Port may fund PCC Rail Authority

To compensate for a lack of state funds, the Port of Whitman County is considering shouldering the financial burden of the PCC Rail Authority, overseer of the state-owned Palouse River and Coulee City Railroad.

The port’s money, estimated to be around $15,000, will help keep the organization alive long enough to seek out state and federal funding for much-needed repairs along the 300-mile line.

Twenty million dollars from the state has already been spent on repairs along the line - money that has now run dry.

The estimated $15,000 in funding, commissioners said, would act as an “iron lung” to...