The cold, hard facts about the future of transportation in Humboldt County Ms. Karen Brook’s recent “My Word” (“Harboring new hope for Humboldt Bay,” Times-Standard, Jan. 26, Page A4) is optimistic and commendable. However, her article does not address the real issues as to why there is no port and probably never will be for Humboldt Bay. There is a necessary course of investigation to follow before making any project decision related to port development. The subject of shipping economics — what type of port is to be developed for Humboldt Bay? The second question relates to the quality of the area transportation infrastructure, which includes the important factors of time and cost. All west coast ports from Long Beach to Tacoma have excellent rail connections to their ports and the rest of the country. A dock infrastructure can no longer be built to attract the type of commerce that is being proposed. There must be a firm business commitment before any facility development takes place. In the late 1980s, the Port Authority of San Francisco paid over $40 million to construct a loading dock with all the infrastructure, including loading cranes. What would be the cost today? As noted earlier, transportation is key to any harbor- port development. Since this interest has come to the fore, suggestions have been made to construct an eastwest railroad from Red Bluff Eureka using the alignment proposed by J.W. Lentell a century ago. This is a prime example of ignoring the economic feasibility and reality of providing and maintaining rail service to our coastal area. A harbor revitalization plan and railroad feasibility study was completed in 2002 and 2003 by an outside national consulting firm specializing in this type of study. The studies were supported and paid for by the Humboldt Bay Harbor and Recreation District, the city of Eureka and Humboldt County. The year 1991 witnessed the peak of waterborne commerce. By 2002, the date of the study, it had dropped to one-third of former volume. With the closing of the pulp mills and continuing reduction of timber availability from Six Rivers National Forest, reduction in commerce has been dramatic. What is the east-west railroad going to carry that will generate the revenues necessary to serve the capital costs and maintenance of such a railroad? There is simply no development between Eureka and Red Bluff! A new railroad would cost millions of dollars if it could achieve regulatory permitting approval, a permitting process involving at least seven to eight state and federal jurisdictions. This in itself could take a decade or more, costing millions of dollars, and most probably would fail. A major setback to our economy was the loss of thousands of timber-related jobs with the expansion of the Redwood National Park. A stated position of our federal government at the congressional public hearing in Eureka at the time was to commit over 300 million board feet of timber per year from Six Rivers National Forest to compensate for the loss of redwood timber with the park’s expansion. This commitment was made by former Congressman John Burton from San Francisco, who headed the congressional delegation along with our own former 1st District Congressman Don Clausen. It is my understanding that during this past year, little more than 10 million board feet of timber was removed. What happened to the congressional commitment? The current proposals “to develop a port that never will be,” and “build a railroad to nowhere” are bad ideas that lack realism and would waste taxpayers’ (grant) money and energy. A concluding thought: Effort should be directed to improve an existing transportation artery — Highway 299 which connects Highway 101 and Interstate 5 at Redding. Hit a home run instead of singles. This is the best way to enhance commercial transportation for this area. Thomas Hannah is a former Eureka City Councilman who resides in Rohnert Park. Opinions expressed in My Word pieces do not necessarily reflect the editorial viewpoint of the Times- Standard.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 13:05:07 +0000
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