Nixon sues state DNR to protect old bridge

Attorney General Jay Nixon sued the Department of Natural Resources on Thursday to try to stop the dismantling of an old Missouri River railroad bridge that historic preservationists hope could someday become part of the Katy Trail State Park.

The lawsuit contends the department had no authority to relinquish the state's rights to the Boonville bridge to Union Pacific Railroad Co. without getting specific approval from the federal government and the Missouri Legislature.

It also claims the Missouri Constitution bars the state from giving its bridge interests to a private company without compensation. And Nixon claims that losing the rights to the bridge could open a 200-mile stretch of public biking and hiking trail to legal challenges by private property owners "that would fracture the trail."

The lawsuit filed in Cooper County Circuit Court seeks an injunction against the department and names agency director Doyle Childers as a defendant.

Childers accused Nixon, a Democrat, of political gamesmanship as part of a potential challenge to Republican Gov. Matt Blunt in 2008. Blunt's administration contends it is not only legal for the state to relinquish rights to the bridge, but in the state's best economic interest.

State Rep. Nathan Cooper of Cape Girardeau labeled the lawsuit "a cheap political stunt."

"Nixon could be pursuing deadbeat dads, welfare cheats or child abusers -- and instead he is going after the state of Missouri," Cooper said in a news release. "Clearly, our attorney general is more concerned about helping the Sierra Club than the people of Missouri."

The bridge already is owned by Union Pacific and is not currently part of the Katy Trail, which crosses the Missouri River over a nearby highway bridge. But the 1987 agreement in which Missouri bought the rail route from the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Co. gave the state the right to use the bridge as a trail.

After the U.S. Coast Guard threatened civil penalties if Union Pacific did not remove the unused 73-year-old bridge, the railroad company awarded a contract last year to dismantle it and reuse some of its steel for a second railroad bridge over the Osage River east of Jefferson City. The company, which is awaiting federal approval of the needed permits, said recycling the bridge could cut the cost of its $20 million project in half.

But on Dec. 23, former Department of Natural Resources director Steve Mahfood sent the railroad a letter exercising the state's right to use the bridge for the trail.

Mahfood resigned about a week later. After Blunt became governor in January, he appointed Childers, a former Republican state senator, to lead the department. Childers sent the railroad a letter May 20 permanently waiving the state's rights to use the bridge and adding that the department has no objection to removing it.

Childers contends it could cost anywhere from $3 million to $11 million if the state were to restore the bridge as part of the trail. He said Nixon's legal arguments might be valid if the state owned the bridge, but not since the state only has a right to use it.

Nixon contends Childers' actions were illegal. Among other things, he notes Childers recently signed a document amending the 1987 agreement, and Nixon contends any changes must be approved by the federal government.

Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley said the company believes it can legally remove the bridge and is pushing ahead with plans to do so.