After reading Sally Jacobs’ op-ed commentary in the Sept. 5 Bangor Daily News and having actually been involved in economic development and transportation logistics in this region for 10 years, I feel compelled to question her well-intentioned, but misguided ideas for economic development in Washington County.

Jacobs dismisses Ayers Junction as being an impractical location for a truck-train intermodal facility to serve the Port of Eastport. In fact, the Stafford Report, conducted in 2000 to identify the most suitable location for a transfer facility, and available to the people who want to educate themselves on the subject, states that Ayers Junction should be considered as a location.

Jacobs’ claim that Ayers Junction is unsuitable because it is too far from a good road is also not true. Route 214 through Ayers Junction is a good haulage road currently used by trucks coming to the Port of Eastport. Likewise, the lack of proximity to an international bridge is not a detriment to Ayers Junction’s suitability, as it is connected to a functioning railroad by 14 miles of abandoned track that

is in good condition. As far as being located outside a town center, that is actually a good feature of a facility dealing with commercial traffic.

I am curious as to why Jacobs would espouse a logistic handling system for cargo through the Port of Eastport without talking to people who work in the port. Had we been consulted, we would have been able to explain that many cargoes do not have the value to be trucked 30 miles between the port and the railhead. In the scenario Jacobs envisions, Eastport would not be able to compete for those low-value, but usually larger-volume cargoes. Large volumes create an increased need for rail cars thereby making the service more viable.

What Jacobs’ “sweet” idea really does is attempt to debunk the fact that rail from the east and west is needed for the Port of Eastport, to provide justification for removing the Calais Branch line to use the right of way for a recreational trail. This means the people in western Washington and Hancock counties would be left without the possibility of enjoying the economic benefit rail can bring.

Once a railroad is removed, it is unlikely it will ever be replaced. In fact, there is no known case where a significant amount of track has been relayed after being removed. While it is worthwhile considering a trail beside the existing rail, there are many unanswered questions about liability, space within the right of way, and what types

of “vehicles” would be allowed along such a trail.

Certainly, if it were possible to serve the Port of Eastport without having to make a significant investment in rail, we would be the first to advocate for it. As it seems, this supposed solution for Eastport is a thinly veiled attempt to advocate for something else. Something that is not very sweet to many of us who actually live and work in Washington County and who have invested considerable resources in searching and developing a plan for the reinstatement of rail service for eastern Maine; a plan that is endorsed by the entire legislative delegation as well as economic development organizations within Washington County.

Copies of the Stafford Report are available at www.sunrisecounty.org.

Skip Rogers is general manager of Federal Maine terminals at Eastport, chairman of the Eastern Maine Railroad Development Commission, and past chairman of the Sunrise County Economic Council.