Plea for Federal Railroad Support!

SURFACE TRANSPORTATION BOARD
STB Docket No. AB-515 (Sub-No.2)
August 21, 2008
CENTRAL OREGON AND PACIFIC RAILROAD, INC. – ABANDONMENT AND DISCONTINUANCE OF SERVICE – IN COOS, DOUGLAS AND LANE COUNTIES
STB Finance Docket No. 35160
OREGON INTERNATIONAL PORT OF COOS BAY- FEEDER LINE APPLICATION- COOS BAY LINE OF THE CENTRAL OREGON AND PACIFIC RAILROAD, INC.
JUDITH M.L. HANSEN, PRESIDENT
SOUTHWESTERN OREGON COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Good afternoon board Members. I am Judith Hansen, Southwestern Oregon Community College president. Today I add my support for continued central oregon and pacific railroad (CORE) service from eugene to coquille, oregon, because of the devastating economic impact that lack of rail service would have on the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay and the Oregon South Coast. The increased training, employment, salaries and spin-off businesses that will result from industrial land use will create Economic Development through new job opportunities, new tax revenues, educational opportunities, training for our rapidly changing workforce needs and even more opportunities for our families.

This year, Southwestern Oregon Community College announced the addition of nine new career programs in Allied Health, Alternative Energy, Golf Course Horticulture, Construction Technology, Hospitality and Tourism, Transportation, Marine Fire Science, and Manufacturing Technology to train workers for the new South Coast job opportunities that would be created by the land use proposed by Jordan Cove Energy. Without the local tax base that Jordan Cove will provide for continued training in these nine new fields, funding for our new programs may not continue.

In a recent state-wide Economic Impact Study, it was found that past Southwestern Oregon Community College students contribute 12% of the total salary incomes on the South Coast. We can improve on that percentage by increasing the number of graduates who can afford to stay and work on the South Coast following their education at Southwestern. In that same Oregon Economic Impact Study, it was found that over $1,000,000/year in medical, welfare and crime costs in Coos, Curry and Douglas Counties are saved because of your investment in our students’ education. We can increase the social benefit of higher education and reduce the costs of crime by training more potential employees for work on the South Coast. And finally, 19.3% of our tax payers’ investment is returned to you through the education of our students at Southwestern Oregon Community College.

The opportunities provided by continued rail service to the Oregon south coast and Oregon International Port of Coos Bay for employment, training, spin-off businesses and increased tax revenues – in the form of income taxes from new family-wage jobs and property taxes from increased local home ownership – will result in a better quality of life for all Oregon families. A healthy economic future for the Oregon South Coast is in the hands of the Federal Surface Transportation Board hands, ladies and gentlemen: an economic future with the help of continued rail service to the Oregon South Coast that will repay your investment through new American family wage jobs for decades to come.