Legal fight over North Coast freight trains shifts to federal court

<p>Two lawsuits challenging freight service on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad have shifted to federal court, in a legal maneuver by the North Coast Railroad Authority.</p><p>The move could make it easier for the rail authority to defend the cargo trains, which returned to Sonoma, Napa and Marin counties in July after a 10-year absence.</p><p>The lawsuits were originally filed in Marin County Superior Court by two Humboldt County environmental groups, Friends of the Eel River and Californians for Alternatives to Toxics.</p><p>They allege the rail authority violated California's environmental law when it authorized train operations on a 62-mile stretch between Napa County and Windsor. The groups said the authority hasn't dealt with toxic pollution at various railroad locations or impacts on endangered fish in the Eel and Russian rivers.</p><p>They also said the authority's environmental impact report on train operations doesn't consider future freight service north of Willits, which could open the way for gravel mining in the wild and scenic Eel River Canyon.</p><p>The two groups are asking for court injunctions against railroad operations until the authority complies with the state's environmental law.</p><p>The lawsuits also name NWP Co., the private company that operates the freight trains, and Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, the commuter rail agency that owns the tracks south of Healdsburg.</p><p>In a notice filed in Northern California U.S. District Court, the rail authority said the lawsuits belong in federal court because they seek to halt a federally-regulated rail service.</p><p>In such cases, federal jurisdiction preempts state law, the rail authority said. In an earlier challenge, the federal government upheld the rail authority's right to restore freight service on the route.</p><p>Federal law allows such cases to be transferred from state court without a hearing.</p><p>But an attorney for Friends of the Eel River said her clients will seek to have their lawsuit returned to Marin County Superior Court.</p><p>“This is a case based purely on California law,” said the group's attorney, Amy Bricker. “All the parties reside in California.”</p><p>Attorneys for Californians for Alternatives to Toxics didn't return calls seeking comment.</p><p>NWP Co. will try to have the cases decided by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, company attorney Doug Bosco said Wednesday. The federal agency has exclusive authority over interstate rail disputes, he said.</p><p>The North Coast Railroad Authority was created by state lawmakers in 1989 to save freight service after former owner Southern Pacific tried to abandon the railroad.</p><p>The authority wants to restore the tracks as far north as Willits, but there are no plans to extend service through the Eel River Canyon to Eureka, where repairs could cost $500 million or more.</p><p>Rail traffic was halted in 2001 when federal transportation officials ruled the storm-damaged route was unsafe. The southernmost segment reopened earlier this year following $68 million in repairs.</p>