After spending more than $16 million in state and federal grants to acquire the dilapidated Coos Bay Rail Link in 2008, the Port of Coos Bay has determined that initial repair estimates are a little off the mark. Rather than $25 to $30 million costs could reach as much as $190 million, according to a 2003 bulk cargo study, to increase capacity of the line to support a coal and or cargo terminal on the North Spit.

The port maintains that costs to increase capacity beyond the 10 MPH limit now set by the condition of the line will be paid by eager customers anxiously awaiting the golden opportunity to ship to and from the Port of Coos Bay rather than, Portland, Seattle, Tacoma, Oakland, Long Beach…. So where is the CEO who dreamed this up, deferring his own due diligence four full years with the full consent of the commissioners? He is now tending bar administering to the City of Blanchard, Oklahoma.

Sigh