North Coast Railroad Authority board reverses certification of environmental report; environmentalist groups suing NCRA call move desperate legal maneuver

◼ A decision by North Coast Railroad Authority Wednesday aimed at defusing a pair of environmental lawsuits rankled two North Coast groups that have spent nearly two years taking the agency to court. - Grant Scott-Goforth/The Times-Standard

...When the NCRA was awarded state funds to develop the EIR, it came with stipulations that the study and subsequent operation would follow the California Environmental Quality Act. The board maintains environmental review is not needed if construction and operation are paid for with private money, and has long argued in court that federal law preempts state law and that the state courts have no authority to block rail activity.

This approach has met with skepticism in court in the nearly two years of lawsuits against the NCRA. In the latest ruling, a Marin County judge allowed the lawsuits to proceed. While the judge affirmed the supremacy of federal law, the court said that the authority had gone so far along under state law that it couldn't reverse course....