Rail car ruling sides with SMART, but gas cars on Sonoma tracks to stay

SMART officials and the freight operator remain at odds over the transport and storage of hazardous materials, with no clear resolution in sight.|

Federal authorities on Friday sided with the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit authority in its effort to prevent a dozen rail cars filled with flammable gas from being moved to a site south of Sonoma.

But the ultimate fate of those cars, as well as 80 more filled with 2.6 million gallons of gas that already are being stored in Schellville, remains unclear.

Farhad Mansourian, SMART’s general manager, said Northwestern Pacific Railroad should take the opportunity in the wake of Friday’s ruling to remove all of the hazardous materials stored in Sonoma Valley.

“I’m reaching out to our freight colleagues and hope they use this opportunity to start removing the existing hazardous material out of Sonoma County, and we go back and start having conversations with each other to co-exist,” Mansourian said.

But Doug Bosco, co-owner of Northwestern Pacific, said Friday the freight operator plans to keep the rail cars near Sonoma stored where they are until needed by refineries, which use the liquefied petroleum gas for winter fuel blends.

Asked when that will happen, Bosco replied, “when the weather changes.”

Friday’s ruling by the Surface Transportation Board did not directly address storage of the rail cars in Schellville.

Instead, it more narrowly focused on a dozen rail cars filled with an estimated 396,000 gallons of liquefied petroleum gas that Northwestern Pacific sought to transport and store at the Schellville site.

Northwestern Pacific had sought an emergency injunction against SMART, arguing the rail agency used its dispatch function illegally to prevent transport of those cars, which are in limbo at an American Canyon interchange.

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

The site is about 13 miles east from where SMART plans to operate passenger service, currently set for late spring next year.

The three-member Surface Transportation Board denied Northwestern Pacific’s petition on the grounds the freight operator had not demonstrated it was likely to suffer “irreparable harm” from being prevented from moving and storing the rail cars.

The board noted the company has other means of recouping financial losses should they occur.

“The cars on the line are creating an inconvenience, but they are not interfering with the interstate rail network,” the board ruled.

However, board member Ann Begeman, in a sharply worded aside in the unanimous decision, stated that moving rail cars back and forth in American Canyon “strikes me as a recipe for a serious accident.”

Begeman urged prompt federal review of that situation. The board stated that it is planning to weigh in at a later date on the larger dispute, which they stated raises a number of “novel issues” for shared use of a rail line.

But the board did not, in the meantime, order the removal of the 12 rail cars to another location. The panel said authority over safety issues related to hazardous materials transported and stored by rail belongs primarily to the Federal Railroad Administration.

Northwestern Pacific transported the 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 and ever since have been demanding the immediate removal of the rail cars.

Mansourian on Friday said in light of Bosco’s comments, he is planning to ask SMART’s board of directors for further direction. Mansourian did not specify what steps SMART might take to seek removal of the gas tankers.

A 2011 coordinating agreement between SMART and Northwestern Pacific governing shared use of the track allows either side to seek arbitration on disputed matters.

Federal inspectors who visited the Schellville site on several occasions determined that the hazardous materials being stored there meet safety guidelines.

Bosco, who is an investor in Sonoma Media Investments, which owns The Press Democrat, said it is “very unfortunate” that SMART continues to raise safety concerns about those cars.

“It makes people feel they are unsafe, when the federal agency that has jurisdiction over this has determined there are no violations,” he said.

Begeman, in her comments on Friday’s ruling, stated her desire that SMART and Northwestern Pacific work “more cooperatively” on behalf of those they serve.

Bosco agreed.

“Franky, I think this is a terrible thing for two public entities to be fighting like this,” he said.

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

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