Photo provided/Brendan Wiltse Photography
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) has appealed to the federal Surface Transportation Board to prevent the Saratoga & North Creek Railway from storing unused rail cars in the Adirondack Park.
ELIZABETHTOWN | U.S. Sen. Charles “Chuck” Schumer has become the latest lawmaker to blast the storage of unused rail cars in the Adirondacks.
The Adirondack Park, said the New York senator, is “just about the worst place one can imagine for a junkyard of old railcars.”
Schumer sent a letter to the federal Surface Transportation Board last Friday asking the agency to “use every power and authority it has" to prevent the Saratoga and North Creek Railway from storing up to 2,000 rail cars on the tracks between Newcomb and North Creek.
“Legitimate rail operations are an important part of our economy,” Schumer wrote, “but using an old rail line in the middle of a state park to store outdated tanker cars is an unacceptable outcome and must be prohibited.”
The counsel for Iowa Pacific Holdings, SNCR’s parent company, did not respond to an email seeking comment on Tuesday.
Schumer’s letter comes a month after the Union Tank Car Company, a subsidiary of the Warren Buffett-owned Berkshire Hathaway, announced they would remove 65 cars following threats of legal action from the state.
The railway’s decision to store up to 2,000 cars on the Tahawus Line have been a lightning rod since the cars began arriving last October, with environmental groups and local officials mobilizing against the measure, which SNCR said is necessary to generate revenue.
Schumer’s overture to the federal agency marks a sharp reversal from his previous role as a cheerleader for reopening the corridor.
The senator in 2012 was a leading voice for offering tax credits to the railroad for infrastructure improvement projects, as well to renew SNCR’s common carrier status, a measure that allowed the reopening of the shuttered line.
But plans to transport tailings from a former mine, which was once predicted to jumpstart the local economy and create jobs, failed to materialize, Schumer admitted.
“Although I, along with several surrounding communities, supported the railroad’s request to resume operations on the basis of legitimate rail service, the activities the railroad now seeks to pursue are antithetical to active railroad operations and pose a serious environmental hazard,” Schumer wrote.
Railways officials have argued the cars — including tankers once used to transport hazardous substances like crude oil and ethanol — have been cleaned beforehand and pose no risks.
Minerva Supervisor Stephen McNally said he was encouraged at the broadening coalition forming to combat the proposal.
“A lot of people are working together to get these rail cars removed,” McNally told The Sun.
The controversy, he said, has generated discussion for possible alternative uses for the corridor, including commercial space at the former iron mine and conversion of the tracks to a rail trail operation.
“Maybe this is something we needed to get everyone together and move forward,” McNally said.
Green groups praised the senator’s involvement.
“We are very grateful to Sen. Schumer for this effort,” said Adirondack Council Executive Director William C. Janeway in a statement. “As an early supporter of the railroad’s original plans to haul rock on this line, it matters that he is now asking the same regulators to stop the railroad from dumping oil tankers here.”
As U.S. Minority Leader, his opinion adds “substantial weight” to the formal complaint filed by New York State officials, Janeway said.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation issued a cease-and-desist letter to Iowa Pacific last December demanding the Chicago-based firm remove the cars.
The state also filed a formal motion with the federal Surface Transportation Board.
IPH responded by telling the state they should purchase their interest in the freight easement if they wanted the cars gone, an amount the railway estimated at between $4 million and $5 million.
SNCR would require the purchase price reflects a recoupment of its investment, including the costs of “hiring hundreds of workers over the years despite a negative working capital,” said David Michaud, the railway’s counsel.
“Short of such an agreement, however, SNCR will continue to store rail cars on its line, and in fact, has plans to bring in hundreds of more cars over the next few months,” he said.
Moriah Supervisor Tom Scozzafava shook his head over the controversy.
“I grew up on the main line right on Lake Champlain, and for years, trucks and equipment have been stored in the Port Henry area and it has never been an issue,” Scozzafava told The Sun.
The lawmaker questioned if the chain reaction to the plan would set a precedent when it comes to other businesses that have to store equipment along rail corridors.
“I understand and respect where the other groups are coming from, but the bottom line, it it’s a railroad,” Scozzafava said. “My understanding is that the cars have been cleaned and the revenue from storing the cars is needed in order to continue to operate and if the state or federal government do not want them to be there, then the railroad would have to close.”
