PHOENIX — Union Pacific's plan to build a rail yard near Picacho Peak could lose some steam under a new bill being pushed by a Tucson lawmaker.
The proposed legislation Rep. Jonathan Paton, a Republican, expects to introduce Wednesday would create a process much like what is used to approve construction of other utilities.
If passed, the bill would require Union Pacific to make its case to the Arizona Corporation Commission and possibly meet tougher environmental regulations.
The legislative involvement is in response to several railroad fights around the state, most notably a proposed 1,500-acre switch yard near Picacho Peak, a popular landmark between Tucson and Phoenix.
The specific wording of Paton's bill is still being hammered out, but the idea is to give the Corporation Commission power over deciding whether a railroad can use state land and also whether the railroad can exercise its condemnation power to acquire property.
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Unlike other utilities, which are regulated by the state, railroad construction is mainly dealt with on the federal level. Paton and others say the state should have more authority over the process.
"For every other kind of infrastructure, no matter what it is, you would have to have some kind of process," Paton said. "Whether it is right or wrong that they are putting it there, they should at least have some input from the neighbors more than they're having."
Union Pacific, which wants to buy 1,500 acres of state trust land near the peak to build the sixth-largest rail yard in the country, says it's already listening to the community, despite cries from area residents and business owners who worry about the negative health and economic impacts a rail yard might create.
In November, the Pinal County Board of Supervisors voted to change the county's comprehensive land-use plan to accommodate the rail yard. The county sees the project as a major boon to the area, which will need jobs to employ thousands of new residents that housing developments are attracting.
Environmentalists and state park officials had urged the board to turn down or delay Union Pacific's push to buy the state land. One issue is the yard's proximity to the Central Arizona Project canal.
But county and railroad officials say the rail yard is needed to accommodate the influx of freight traffic caused by new growth.
Behind the bill is Marana Vice Mayor Herb Kai, who leases most of the land Union Pacific is looking to buy from the state. Kai runs a cotton and pecan farm on the property.
"We don't want to stop the project, but we think there might be a better place," he said. "The railroad is such a big giant right now, they don't really need to answer to anyone."
Union Pacific points to the Surface Transportation Board, a federal entity charged with railroad oversight.
"This would be pre-emptive," Union Pacific spokes-man Mark Davis said of Paton's bill. "When you start down a path where each state wants its own process, you get a patchwork of varying regulations that would make it difficult for the industry to exist."
But lobbyist Nick Simonetta, who represents Kai and others in the area, says that since the state grants railroads condemnation power, it is legitimate and legal to exercise authority over how the land is used.
"What the state giveth, the state can manage," Simonetta said. "We need to at least vet the local impacts. This is not 1920. We're not looking to the railroad to 'please, please put track down in Arizona.' "
And while the potential rail construction in Picacho has received much attention, other places in the state — specifically Yuma and Willcox — are also facing fights over new rail lines.
That's why the bill is garnering bipartisan support, such as from Yuma Rep. Lynne Pancrazi, a Democrat.
"I really think something needs to be done," she said. "This is a much bigger issue than just Yuma."
Paton is prepared for complaints that the bill intrudes on local control, but he says it's actually empowering local citizens who claim they have no voice.
"There's an appeals process in this state, and (the Legislature is) at the end of that appeals process," he said. "Local control assumes there is a fair process where the neighbors at least get to comment. If those neighbors are being abused ... we have a responsibility at the Legislature to support the citizens of this state."
Did you know …
The railroad arrived in Tucson, population 2,000, on March 20, 1880, and for better or worse, forever changed the fortunes of the city.
Southern Pacific Railroad brought Easterners, Asians, Westerners, Europeans and their investments to a tiny Mexican-dominated outpost still battling Apache Indians.
Tucsonans benefited from much lower prices for many goods after the railroad arrived. Construction shifted from locally made adobe to wood-frame and brick structures.
And with the high-volume capacity of railroads, Arizona's copper and cattle industries would soon surge. Trains hauled in mine machinery and feed, and hauled out ore and cattle.
Source: Star archives
