California's high speed rail project just suffered another blow today when the federal government cancelled a grant of 929 million dollars to the state. The reason given was that the state has failed to meet the agreed progress schedule and has made clear that it would no longer even try to do so.
Stop! This is an illegal travesty! At least that is what California's Democrat governor says about the move by the feds. Governor Newsome blames president Trump for this mess. But who is really at fault here. Let's back up and review what happened here.
1. At the time of the stimulus bill in 2009, president Obama announced that America would be making a big push for high speed rail lines. This was to be the wave of the future which would reduce pollution and encourage economic growth. After all, Obama said, it worked in Europe.
2. The feds under Obama offered major funding for a large number of high speed rail projects. One by one, however, the states involved said no thank you to the federal grants. For example, Ohio turned down a line from Cleveland to Columbus and then on to Cincinnati. Ohio reviewed the plan and realized that construction would cost billions with much to be paid by the feds, but operation would be extremely expensive and the state would have to fund that mess. The train would be a permanent hole into which the state would have to keep shoveling cash. Eventually, the only high speed line left for discussion was the one in California.
3. California had a line from San Francisco to Los Angeles and then on to San Diego. There was a huge amount of bickering over where the train would go in the urban areas. Rather than resolving these disputes, then governor Brown decided to take the easy route. He had construction start on a 170 mile segment of the train that runs through the farmland of the Central Valley. This segment alone was to cost almost 100 billion dollars. More important, when completed the segment would be unusable except for the few people who wanted to take a train from Fresno to some equally God-forsaken place. The train was to be a costly line from nowhere to nowhere.
4. When governor Newsome took office a few months back, he looked at the train project and announced that it would be cancelled except for the portion already being built in the farms of the central valley. After all, Newsome thought this made sense although spending a fortune on a train to nowhere sounds like a bad idea to anyone with a brain.
So Newsome cancels the train. Then the feds cancel funding for the train. Naturally, Newsome says this is an outrageous move. Logic is certainly not his strong suit.
Stop! This is an illegal travesty! At least that is what California's Democrat governor says about the move by the feds. Governor Newsome blames president Trump for this mess. But who is really at fault here. Let's back up and review what happened here.
1. At the time of the stimulus bill in 2009, president Obama announced that America would be making a big push for high speed rail lines. This was to be the wave of the future which would reduce pollution and encourage economic growth. After all, Obama said, it worked in Europe.
2. The feds under Obama offered major funding for a large number of high speed rail projects. One by one, however, the states involved said no thank you to the federal grants. For example, Ohio turned down a line from Cleveland to Columbus and then on to Cincinnati. Ohio reviewed the plan and realized that construction would cost billions with much to be paid by the feds, but operation would be extremely expensive and the state would have to fund that mess. The train would be a permanent hole into which the state would have to keep shoveling cash. Eventually, the only high speed line left for discussion was the one in California.
3. California had a line from San Francisco to Los Angeles and then on to San Diego. There was a huge amount of bickering over where the train would go in the urban areas. Rather than resolving these disputes, then governor Brown decided to take the easy route. He had construction start on a 170 mile segment of the train that runs through the farmland of the Central Valley. This segment alone was to cost almost 100 billion dollars. More important, when completed the segment would be unusable except for the few people who wanted to take a train from Fresno to some equally God-forsaken place. The train was to be a costly line from nowhere to nowhere.
4. When governor Newsome took office a few months back, he looked at the train project and announced that it would be cancelled except for the portion already being built in the farms of the central valley. After all, Newsome thought this made sense although spending a fortune on a train to nowhere sounds like a bad idea to anyone with a brain.
So Newsome cancels the train. Then the feds cancel funding for the train. Naturally, Newsome says this is an outrageous move. Logic is certainly not his strong suit.
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