Fish & Wildlife Service will also be needed for work involving waterways, wetlands and other habitat.Īlso Wednesday, the high-speed rail board agreed to commit up to $35 million to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District to offset the anticipated pollution created by earth-moving and construction on the high-speed rail project between Merced and Bakersfield. The agency hopes to begin construction - estimated to cost between $1.5 billion and $2 billion - between Fresno and the Tulare-Kern county line by spring 2015.īefore that can happen, two federal agencies must still lend their approval: the Federal Railroad Administration, which has committed more than $3 billion in federal stimulus and transportation funds for construction in the San Joaquin Valley, and the Surface Transportation Board. Substantial work has yet to commence on the first stage of construction between Madera and Fresno, part of the Merced-Fresno section that was approved by the rail board two years ago. Wednesday's votes are significant steps - but not the final ones - toward construction south of Fresno. "But as we move down the Valley from Madera, and people see what we're doing to work with them, to relocate affected businesses, to compensate them for any losses, I think you're starting to see a level of comfort that we're really trying to do things the right way." "I don't want to pretend that we're going to resolve all these issues," Richard said after the votes. "But I don't think they'll be any different than the ones we worked through in the past."ĭan Richard, the board's chairman, said he knows the agency has its work cut out to convince the project's opponents, who cite escalating costs, loss of homes and farms that have been in families for generations, and fears of dust and air pollution during construction. "I'm sure that we'll see a couple of lawsuits," said Tom Richards of Fresno, the rail board's vice chairman. By last spring, however, all of those cases were settled. The first high-speed rail section from Madera to Fresno was the subject of several CEQA lawsuits after the authority board approved the section two years ago. Authority leaders acknowledged that Wednesday's votes are likely to generate more lawsuits over whether the EIR complies with the California Environmental Quality Act. Kings County's Board of Supervisors and two of its residents are already suing the rail authority over its statewide plan. They ran around and talked to people, but have they really listened to us? I don't think so, if the line has not changed in four years." "The line through the county has not changed since 2010. "There are things in the EIR that are not intellectually honest," he said. The motion – which also seeks to have a So Cal representative on the high-speed rail board - is below.More than 2 1/2 years after the rail agency issued its first draft of the EIR, Oliveira said he believes the authority has done little more than pay lip service to Kings County's concerns. It’s clear that Antonovich has concerns about keeping the northern part of his district connected to the rest of the state and metropolitan area. Union Station via Metrolink.Įarlier this year, Antonovich and Board Member Ara Najarian authored a motion - approved by the Metro Board - asking Metro to work with Metrolink to develop a master plan to greatly speed up train trips to the Antelope Valley. The Antelope Valley also lacks Amtrak rail service and is presently a two-hour journey to L.A. The 5 freeway corridor between Bakersfield and Santa Clarita has relatively few people living near it, whereas Lancaster and Palmdale have a combined population of about 300,000. It will be intriguing to see if the Metro Board at this stage wants to throw its weight behind a particular route, given that the entire high-speed rail project is in such a tenuous state. But earlier this year the agency - beset with funding woes - decided to reopen studies of an alternate route along the 5 freeway that would be shorter and cheaper to build. That was, in fact, the plan for the state agency building the line. and Bakersfield - with a station in Palmdale. I suspect one of the most interesting discussions at Thursday’s meeting of the Metro Board of Directors will involve a non-Metro project: the California high-speed rail project between Anaheim and San Francisco.Ĭounty Mayor/Supervisor and Metro Board Vice Chairman Mike Antonovich has authored a motion asking the Board to support a high-speed rail route that travels through the Antelope Valley between L.A.
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