NORTH COAST RAILROAD AUTHORITY

419 Talmage Road Suite M

Ukiah, Ca 95482

707-463-3280 Phone

510-915-2656 Executive Director Cellular

707-463-3282 Fax

Mitch Stogner, Executive Director Allan Hemphill, NCRA Chairman

Ncra.mstogner@sbcglobal.net vinguru@comcast.net

NCRA NAMES 2006 CHAIRMAN

The North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) has named Cloverdale resident, Allan Hemphill, to be its Chairman for 2006. At its December meeting in Healdsburg, the NCRA also elected Mendocino County Supervisor Hal Wagenet as its Vice-Chairman and introduced Sonoma County’s newest representative to the rail authority, Sonoma County Supervisor Paul Kelley.

Hemphill commended outgoing Chairman, Humboldt County Supervisor John Woolley for his “determination and leadership in the struggle to restore North Coast train service.” Hemphill said that Woolley would continue to lead NCRA’s legislative efforts in Sacramento and Washington, D.C. He also said that the appointment of Wagenet as Vice-Chairman and appointment of Kelley “makes the NCRA a strong regional agency dedicated to the proposition that rail is an economic necessity for the North Coast.”

The NCRA was created by state law in 1990 to preserve and restore freight and excursion rail service on the former Northwestern Pacific (NWP) line between Eureka and the national rail connection east of Novato.

NCRA owns the right-of-way between Eureka and Healdsburg and has an exclusive easement on the portion of the line south of Healdsburg, which is owned by the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District (SMART).

Hemphill said that connecting a railroad to the underutilized deep water Port of Humboldt Bay offers the opportunity to relieve West Coast port congestion. He also said that the need for aggregate for construction, and the movement of municipal garbage to landfills in Nevada and elsewhere – without impacting already crowded highways - has generated renewed interest in North Coast rail service.

“We have a dedicated, experienced, regional Board with a unified goal” said Hemphill. He said “the railroad is our hope for the future, the very best way to connect the many communities along California’s North Coast into a vibrant economic unit, capable of shipping needed commodities, in an environmentally sound mode, throughout the state and nation.”

In addition to Supervisors Woolley, Wagenet and Kelley, the NCRA Board of Directors includes Eureka Mayor, Peter LaVallee, Eureka Harbor District Commissioner, Charles Ollivier, and Robert Simonson of Willits, a former Northwestern Pacific (NWP) railroad engineer.

The North Coast Railroad Authority (NCRA) was formed in 1989 by the California Legislature under the North Coast Railroad Authority Act, Government Code Section 93000, et seq. The mission of the North Coast Railroad Authority is to provide a unified & revitalized rail infrastructure meeting the freight and passenger needs of the region; a first class service working in partnership with others to build and sustain the economy of the region.