SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Salt Lake City has been trounced — twice — in its efforts to keep Union Pacific freight trains from rumbling down 900 South.
Still, Mayor Rocky Anderson is determined to pursue his long shot — appealing to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver.
“We’re absolutely committed — at least the administration is — to appealing,” Anderson said. “We’re in the process of perfecting the appeals.”
In August, when he learned the Omaha, Neb.-based railroad intended to run up to 10 freight trains a day through the west-side neighborhoods of Poplar Grove and Glendale, the mayor yanked the company’s contract to cross city streets. Union Pacific appealed to the federal Surface Transportation Board. And the city sued in U.S. District Court.
Earlier this month, Salt Lake City lost both cases. Federal railroad regulators brushed off the city and, a week later, U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart acknowledged the near-sovereignty of the railroad company.
After the losses, Anderson met with Union Pacific officials last week to reopen negotiations. “Our first preference is to get the line entirely off 900 South,” he said. “But if we can’t win this 100 percent, we’ll see what we can do to ameliorate the impacts on these neighbors.”
He would not reveal what was discussed, but options include installing sound walls, cutting evening train traffic and establishing a no-whistle “quiet zone” over the line.
Some City Council members question the wisdom of fighting a seemingly doomed legal struggle. Salt Lake City already has spent nearly $150,000 to hire Washington, D.C., attorney Charles Spitulnik to argue the city’s case before the Surface Transportation Board and to hire a city paralegal to prepare future railroad franchise agreements.
Anderson insists the appeals’ cost will be relatively cheap.
He figures the city would pay Spitulnik just $2,000 to $4,000 to refine the STB appeal. And in-house city attorneys would handle the appeal of Stewart’s ruling. He hopes to consolidate the two cases in Denver.