So  you didn't get to go to Eugene to listen to six hours of testimony about the Coos Bay rail line on Thursday, Aug. 21? Here's some of the action in written testimony provided by state and federal lawmakers.

State Sen. Joanne Verger, D-Coos Bay

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

For the record, I am Oregon State Senator Joanne Verger, representing parts of six counties on the Oregon Coast from Coos Bay to Lincoln City.  I am here today in opposition to the Abandonment application by the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad and in support of the Feeder Line application by the International Port of Coos Bay.

Having spent eight years as the Mayor of Coos Bay before serving eight more

years in the Oregon Legislature, I have been working with the Port of Coos Bay since 1992.  Today, there is welcomed new leadership at the Port, a recognized economic engine for Southwest Oregon.  These experienced Commissioners and staff have given new hope to this “once vibrant” community.  This new leadership understands the global economy and Oregon’s potential.  This potential includes the need, right now, for new ownership of the entire Corp line from the Coos Bay line to the Union Pacific interchange in Eugene.  

You will hear today from shippers and others impacted by the unacceptable actions of a rail company that has shown a hard and shocking callousness for the consequences of these actions.  The regrettable human and economic fall-out since the announcement of the embargo is easy to identify in an area well acquainted with economic disaster brought on by mill closures and sever regulations.  The once familiar fear now strikes the hearts of our families and the owners of small business, who are dependent on stable paychecks to survive.

The loss of a rail line to the coast can only mean more loss of jobs, declining revenue to governments by large property tax payers, and declining services--- so, once again, the economic health of the coastal communities is seriously threatened and the people feel it, like you know when a storm is coming.

Remember, these are the same communities that are already struggling from the decline of their fishing industry and could now face the loss of manufacturing jobs.

“Silence is golden” is a motto I have always appreciated as a public servant.  However, there are times when an entity’s silence speaks volumes; which seems to be the case here where we have heard nothing from Union Pacific Railroad who faces tremendous financial responsibilities if this abandonment were allowed to go forward.  There is a rail bridge to be dismantled, and tracks to be removed.

Has Union Pacific no voice?  Just the bill in the mail?  Faced with this outcome, any silence seems deafening.

But none of this has to happen with the ability of our Port to secure this vital piece of infrastructure, we no longer would be held hostage, our two-lane roads would not continue to face the dramatic increase in heavier truck traffic and consumer confidence can return.  

I have served on the Transportation Committee since I was first elected to the Legislature in 2000.  For years our short line railroads have had little maintenance or repair.  Shamefully neglected, the Corp line still demanded profit, much as a starved horse beaten to cross the finish line.

By contrast, our new Port Commissioners were carefully appointed by the Governor for their reputations of integrity and commitment to the people of Southwestern Oregon and its economic future.  They will accept the challenge of owning a rail line in the same responsible way that they turned this Port in a positive direction after they were appointed.

We cannot change the calculated and unprofessional actions of a rail company but we can change the ownership. Unlike the past, we can commit ourselves to Oregonians and the future of their families.  We can do this by placing the responsibility for the entire Corp line into the hands of our new and qualified Port commissioners where they will put their best business practices to work.

Only then can we be free of this blackmail.  As good stewards of this important infrastructure that moves our products to market, that protects our manufacturing job base, we can have a vision of the future for a possible way to move people for the sake of our environment and congestion.

I beg of you to approve the Feeder Line application by the International Port of Coos Bay.

State Rep. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay

Please allow me to also thank the STB for giving Oregonians this opportunity to talk about the impact that the Coos Bay line has on our region.

I also join my colleagues in urging that the board oppose the CORP and RailAmerica’s application to abandon the Coos Bay line.

I oppose allowing the CORP and RailAmerica to retain control of the Danebo to Vaughn section of the line.  the line should not be broken up.

I strongly support the port of Coos Bay’s feeder line application to restore the line to service and respectfully urge the board to support the application also.

The feeder line application is key to the region’s economic future.  as my colleagues have described, without the rail line our the future of our communities and our families is surely dimmer.

With the rail line, we have a strong chance to maintain and grow our job base.

