Standoff over hazardous materials stored in Sonoma Valley continues

Federal authorities on Friday delayed ruling on a North Coast freight operator’s request to transport a dozen rail cars filled with flammable gas to a site south of Sonoma, where 2.6 million gallons of hazardous material already are being stored.

The Surface Transportation Board, in an update posted on the agency’s website, stated the current record is insufficient for the board to reach a resolution on the merits of the case, which, according to the statement, “raises a number of legal issues.”

Attorneys for the board are asking for additional information and have scheduled another conference call with the parties for Tuesday.

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District, which owns the right-of-way, has been calling for the immediate removal of liquefied petroleum gas stored in rail cars in Schellville on the grounds the hazardous materials pose a threat to public safety.

The public rail agency also is seeking to prevent Northwestern Pacific Railroad from transporting 12 more tankers filled with an estimated ?396,000 gallons of gas from American Canyon to the Sonoma Valley location.

The dispute highlights the challenges of safely transporting and storing hazardous materials. Some customers of Northwestern Pacific - including Petaluma’s Lagunitas Brewing Co. - also have expressed concerns the dispute might disrupt shipments of barley malt and other goods.

So far, such deliveries appear to be happening on schedule. But the delay in resolving the dispute over the gas tankers could impair future deliveries, said Mitch Stogner, executive director of the North Coast Railroad Authority, the public agency that oversees freight service on the line.

He said Friday that in order for Northwestern Pacific to accept more shipments of grain, the 12 gas tankers will have to be moved off the main line in American Canyon, then back again once the other cars are moved through.

“It a huge headache and safety issue,” Stogner said.

SMART contends it has authority to restrict shipments and storage of hazardous materials along the stretch of track from American Canyon to Schellville.

Northwestern Pacific, however, argues that it has the right, as the exclusive freight operator on the rail line, to transport hazardous materials and store them at the Schellville location, about 13 miles east of where SMART plans to start passenger service along the Highway 101 corridor later this year.

A 2011 coordinating agreement between SMART and Northwestern Pacific governing shared use of the track allows either side to seek arbitration on disputed matters. That makes the public nature of the current dispute all the more unusual.

A SMART spokeswoman on Friday forwarded a statement from Judy Arnold, a Marin County supervisor and chairwoman of SMART’s board of directors, stating that the rail agency “will continue to work with the Surface Transportation Board to resolve this important public safety issue.”

Northwestern Pacific officials contend SMART has overstated safety concerns. Doug Bosco, a co-owner of the freight rail company, is an investor in Sonoma Media Investments, which owns The Press Democrat.

The freight operator transported?80 rail cars filled with 2.6 million gallons of liquefied petroleum gas to the Schellville site on July 28. SMART officials brought the storage to the public’s attention on Sept. 23.

Then last weekend, SMART refused Northwestern Pacific’s request to transport an additional 12 gas tankers to the Schellville site, leading the freight operator to seek federal intervention. The freight operator characterized the situation as an emergency on the grounds that federal law dictates that rail cars loaded with hazardous material be moved within 48 hours, unless they are being stored on so-called “private tracks.”

SMART and Northwestern dispute whether the Schellville site meets those requirements. Both sides on Thursday participated in a conference call with attorneys from the Surface Transportation Board.

Northwestern officials contend SMART is illegally restricting interstate commerce, in violation of both federal law and the 2011 agreement. The freight operator has asked the federal agency to issue an order preventing SMART from denying track warrants based upon freight contents, and from interfering with the storage of rail cars, so long as the storage meets federal guidelines.

The petition noted that inspectors with the Federal Railroad Administration who visited the Schellville site twice in the past two weeks found no safety violations.

Northwestern Pacific officials said that SMART’s denial of track warrants on Sunday and Monday applied to 18 rail cars, including the 12 filled with gas and six loaded with grain.

SMART officials disputed that account, saying their denials have applied only to gas tankers. SMART argued in its petition that Northwestern Pacific essentially is using the grain cars as a bargaining chip to bolster its case.

“The Railroad knows full well that it can meet its common carrier delivery requirements with respect to the grain cars without any preclearance or interference from SMART,” the petition stated.

That facet of the ongoing dispute highlights broader concerns about its potential impacts on businesses along the Highway 101 corridor that rely on Northwestern Pacific for freight deliveries. After further assurances from SMART that its dispatch orders do not affect grain deliveries, Northwestern brought the six grain cars through this week and made regularly scheduled deliveries to customers on Thursday. The deliveries included malt barley bound for Lagunitas Brewing Co. and grain feeds for ag supply businesses in Petaluma and Penngrove.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 707-521-5336.or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.