Updates: November 27, 2007

November 27, 2007

About a year and a half ago State Representative Susan Morgan (R-Roseburg) convened a committee that has become the Task Force on Economic Growth through Transportation. I have been a member of this task force and attended a meeting held in Roseburg today.

Transportation funding has been a critically important part of the agenda we have been advocating for on your behalf. Historically, most of the work has taken place during the biennial legislative sessions, but given the fact that an increase in transportation funding has not been approved in recent legislative sessions, more discussion is taking place during the interim to plan a strategic course of action for the 2009 legislative session.

Today’s Task Force meeting addressed the following subjects:

1. Port of Coos Bay Cargo Facility Update – Jeff Bishop, Port of Coos Bay Executive Director told the group that discussion with the shipping company is going very well. When asked when a final decision is likely to be made, he informed us that talks, while productive, have slowed a little due to a softening of the shipping market on the West Coast and the closure of the rail line into Coos Bay. He did not elaborate on the rail issue on the advice of legal counsel because of the lawsuit the port has filed against the Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad (CORP).

2. ’09 Federal Transportation Reauthorization Bill – Chris Conroy from Rep. Peter DeFazio’s office indicated that the Congressman is working very hard on this piece of legislation. The federal highway trust fund is literally scheduled to be spent down by 2009. The result of spending down the trust fund is an end to federal highway appropriations to Oregon, or any other state for that matter. Congressman DeFazio’s office said that the he will be ramping up the hearings on this bill in 2008. To get more money into the much-needed trust fund can only happen with some kind of an increase in revenues to that fund. This would likely be the result of an increase in federal gas taxes.

3. FRA (Federal Rail Administration) Report on the CORP Tunnels – Chris Conroy reported on the results of the FRA report. The report generally backs up the position of the CORP that the tunnels are a safety hazard and the closure was justified. Congressman DeFazio is not happy about the way CORP, or their parent company RailAmerica, closed the line to Coos Bay so abruptly. There was a great deal of discussion in the group as to the actions of the CORP. A good deal of frustration was expressed and the representatives from CORP had very little to say.

4. Rail Deregulation – An overview of regulatory tools and oversight – discussion CANCELLED.

5. CORP Plan to Re-open the tunnels – discussion CANCELLED.

6. Winchester Rail Yard Current Status – Mike Baker (ODOT) reported that that Connect Oregon I assets for this project have be frozen. This is a CORP project that won a Connect Oregon I grant in the amount of $7.7 million. ODOT froze the assets until the Coos Bay rail line closure has been satisfactorily resolved.

7. Connect Oregon II Update – The 2007 Legislature approved another round of Connect Oregon grants totaling $100 million. Applications for these grants are in and the process is moving forward according to the timeline set forth by ODOT.

8. Future Directions & Next Steps – There was general discussion about continuing the task force, and, if so, what topics might be discussed in the future. A whole host of items came up in the discussion and group has decided to continue meeting. The point was made that this is a unique group in that it has representatives from Jackson, Josephine, Douglas, Coos and Curry counties to collaboratively discuss multi-modal transportation issues of benefit to Southwest Oregon and to the state as a whole.

If you have any questions about this or any other issue, please do not hesitate to call my office.

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