As the board moves forward with their deliberations, I respectfully ask you to be mindful of three things:

First, the value that is set for the line is critical to the success of the continued operation of the line.  the line cannot be saved is the sale price is too high.

Most of CORP and RailAmerica's value of the line is in the salvage value of the steel, because scrap values for the metal are at an all time high.  if the metals markets were in their normal range, the value of the line would be much less.

Second,  I would ask you to consider that the CORP and RailAmerica embargoed the line because they did not do maintenance on the tunnels.  Their own engineering report clearly states that the tunnel lagging and shoring were rotting out, and that the timbers were far beyond their useful life.

CORP and RailAmerica should repair the tunnels and return them to operational condition before they can sell the line.

It seems fundamentally unfair that the CORP should walk away from their lack of maintenance of the line, and pocket millions of dollars from salvage or selling the line, leaving the port and the citizens of Oregon to make things right.

Third, please consider that many attempts have been made by the shippers, the port, the legislature and the governor to work with the CORP and RailAmerica. 

Since the line has been shut down, we have all been struck with the unwillingness of the CORP and RailAmerica to work with us.  We have been given conflicting information, timelines that have not been honored, and negotiation positions that have shown that CORP and RailAmerica are not interested in negotiating a mutually beneficial outcome.

Again, it is my sincere hope that the board will rule in favor of the feeder line application and value the line at a reasonable amount so that the port can get the line up and running.

For the future of Coos, coastal Douglas and Lane counties, this is extremely important.  this rail line will make the difference between a future that will see economic decline, and a future that has the potential for growth.

Again, I thank you for your time and attention and will be glad to answer any questions.

 U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.

Chairman Nottingham, Vice Chairman Mulvey, and Board Member Buttrey, I want to thank you for holding this hearing in Oregon.  I appreciate the opportunity you are giving state and community leaders, employers, and local citizens to directly inform the Board’s decisions about the future status of the embargoed Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad (CORP) rail line.

Access to rail is critically important for my congressional district.  The embargo of the CORP rail line connecting the south coast of Oregon with the Union Pacific mainline here in Eugene has already had a significant impact on  the economy of southwest Oregon.  I have no doubt the proposed abandonment of the line will have devastating consequences.   

I am here to urge the Board to approve the feeder line application by the International Port of Coos Bay and to reject the CORP abandonment application.  I also want to encourage the Board to rule quickly and re-activate the Coos Bay rail line.

The CORP line is vital for shippers and industry along the south coast of Oregon, but last September CORP gave less than 24 hours notice it would be shutting down the line.  CORP, a subsidiary of RailAmerica, Inc. (RailAmerica), announced it was stopping service on its Coos Bay line between Coquille, Oregon, and Vaughn, Oregon, due to unsafe tunnel conditions.  Shippers on the south coast, with no direct access to Interstate highways and no other rail lines, were suddenly without a cost-effective way to get their goods to market.  

The impact of this embargo on my district was swift and far reaching.  The week after the closure, a Georgia-Pacific sawmill temporarily shut down, laying off 120 employees.  The average shipper along the Coos Bay line now pays 10-15 percent more (up to $500,000 a month more) in shipping costs because they have to ship by truck.  Small businesses cannot long survive these increases.  

While there were known problems with the Coos Bay line, CORP never told its customers or the Oregon Department of Transportation that the line had deteriorated so badly an emergency closure might be necessary.  Furthermore, in the ten years RailAmerica owned the line, there was little attempt to make the investments necessary to ensure the continued safe operation of the line.  At the House Rail Subcommittee hearing in March, RailAmerica testified that Fortress Investment did their due diligence and knew full well the state of disrepair of the Coos Bay line when they purchased RailAmerica last year.  It is clear to me that CORP unlawfully embargoed the line with no intention of ever making the necessary repairs to restore service, in violation of its common carrier obligation.  

Last fall, CORP said it would cost approximately $2.9 million to repair three tunnels and reopen the line.  That announcement was soon followed by a CORP proposal to the State noting it 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 pay $4.66 million each to restore the line and provide a large operating subsidy.  I know all the state and local partners  were and are willing to pay more for service, but none of them believes CORP will fulfill its common carrier obligation after the investment is made.  

