Whereas, an anonymous corporation based in Wyoming has recently submitted paperwork to the federal Surface Transportation Board objecting to the railbanking of the Great Redwood Trail line, saying they intend to purchase the railroad; and

Whereas, it has been widely reported and corroborated that this secret corporation is intending to use the railroad to transport coal mined in the Midwest; and

Whereas, this company intends to transport this coal across the state of California to Marin County, and then haul it north through Sonoma, Mendocino, Trinity, and Humboldt counties to the port of Humboldt; and

Whereas, coal is one of the single biggest contributors to climate change; and

Whereas, the burning of coal is responsible for nearly 50% of the carbon dioxide emissions worldwide, and accounts for over 70% of the greenhouse has emissions from all electrical generation; and 

Whereas, coal contributes to a staggering health crisis which experts estimate leads to over 13,000 premature deaths, 200,000 asthma attacks, and more than $100 billion in health care costs each year in the United States alone; and 

Whereas, according to railroad studies, somewhere between five hundred to two thousand pounds of coal and coal dust can escape from every single loaded train car; and

Whereas, loose coal can cause devastating impacts to our drinking water, watersheds and surrounding environment; and

Whereas, coal dust can cause devastating disease in humans and animals, cause spontaneous fires, and degrade and destabilize the rail bed; and

Whereas, the Russian and Eel Rivers supply drinking water to nearly one million people of Northern California, and habitat for numerous threatened and endangered species; now

Therefore be it resolved that for the above stated reasons and more, shipping coal through California’s North Coast endangers all living things; and 

Be it resolved further resolved that the Sonoma County Democratic Party hereby notifies the Surface Transportation Board of our strong opposition to this application and declares that it should be rejected outright.

Resolution adopted by the Sonoma County Democratic Party on September 14, 2021