones concluded that, “There is no space within the market for non-competitive transportation pricing.” The federal Surface Transportation Board concluded that the company did not have the financial wherewithal to rehabilitate and maintain the infrastructure.

Commissioner Mike Wilson, of Arcata, said the train’s proposal was difficult to analyze with so little information, including about the company’s finances. “These are loans,” he noted. “So there’s an assumption that they get paid back, and that their revenue is based on those loans…These applications then have to make statements of how they’re going to generate the revenue, and within that there are potential impacts…It’s just hard to know what the impacts of this project will be. If you don’t even know what it’s carrying, you don’t know what they are. They are enumerated, maybe, in the application, but we don’t have access to that. So we don’t really know, and neither does the community.”

Hart concluded by saying that she hopes the letter will improve communication between the Coastal Commission and the Federal Railroad Administration, “So that we can, first of all, get documents,” she said during her closing remarks. “For example, one of the documents that I think is important is the application for the loan, which details what the project actually is. What the impacts will be, how they will be mitigated. So I think getting those documents, opening up the line of communication, is the goal of the letter, and the goal, really, of the CZMA.”

The Department of Transportation has not yet disbursed the $31.4 million loan to the railway.

Below is the Mendocino Railway’s Response to Coastal Commission’s March 14, 2024 Public Meeting:

On March 14, the California Coastal Commission (“Commission”) held a meeting in Sacramento, California, during which it discussed plans to object to the Federal Railroad Administration’s (“FRA”) loan of $21.9 million to Mendocino Railway (“MRY”) to allow MRY to repair its collapsed tunnel, make other line improvements, and resume providing through-freight and passenger service to the people and businesses of Fort Bragg and Willits, California. Not only would this loan create new jobs and business opportunities, but it would improve the environment and safety by allowing freight to be shipped by rail rather than by less safe and more polluting trucks via narrow mountainous roads.

The statements by Cassidy Teufel, the Commission’s Deputy Director, revealed that the Commission failed to carefully review the information provided by the FRA, does not understand the scope of MRY’s project (or even the specific location of MRY’s railroad line), and belligerently refuses to respect federal limitations on its authority as a state agency to regulate the operations of federal railroads. These errors could have easily been avoided had the Commission engaged with MRY in good faith discussions instead of ignoring MRY and acting based upon misunderstandings and in an effort to illegally expand its jurisdiction.

The Commission’s discussion revealed that its true goal is not to protect our state’s coastline but to help State Senator Mike McGuire with his vanity project of tearing out Mendocino County’s last link to our national railroad network in favor of a hiking trail that even his Great Redwood Trail Agency (“GRTA”) estimates as likely to be used by as few as 50 people per day. A hiking trail will not benefit the people and businesses of Mendocino County. Nor will tearing out our County’s last link to our national railroad network. The only people who stand to benefit from McGuire’s efforts are his wealthy contributors in Sonoma and Marin County who will have fewer freight train passing their mansions. It is no coincidence that McGuire’s GRTA, and the Commission, have the same Chair: Caryl Hart, one of the wealthy residents of Sonoma County. In pursuit of these goals, the Commission and its supporters have done their best to falsely portray MRY as nothing but a tourist train. But not only does the Commission’s portrayal ignore MRY’s freight and non-tourist passenger services, and MRY’s longstanding status as a federally regulated common carrier railroad, but it ignores the multi-year effort by the Commission, the GRTA, and their mutual supporters to prevent MRY from repairing its line and resuming providing through- freight and passenger services to the people and businesses of Mendocino County.

In reliance on these many misrepresentations—and despite its receipt of hundreds of letters opposing the Commission’s plans-the Commission voted on March 14 to proceed with its objections to the FRA, thereby aiding Caryl Hart’s and Senator McGuire’s efforts to shut down MRY’s operations and prevent MRY from reopening its tunnel, repair its line, and restore through- freight and passenger service to its community. It should come as no surprise that the GRTA— which as noted is also chaired by Caryl Hart—that same day notified MRY that it is filing a federal application with the United States Surface Transportation Board (“STB”) to compel the abandonment of MRY’s railroad, trying to force an end to almost 140 years of railroad service to the people and businesses of Mendocino County.