A federal judge has ruled in favor of environmentalists challenging the North Coast Railroad Authority, sending two environmental lawsuits back to Marin County for a trial.
It's unclear whether the lawsuits could halt rail cargo service in Sonoma, Napa and Marin, which resumed last July after a 10-year shutdown.
The railroad authority wanted the cases heard in U.S. District Court, arguing federal law preempts state law in challenges to federally-regulated rail operations.
The federal government upheld the authority's right to resume freight service in an earlier case.
But the lawsuits belong in Marin County Superior Court because they deal with state law, according to two environmental groups, Californians for Alternatives to Toxics and Friends of the Eel River.
The Humboldt County groups sued the railroad authority last year, alleging it violated California's environmental law when it approved train operations on a 62-mile stretch of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad between Napa County and Windsor.
The groups said the authority hasn't addressed toxic pollution or impacts on endangered fish in the Eel and Russian rivers.
"NCRA didn't reveal the environmental impacts of its proposal to get this decrepit railroad operating again and, when challenged, tried to hide behind federal railroad law," said Patty Clary, director of Californians for Alternatives to Toxics.
The groups have asked for court injunctions until the authority complies with the state's environmental law, but they aren't specifically seeking to stop the freight trains, Clary said.
The lawsuits also name NWP Co., the private company that operates the freight service, and Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, the commuter rail agency that owns the tracks south of Healdsburg.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Joseph Spero ruled the two lawsuits raise questions of state law that aren't preempted by federal authority.
He also said NCRA failed to get SMART's approval to move the cases to federal court. He ordered both lawsuits returned to Marin County.
The railroad authority hasn't decided whether it will appeal the judge's ruling, said Chris Neary, attorney for the agency. It's clear that state law shouldn't apply, he said.
"We believe it's completely preempted," Neary said.
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