(The following story by Joe Follick appeared on the Ocala Star-Banner website on February 4, 2009.)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — With a well-orchestrated political blast, Gov. Charlie Crist pushed hard on Wednesday for the controversial approval of a $641 million deal to build a commuter rail line through greater Orlando.
The proposal was stymied in the Legislature last year due to concerns about the cost, increased freight train traffic in surrounding areas including Alachua, Marion and Polk counties, and questions over the state’s commitment to paying legal damages for accidents caused by freight operator CSX Transportation.
But those controversies were absent from Crist’s sunny appraisal of the plan on Wednesday at a press conference.
“Who can be against SunRail?” Crist asked as he motioned toward the Central Florida Commuter Rail Project’s new logo and name. “I mean, come on. It helps the economy, it helps transportation, it helps people move around in a way which is more clean.”
Crist even suggested the plan would “lift spirits” of Floridians as he pooh-poohed last year’s defeat.
“This year, we’re going to make it go,” said Crist, who kept a low profile during the taut lobbying battle in that dominated the 2008 legislative session. But the only significant change is the dropping of a provision that would have made the state liable for damages incurred by contractors working on the railroad and paid by FDOT.
That “indemnification” would have limited payments to victims of accidents or negligence, and it brought down the wrath of Florida’s powerful trial lawyer lobbying corps last year to snuff the deal. The trial lawyers have said that with the provision gone they will stay out of this year’s legislative fight.
In 2007, the Florida Department of Transportation and CSX Transportation agreed to a deal that bought 61.5 miles of the company’s rail line between DeLand and Poinciana for a state-run commuter rail line to begin operating in 2010.
The state has claimed the cost of the rail line came at a below-market rate. To offset the difference, the agreed to pay for improvements to CSX freight lines running from Jacksonville through Gainesville, Ocala and Lakeland to accommodate traffic displaced from the state-run commuter line.
The state is also paying for a new CSX hub in Winter Haven. The only thing lawmakers need to approve to complete the deal is a “no fault” plan that would make the company and the state responsible for their own equipment, employees and passengers regardless of who caused an accident.
To help offset that legal cost, CSX had agreed to pay the state $10 million per year to use the new commuter line for its own freight traffic up to 12 hours per day. With the trial lawyer lobbyists sitting this battle out for now, the primary opposition may come from Lakeland Republican Sen. Paula Dockery who said the plan is a bad one for Florida.
“The deal was negotiated very poorly and puts the taxpayers of the state in a very risky situation,” she said.
“I just can’t see that there are (legislators) who want to face the voters and say, “I just transferred the liability of a very profitable for-profit company on to you.’” Dockery said the price-per-mile for the state of more than $10 million is the highest in the nation’s history, though that figure doesn’t account for some variables including the cost for locating the line through the heart of Orlando.
The Dockery vs. SunRail battle is entering its second year with nerves clearly frazzled.
“I don’t anticipate ever hearing something positive from Sen. Dockery,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, a former state senator. Backing the plan in the Legislature are a number of the most powerful GOP lawmakers who will run the House and Senate over the next few years.
After last year’s defeat in the Legislature, the SunRail backers have polished their public relations plan, pitching the project as an economic stimulus and a critical first step to spread the environmentally conscious mass transit around the state. But FDOT has no long-term plans for connecting cities and beyond a moderately-used line in South Florida, the state is far behind other states in commuter rail systems.
Both sides agree that if the Legislature doesn’t sign off on the CSX demand for legal protections, the federal government will probably drop its share of funding.
Lost amid the Tallahassee tussling are the concerns of western Polk County residents that the plan will divert freight traffic through downtown Lakeland and surrounding areas. SunRail proponents have only promised to consider optional routes to the north and west of the city at some point in the future.
“It’s more sound bites than it is actually solving the problem,” said Dockery. The proposal, Senate Bill 1212, will likely sail through committees stacked with central Florida lawmakers before facing a tough fight on the Senate floor. The House easily passed the plan last year.