On April 18, High Speed Rail
Authority Chairman Dan Richard urged two California legislative committees to
approve $2.6 billion in state bond issues to start construction of high speed
train tracks across the state’s Central Valley this year. This first phase of a
proposed Los Angeles to San Francisco high speed rail line would cost a total
of $5.9 billion, with the remaining $3.3 billion coming from the federal
government. In 2008, California voters conditionally approved a total of $10
billion in state bond issues to finance the bullet trains.
Though no action was taken at
Wednesday’s hearings, California legislators are vetting the possibility of
budgeting for a total of $7 billion in state and federal high speed rail
projects in their 2012-2013 budget. The pending proposal for the LA to Frisco
bullet trains has a total projected cost of $68 billion, and has state
lawmakers wondering whether a cash strapped federal Treasury can come up with
the remaining $39 billion Chairman Richard’s plan is counting on from
Washington to pay for construction.
At the hearings, Chairman Richard
acknowledged that there are certain financial uncertaities in his proposal. “It’s
just part and parcel of the transportation world that people don’t know these
things now. The key then is, as you build, knowing you don’t know what you’ll
be able to build next, can you build something of value?” he remarked. Long Beach
State Senator Alan Lowenthal responded to Richard’s sentiments, “Don’t you think
this is kind of a high risk strategy?” Lowenthal and other opponents of potentially building a “bullet train to
nowhere” oppose the concept of Governor Jerry Brown’s administration for using greenhouse
gas emissions revenues from the 2006 California cap and trade program to pay
for any portion of high speed rail construction not covered by the $10 billion
in potential state bond issues, should the anticipated additional $39 billion
in federal funds fail to materialize.
