(The following story by James Gilbert and Sarah Reyolds appeared on the Yuma Sun website on May 1.)
YUMA, Ariz. — Local officials have expressed mixed reactions about the proposed Union Pacific railroad that would possibly extend from Yuma to a planned port in Punta Colonet, Baja Calif.
The Sun reported in August 2006 that Union Pacific had started studying the possibility of laying new tracks through Yuma to carry goods from the megaport.
The report has caused controversy, support and the formation of community organizations to study the issue.
Now that Union Pacific officials have shut the door on Yuma County and the possibility of a new rail line, here is what local officials and residents have to say:
“I’m surprised … especially after all the effort and dollars they put into it,” said Ken Rosevear, executive director of the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce. “But I also know it was controversial and it would have been a long, hard project to pull off.”
Rosevear is also on the board of directors of Arizona Common Sense, a local group formed to study the issue. He said their group was never opposed to the line itself, just the direction it was taking.
“We (Arizona Common Sense) did not oppose the railroad. We opposed the proposed routes,” Rosevear said.
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Chris Camacho, president and chief executive officer of Greater Yuma Economic Development Corp., said he hoped this wasn’t the loss of a major opportunity for Yuma.
“This project ultimately had international and national implications, from a logistics perspective,” Camacho said. “This rail line would have potentially offered our community – our region – a significant logistics opportunity for future jobs.”
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Yuma Deputy Mayor Al Krieger said he thought this was purely a business decision on the part of Union Pacific.
“Union Pacific can do what Union Pacific does,” Krieger said. “I think the economy of Yuma is strong and it’s going to continue to be strong.”
He added that another railroad company picking up the project may be possible.
“Just because Union Pacific pulls out doesn’t mean another railroad might not come through. There were lots of bidders on the project … I wouldn’t say the issue is dead. We’ll just have to wait and see at this point,” Krieger said.
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“First of all, I think the community was fairly divided over what was going to occur, if indeed the railroad did find a route that came through,” said Yuma County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Casey Prochaska. “The positives are, a lot of people in Yuma County learned how to communicate … I think if we have future types of issues like this, with people looking at things that are going to impact our community, that we’ll have a better communication.”
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Somerton City Manager Cliff O’Neil said Union Pacific’s abandonment of the plan ended the city’s concerns about it.
“It won’t affect us at all. If they were going to commit, it was going to affect us but now that they’re not, it won’t,” he said. “Our city council had expressed a concern about it splitting south county in half, and geographically separating us from San Luis (Ariz.) … That problem solves itself, I guess.”
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San Luis, Ariz., City Administrator Lee Maness said this was probably, overall, a good thing for southern Yuma County.
“I think they were going to face very strong opposition from the environmentalists, from the agriculture growers and even some of the workers. Because that was their livelihood, working here in that valley. I don’t know if that would have survived the obstacles they would have come up against,” Maness said. “For southern Yuma County, I think that’s probably best that it not be located here.”
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State Rep. Lynne Pancrazi, D-Yuma, who sponsored a bill this legislative session in response to the railroad company’s plan to build a line through the Yuma area, said she was disappointed by Union Pacific’s announcement.
“It’s an opportunity we won’t have now,” Pancrazi said in a telephone interview from her office at the state capitol. “But there will be other economic development opportunities for Yuma.”
Pancrazi, who first learned of Union Pacific’s plan while attending a farm bureau meeting during her campaign, went on to say she was not against the railroad coming to Yuma, she just wanted the public to be involved in the decision-making process and the route not to go through any farmland.
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Mack Luckie, executive director of the Yuma Metropolitan Planning Organization, called Union Pacific’s announcement a “loss for Yuma.”
“It’s my personal opinion that anything that brings economic growth to our area is a good thing,” Luckie said. “I would liked to have seen it come through because it gave us some real opportunities that we are going to miss now.”
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Mark Spencer, owner of Associated Citrus Packers Inc., said he was pleased to learn that Union Pacific had abandoned its plans to bid on the proposed railroad project.
“I think this is not just good news for the agricultural community, but the entire community,” Spencer said. “I think Yuma will have many opportunities in the future to take advantage of our water and labor resources toward economic development for the entire community, but we need to be more selective toward those opportunities. And this was not a good one. There will be others that will be much better.”
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As the chairman of the board for the Greater Yuma Port Authority, Gary Magrino said he was disappointed over the potential economic benefits to the county that have been lost as a result of Union Pacific’s decision. Magrino has known about the proposed project for roughly three years.
Specifically, Magrino cited the potential for added rail support for south county, saying the railroad company’s decision basically ends any possibility of that happening now.
“If Union Pacific isn’t going to risk their capital to do it, no railroad will,” Magrino said. “If they don’t bring the tracks in, it will never happen.”
Magrino explained that the Yuma area only has limited access to the Sunset Route, which is owned by Union Pacific, so by not getting the additional railway tracks the project would have required, the area won’t ever get any better access to its railway system.
He added that he thinks the Punta Colonet project will still happen given that the nation’s deep water ports in the western states that have rail access are operating at full capacity, but Yuma won’t be a part of it.
Magrino said that if the train would have made a stop in Yuma County, the railroad company would have built a facility here, which would have been another economic boon to the area. It would also have been a significant opportunity to create future jobs.
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Yuman Kari Peterson, who was out shopping Tuesday evening at Yuma Palms Regional Center, thinks Union Pacific’s announcement came as bad news for the area.
“If it is going to help our economy, it should be built,” she said.
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While he didn’t have an opinion about the railroad’s decision, George Vogt who was shopping at Yuma Palms Tuesday afternoon, spoke from a strictly economic standpoint saying, “Anything that affects the economy in any way, especially if it’s going to be bad, should be rethought.”