If CORP was serious about offering service, they would have worked with shippers to fix the line before embargoing it.  RailAmerica had engineering firm Shannon and Wilson conduct a study of the line between March 30 and July 9, 2007.  Seventy-three days later, CORP embargoed the line.  CORP had two and half months to approach shippers about paying increased rates to improve the line. 

CORP’s recent abandonment application is further evidence the company is singularly interested in profits, rather than its common carrier obligation to offer service.  The application proposes the company maintain ownership of a small, but key, segment of the line that runs from Noti to Eugene, though breaking up the line would make future service from the Oregon coast to Union Pacific’s mainline in Eugene impossible. 

The Board should not allow CORP to break up the Coos Bay Line.  In Caddo Antoine and Little Missouri Railroad Company v Surface Transportation Board, the 8th Circuit found that lines historically operated as a single line should be kept as a single line.  I hope the Board follows that precedent.   Additionally, I encourage the Board to order CORP to bring the line back up to FRA Class 2 operation standards before CORP is permitted to benefit from the sale of its assets.

The State of Oregon, shippers, and the Oregon congressional delegation strongly support the Port’s feeder line application.  The Oregon Transportation Commission has agreed to put $4 million toward the purchase and rehabilitation of the Line.  Several shippers have offered letters of credit that could be used in the unlikely event that the Port defaults on its loans.  In addition, I successfully included a provision in H.R. 3248, the SAFETEA-LU Technical Corrections Act of 2007, to transfer $8 million to help the Port of Coos Bay purchase and rehabilitate the Line. 

I originally secured the funding in SAFETEA-LU to help the Port make repairs to a rail bridge on the Line.  However, the Port has made sufficient repairs to extend the life of the bridge another ten years with funding secured by the 1998 highway bill.  Combined with the $4 million in state matching funds, the Port will have access to $12 million to help purchase and rehabilitate the line.  Currently, H.R. 3248 is pending in the Senate, but expected to pass before Congress adjourns for the year in late September.

This abandonment application has far reaching and devastating economic implications for my congressional district.  I thank the Board for traveling to the state for this hearing so all interested parties have the opportunity to provide input.  As I said when I testified before the Board in April, I believe the Board must do more to protect shippers from the improper use of rail embargoes.  It is far too easy for railroads to forgo investing in the maintenance of lines and then to use the deteriorated track as an excuse to embargo.  They create an easy out for filing for abandonment, or, in the case of RailAmerica, for holding a state and shippers hostage until the ransom is paid.

An embargo allows a carrier to suspend its duty to fulfill its common carrier obligation.  A short embargo might be necessary to make repairs, but the Coos Bay line has been embargoed for almost one year.  Other than asking other parties to foot the majority of the bill, CORP and RailAmerica have not done a thing to fix the line.

The shippers in my district made a reasonable request for service.  In the Board’s decision earlier this year directing RailAmerica to prove the embargo of the Coos Bay line is not an unlawful abandonment, it stated a “carrier is not given a free pass to choose not to serve just because of circumstances that make it difficult or expensive to provide service.” 

I ask the Board to use its full authority to reject CORP’s abandonment application, approve the Port’s feeder line application, and quickly re-activate service on this vital rail line.  

Again, thank you for the opportunity to testify in person today.  I would be happy to entertain questions.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Chairman Nottingham, Vice Chairman Mulvey, and Commissioner Buttrey, on behalf of the people of Oregon I would like to thank you for travelling to Oregon to witness firsthand the tremendous impact rail lines have on Oregon families and businesses.  Your presence here is reassuring to the many working people and businesses who need to know their government is working for them. 

During your hearing, you will hear from legislators, industry representatives, and concerned citizens.  What you will hear loud and clear is that jobs, businesses and communities will be greatly impacted by your decisions.  I’m eager to add my voice in support of Oregon families and Oregon businesses.

In previous testimony before the Board, I discussed the common carrier obligation and how the law pertains to the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad, or CORP.  In short, a railroad may not refuse to provide service merely because to do so would be inconvenient or unprofitable.  If CORP has been inconvenienced and unprofitable it’s only because of CORP’s own failure to properly maintain the Coos Bay line.  The shippers have suffered as well and the question now is what do we do about it?

