Loomis officials discuss trains with toxic materials riding through town

Toxic materials are routinely shipped via railroad through Loomis and there is little anyone here can do about it, local officials said last week. After the Ohio train disaster last month, at least one local resident is concerned about freight train safety in the Loomis Basin. During the public comment session of the monthly Loomis Town Council meeting March 14, Loomis resident Deborah Grinder addressed the council members about the issue. Nearly 40 rail cars on a Norfolk Southern Railroad train fell off the tracks Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio. The crash caused a fire and spilled hundreds of thousands of gallons of hazardous chemicals into the surrounding area. Grinder asked the Loomis Town Council, "Do we know if dangerous chemicals are being transported through our town?" Grinder also asked who to contact. "I would not be surprised that we have some sort of chemicals traveling by, if you just look at some of the containers," said Loomis Town Manger Sean Rabe. "But we don't get a manifest or anything." Rabe said it's a homeland security issue. "UP (Union Pacific) isn't going to say, 'Hey, tomorrow at 4:30, we're going to have a big thing of gas come through.' Because it's a safety issue, a potential terrorist thing," Rabe said. The town manager said the town has contacted Union Pacific on a number of occasions for various matters but the Placer County Sheriff's Office would likely have safety protocol information. "Railroads stand by the viewpoint that they were here before the state was and they were certainly here before Loomis was. So UP has an outside influence on what they do along the rails," Rabe said. Echoed Loomis town attorney Jeff Mitchell, "Federal law preempts local and state regulation almost exclusively in regards to shipping and use of the rail line," For example, the Auburn Journal reported in 2010 that the railroad corporation is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act but Union Pacific locomotives comply with all federal air-emission standards. "Loomis is not large enough to make any demands anyway," said council member David Ring. "Would SACOG (Sacramento Area Council of Governments) have enough pull if we went through them? I mean, who would?" Mitchell said that size doesn't matter. "It really doesn't matter how big the organization is who asks. UP will provide whatever information it feels comfortable providing. But we have no ability to regulate what is shipped through Loomis, unfortunately," Mitchell said. Grinder also mentioned the gas pipeline through town. "Do we all realize the gas transmission line running the length of Pacific and Taylor (Road) is the largest size used by the gas company to deliver natural gas?" she said. "Considering the close proximity of the Taylor-Pacific highway to the railroad tracks, this could spell disaster for our community." Loomis town engineer Merrill Buck explained that PG&E "came through town" with a major retrofit of the gas line in 2021. Buck said PG&E used a robotic contraption called a "pig" loaded with cameras and diagnostic equipment that measures pipe thickness and stress points. "They have gone through and done what they can to make that line as safe as possible," Buck said. Union Pacific spokesperson Robyn Tysver said this week that the Omaha, Nebraska-based rail corporation shares the same goals as customers and the community: to deliver every "tank car" safely. "As a common carrier, we are required by federal law to transport chemicals and other hazardous commodities that Americans use daily, including fertilizer, ethanol, crude oil and chlorine. It is important to remember that 99.9 percent of all hazardous material shipments by rail reach their destination safely," Tysver said this week via email. Tysver could not give an estimate on the number of daily trains through Loomis. But Union Pacific in 2010 estimated 25 to 40 freight trains would pass through Auburn daily after "double-tracking" and "double-stacking" work was done on the Sierra line, according to Gold Country Media news archives.