Lobbyist suggests Kent reaches out to Cantwell about railroad issues

Kent city officials might need to reach out to Democratic U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell to help resolve railroad issues.

Ben McMakin, Kent’s federal lobbyist, suggested at a City Council workshop on Jan. 3 that it might even be worth a shot to try to get Cantwell to hold a railroad forum in town.

Council President Bill Boyce asked McMakin for some ideas about how to resolve railroad issues after the council discussed problems with crossing gates getting stuck; creating a quiet zone in downtown so train engineers will no longer have to blow their loud horns as they speed through the city; and improved safety measures with more oil and coal trains rolling through Kent.

“My one thought was why not ask Sen. Cantwell to come to Kent and have a seminar, forum – call it what you will – on railroad safety and some of these issues,” McMakin said. “In particular because of the oil train issues and Cantwell has been focused on some of these rail issues.”

The lobbyist added his suggestion had “good policy and good politics” sides to it.

“Cantwell is up for reelection in two years and I think she will be very, very active – not that she isn’t active now – but her antenna is going to be up,” McMakin said. “You have laid out the case for spending some time with your federal officials to use Kent as an example of what many of the communities that have rail lines are dealing with on a daily basis.”

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., could help out as well, McMakin said.

City officials want to get faster response times from BNSF Railway and Union Pacific staff when problems exist in Kent, including crossing gates stuck in the down position when no trains are coming that causes vehicle traffic delays.

“Other cities like ours have the same issues,” Councilman Jim Berrios said. “But there comes a time and point when you have to say ‘good Lord at what point in time does something change here?’ It makes no sense in the turnaround time to get results. It sounds like we have to be a squeaky wheel.”

McMakin told the council that more oil and coal trains might be coming through Kent under the new Trump administration.

“I would not be surprised that in six months to a year the new administration says Washington should approve a crude by rail export facility or a coal facility and that raises some of these issues,” he said. “It’s worth paying attention to what the new administration says that may amplify some of the concerns you have about the rails today.”

The city pays the law firm of Van Ness Feldman $56,000 per year for federal lobbying. McMakin, who is not an attorney, has worked in Washington, D.C., since 2005 with the law firm.