Today we’re here to discuss two very different proposals for solving this problem.  First, CORP would like the board to approve its application to abandon and discontinue service along the Coos Bay Subdivision.  CORP’s short-sighted plan now is to sell the real estate along the Coos Bay line to the highest bidders.  They also want to remove the steel rails and sell them for scrap.  It appears CORP is once again trying to have its way with the hardworking men and women of Oregon’s South Coast.

It might make business sense to a hedge fund in New York, but it’s an assault on their common carrier obligation as we understand it.  Many towns in Oregon and in the western United States grew up around railroads.  Rail service enabled businesses to grow and communities to flourish.  And now CORP wants to put that growth and that prosperity at risk.  After hearing testimony from all sides of the issue, you will have the opportunity to help rein in this kind of abuse.  

This tactic of salting the earth is disturbing and should be seen for what it is:  one more way to wring every last dime out of a rail system that CORP failed to maintain from the beginning.  No shipper, no business, and no family should suffer because CORP and its parent companies made a deliberate decision to fail.

The other issue before you today is an application from the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay to require CORP to sell that portion of the line and an additional segment to the Port.  It’s important to be clear here – the Port isn’t asking CORP to just hand over the line.  The price they’re offering is fair for a rail line that has fallen into disrepair and disuse.  The Port will incur significant costs to bring it up to operating standards.  This is no bargain, but it is a lifeline.

Without this lifeline, Oregon’s South Coast businesses will have only limited and prohibitively expensive truck access to main rail lines in Eugene.  Shipping via truck is not an economically sound alternative to rail.  The application to purchase the line should be considered the most equitable solution to this problem.

These two issues are incredibly important to the economic survival of the South Coast and for the wellbeing of all of the people of Oregon.  It’s been almost a year since CORP first closed this critical shipping line and the effect has been overwhelmingly negative.  Without rail transportation, businesses that relied on rail had to ship their goods and materials by truck.  Soaring gas prices haven’t just created a pinch – they’ve created a suffocating squeeze that many shippers have had difficulty overcoming. 

Here in Oregon, an efficient transportation infrastructure is the lifeblood of our economy.  Across the United States, short line railroads save shippers 20% to 50% compared to truck transportation.  They also take 30 million truckloads per year off the highway, saving an estimated $1.3 billion per year in highway damage costs.  Compared to trucking, short line railroads save 356 million gallons of fuel each year. 

In today’s environment of crumbling infrastructure and wildly fluctuating fuel prices, we need more efficiency, not less.  Generally, that’s what railroads provide.  Many railroads are reporting record profits, reinvesting in their infrastructure, and doing an excellent job of serving the American economy and the American people.

Unfortunately, in Oregon, we’ve suffered as CORP has attempted to embargo and abandon lines, and reduce and restrict service.  This final gambit seems more motivated by spite and profit than by any sense of obligation to the people of Oregon who have acted in good faith over the years in partnership with the railroads.   CORP’s actions run directly counter to their obligations as railroad owners.

The Port of Coos Bay has a vision.  They hope to purchase the line, see that it’s returned to a usable condition, and turn it into a vibrant economic engine for the South Coast of Oregon.  To do this, they’ve offered $9.8 million and have asked the Board to require CORP to repair the tunnels they so clearly failed to maintain.

We all understand what’s at stake here.  It goes well beyond who loses money or who makes a profit.  Those are short term issues.  What’s really at stake are the people who stand to lose everything.  Their livelihoods and their communities are at stake.  These are the things that matter.  CORP has extracted all of the money it can from these good people and it’s time to put an end to this. 

I appreciate the Board’s decision to hold this hearing in Oregon.  I trust you will see that Oregonians, like all other Americans, want nothing more than a fair chance.  I look forward to hearing from the Board and will help in any way I can to make this transfer a reality. 

I’m asking you, the members of the Board, to approve the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay application to purchase these rail lines.  An affirmative decision on this application will produce untold benefits to thousands of honest, hardworking Oregonians, and it will send a powerful message to those who run their businesses in this manner.