Capdiamont’s Weblog

November 10, 2009

To All Interested Parties:

The Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) for the North Coast Railroad Authority Project (SCH 2007072052) has been issued for public comments. Since the March 9, 2009 DEIR was circulated, new information that is considered significant has been made available. In accordance with CEQA 15088.5, the March 9, 2009 DEIR is being revised and recirculated to provide the public with the opportunity to comment on the revisions. Because the new information affected numerous sections throughout the document, the entire DEIR is being recirculated.

Previous comments on the March 9, 2009 DEIR will still be considered part of the public record, but written responses to these comments will not be included in the final EIR. The public is therefore advised to submit new comments on the revised DEIR.

The following provides a summary of the primary areas where the March 9, 2009 DEIR was revised:
• Since the March 9, 2009 DEIR was circulated, the NCRA Board approved its final Trail Guidelines. These guidelines are significantly different than the draft Northwestern Pacific Railroad Company (NWP Co.) Trail Guidelines that were used in the March 9, 2009 Public Safety analysis. The final NCRA Trail Guidelines are available on the NCRA web page.
• The March 9, 2009 DEIR identified BMPs as mitigation measures, but did not include a copy of them in the document. It was originally felt that since the agencies would be reviewing the BMPs prior to operations, it was not critical that they be included in the DEIR. NCRA has finalized its BMPs and these are now included in Appendix A of the revised DEIR.
• NCRA’s current operator is NWP Co.; however, since it is feasible that a different operator could at some point operate on the rail line, the revised DEIR includes or references NCRA’s plans and procedures instead of NWP Co. specific plans and procedures. It is understood that any operator will be required to follow NCRA’s plans and procedures.
• Detailed discussion was included in the cumulative section regarding the operating agreement between NCRA and SMART. Many of these details are still being discussed; therefore, they have been removed from the cumulative section. The combined operations of the passenger and freight trains will be in compliance with FRA safety regulations.
• The NCRA Rehabilitation of the rail line from Lombard to Windsor was included as a cumulative project.

This document represents the revised DEIR which is currently being recirculated for public review and comment.
Publication of this DEIR marks the beginning of a 45-day public review period, during which written comments may be submitted to the NCRA at the following address:

Written comments may be submitted to the following addresses:
North Coast Railroad Authority
419 Talmage Road, Suite M
Ukiah, CA 95482
mitch.stogner@northcoastrailroad.org

To conserve resources, this DEIR is being distributed primarily on computer disk. The DEIR will be available as of November 11, 2009 at the North Coast Railroad Authority website at www.northcoastrailroad.org. The review period for this DEIR is November 10, 2009 to December 31, 2009.

Copies of the DEIR (hard copy of the Executive Summary and a CD for computer viewing of the remainder of the document) may also be reviewed at the following libraries:

Marin Civic Center Library
3501 Civic Center Drive #427
San Rafael, CA 94903

Sonoma County Library
211 E Street
Santa Rosa, CA 95404

Mendocino County Library
105 N. Main Street
Ukiah, CA 95482

Humboldt County Library
1313 Third St
Eureka CA 95501