The Port of Coos Bay now offers a handy online form for public records requests. Recent statements made in Port meetings regarding the Coos Bay Rail Link and the state of emergency declared in April to facilitate repairs on the line in order to aid Roseburg Lumber as well as reports published in The World provided an opportunity to use the new form.

For a refresh on the ’emergency’, last April the Port claimed that a private company, Roseburg Lumber, wanted to avail itself of an opportunity that would require the Coos Bay Rail Link to be up and running, first by June 20 and then by midsummer. Declaring a state of emergency allows the Port to bypass competitive bidding rules. At the last Port meeting, Don Lovelady, Chief Operating Officer – Coos Bay Rail Link informed the commission that Roseburg Lumber hadn’t quite finalized its negotiations with an as yet unnamed wood chip buyer and wouldn’t require the line until October 1. Also, according to Lovelady, American Bridge another possible rail customer is also in no hurry.

My request to the Port is for copies of any documentation from Roseburg Lumber that convinced the Port there was, in fact, an emergency. Elise Hamner, Communications & Community Affairs Manager at the Port advised me, via email, that she is working on my requests.

Other questions I have asked also stem from Port minutes where Lovelady says, “An inspection of all of the bridges from Danebo to the
North Spit has just been completed. The preliminary report is very favorable. With minor work, the line should be able to open for 10-mph service during weekdays. The major bridge rehabilitation would be able to continue while running trains”.

At an earlier Port meeting Lovelady explained the importance of only operating at 10 mph also called ‘excepted track’. “As mentioned in the last Commission meeting, the track has been inspected and it has been determined that it will only take minor repairs in order to run trains at 10 mph on excepted track. Excepted track allows us to operate without the scrutiny of the Federal Railroad Administration inspectors”.

The last few days I have hinted on this blog that pictures and witness reports of the Tahkenitch, Clear Lake and Ten Mile lake bridges look to require more than just “minor work” and I have requested copies of the reports from HDR Engineering and the subcontractors responsible for the bridge inspections. Pick up a copy of Coast Lake News in Lakeside or check this blog Wednesday morning to view the photos, some of the 1/4 inch structural steel pieces look remarkably like curtain lace.

Hamner has advised me that the inspection reports are in “draft form” and only “pertinent” parts of the reports will be added to the public record. Philosophically, while the Port may be what is designated as a ‘special district’ it is still subject to the same public meeting and records rules as any other publicly funded body and therefore cannot arbitrarily pick and choose what becomes part of the public record.

The Port purchased the CORP line from RailAmerica in 2009 after the company first embargoed the line abruptly in 2007 and then moved to abandon it and to scrap the metal and timbers. RailAmerica first requested a taxpayer bailout and DeFazio testified at a hearing of the Surface Transportation Board Hearing, April 2008.

The State of Oregon, the Port of Coos Bay and shippers along the line are now engaged in a protracted battle with CORP and RailAmerica to restore service to the south coast. Last fall, CORP said it would cost approximately $2.9 million to repair three tunnels in order to reopen the line. That was soon followed by a proposal to the State that would cost over $23 million to “restore the line to the status quo.” As part of the proposal, CORP and RailAmerica wanted the State, the Port of Coos Bay, shippers, and the Union Pacific Railroad to each pay $4.66 million to restore the line and a large operating subsidy.

A working rail line was a condition of the $60 million in dredging funds set aside by the legislature for the Port of Coos Bay. CORP was very clear that the line needed expensive repairs before the Port bought the line for $16.6 million. While CORP has been painted as a villain in this transaction, APM terminals did not sign on to build a container dock as advertised and CORP probably realized there was insufficient shipping revenue to justify the repairs.

With the purchase of the line by the Port of Coos Bay the taxpayer is paying to restore the line anyway and without a container terminal developer in the wings to build a dock. A valid contract with a terminal operator/developer was another condition of the dredging funds. To date, $5 million of the $60 million in lottery funds allocated to the dredging project have been given to the Port.

UPDATE: Bob Melbo, Rail Planner with ODOT Rail has graciously investigated and responded to the pictures I forwarded to him this morning.

I’m pleased to report that the deteriorated conditions captured in the photos you emailed to me have been noted in reports covering inspections of this structure in 2005 and again as part of a complete line bridge assessment in 2008. In fact, color photos of what appear to be the same defects pictured in your attachments are included as part of the 2005 inspection.The 2008 assessment concluded that the steel structure had about 10 years remaining in its life cycle and that it was sufficiently sound to carry today’s larger standard rail car weighing 286,000 pounds at 25 MPH. The cost to repair this structure was estimated at roughly $100,000 in 2009 dollars.