SMART to regain authority over LPG tankers

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit is regaining its authority over whether potentially-hazardous liquid petroleum gas (LPG) tankers are stored on SMART rail lines in Schellville.

The rail-transit agency is negotiating a deal to buy out the Northwestern Pacific Railroad’s (NWP) contract to operate freight hauling south of the Sonoma-Mendocino county line, according to SMART General Manager Farhad Mansourian.

The move would give SMART the final say as to whether the LPG tankers can be stored during the winter months on tracks at the south end of Sonoma Valley, an area subject to frequent flooding during heavy rains.

“For the first time in SMART’s history, we now own everything from the Sonoma-Mendocino line south,” Mansourian announced in a Zoom meeting with local stakeholders Monday. “No other private agency has control, or an easement, on us and we run all freight and passenger (service).”

Northwestern Pacific Railroad has been under contract to run freight services for the North Coast Railroad Authority (NCR), which has owned the right-of-way to tracks in Sonoma, Marin, Humboldt, Trinity and Mendocino counties. On Sept. 30, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 69, which dissolves NCR, effective March 1, 2022, transitioning it into the Great Redwood Trail Agency.

Mansourian will present the broader details of the deal with NWP at a regular meeting of the SMART board of directors on Wednesday, Nov. 17.

The storing of as many as 80 LPG tankers at a time on tracks in Schellville has been a point of contention with area residents and SMART officials since the NWP tankers were first rolled onto the tracks in 2016. Critics of storing the gas tankers in the area called it a threat to public safety; SMART said it violated terms of agreement with NWP not to store hazardous materials on its tracks.

“It floods in Schellville a lot and the train has been moved around (to avoid the water),” 1st District Supervisor Susan Gorin said Monday, echoing the opposition she’s voiced over the years about the tankers. “It’s a very fragile wetlands area.”

In 2017, the federal Surface Transportation Board – the agency that regulates freight rail — sided with NWP in the dispute over the tankers. Concerned the ruling could lead to LPG storage across all its lines, SMART cut a deal with the freight-hauling company to only store the tankers in the southern Sonoma Valley area, away from any passenger service.

But legislation introduced in 2018 by state Sen. Mike McGuire – which was dubbed the Great Redwood Trail Act – led to the dissolution of the NCR and freed up $4 million in state funds for SMART to buy out NWP’s freight-hauling rights, according to Mansourian.

While no action will be taken at the Wednesday meeting, Mansourian said the SMART board will ultimately have three options regarding what to do about the LPG tankers: stop storing LPG and lose the $500,000 in revenue; continue storing LPG; or announce a transition period in which SMART agrees with refineries to store the LPG to 2025, while it seeks alternate ways to make up the eventual loss of LPG revenue.

SMART will also have to decide whether it wants to operate freight hauling on its lines itself, or contract with a private company. “If the board decides to get rid of LPG, the number of private companies wanting to run freight will be pretty small,” cautioned Mansourian.

David Rabbitt, 2nd District supervisor and chair of the SMART board, said he’s “looking forward” to the discussion on the fate of the LPG tankers and is glad “we have more options going forward.”

The SMART board meeting takes place Wednesday, Nov. 17, at 1:30 p.m. Visit sonomamarintrain.org/district-calendar for the Zoom link.

The meeting marks Mansourian’s last with SMART; the longtime general manager earlier this year announced plans to retire. Eddy Cumins will join SMART as its new general manager at the end of November.

Email Jason Walsh at jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.

(Note: An incorrect price for SMART’s buyout of the NWP contract was cited in an earlier version of this story. The correct number is $4 million.)