That's an odd way to put it. There is little chance that an EIS would derail the CAHSR project all on its own, in fact this is exactly the sort of project that should be able to legally mitigate most environmental concerns. The vast majority of green groups fully support HSR, despite whatever the "Washington Examiner" has to say about it. These "green" laws didn't show up yesterday. In many cases they've been on the books for decades. Why should they suddenly be sidestepped now? If the CAHSR project is killed it will be due to the arbitrary December 31, 2012 cut-off for federal funding, which has absolutely NOTHING to do with "green" laws or "green" issues or "green groups" of any sort. Full stop.
A couple of days ago there was an article on the LA Times to the effect that the Senate vote to approve the sale of the bonds for CAHSR was going to be very close to get the 21 required. They must have the approval by July 1st. Jerry Brown, Ray LaHood, the FRA , the Unions are twisting Senators arms as hard as they can to get the approval.
There are plenty of people trying to use the environmental laws to stop the Calif HSR. Teh whole problem with the environmental laws as implemented is that they do not look at things globally. If a "significant" environmental feature is affected by the HSR project, that is a show stopper, even if the alternative would have a far greater environmental effect. That project would also have to be dealt with on its merits/demerits by itself. Those opposed to the Calif HSR that have pockets dee enough to do so fully intend to turn this into the lawyers full employment program for years to come.
You don't need to live in California to call. You just need to be willing to donate to the campaign(s) of whoever you're interested in lobbying. Now, more than ever, money speaks louder than registered voters.
Right. If the Senate votes it down then we can go for the "The California High Speed Rail to be DOA is DOA is DOA thread" :lol:
And now we hear the sound of $68 BILLION Toilets flushing at the same time!
Thank you, couldn't have said it better. All large projects take a lot of time, engineering up front is far better that in the middle.
Well said. +1
no worse than the many hundred billion toilet flushes that have happened and continue to do so on various other programs, including many other transportation programs. Just imagine without those toilet flushes in the past we would not have a interstate highways system, an air traffic control system, electrified Pennsylvania Railroad etc. etc. etc. Why would one want such a world to live in?
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