{"id":17751,"date":"2013-04-20T09:37:56","date_gmt":"2013-04-20T13:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/?p=17751"},"modified":"2013-04-22T10:38:08","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T14:38:08","slug":"calif-s-high-speed-rail-barrels-through-another-barrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/17751\/calif-s-high-speed-rail-barrels-through-another-barrier\/","title":{"rendered":"Calif.&#8217;s High Speed Rail Barrels through another Barrier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mercurynews.com\/breaking-news\/ci_23055179\/apnewsbreak-calif-bullet-train-settlement-reached\" target=\"_blank\">This<\/a> won\u2019t make California Democratic Governor Jerry Brown happy.<\/p>\n<p>On the same day a state court blessed a settlement between Brown\u2019s high-speed rail authority and Central Valley farmers that clears the way to begin construction on a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco bullet train, the federal Surface Transportation Board announced it is claiming jurisdiction over the multi-billion dollar project, according to the San Jose Mercury News.<\/p>\n<p>California officials have filed for an exemption, but that might not be an easy sell since the state has <a href=\"http:\/\/articles.latimes.com\/2012\/jun\/11\/local\/la-me-bullet-green-20120611\" target=\"_blank\">angered environmental activists<\/a> by seeking exemptions from several state regulations already. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if the assertion of jurisdiction by STB is the result of some closed door lobbying at the federal level to slow down Brown &amp; Co.\u2019s runaway rail project.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, California taxpayers may get an unexpected ally if STB maintains a presence. Originally approved by voters in 2008 with an advertised price tag of $10 billion, the proposed rail line is now estimated to cost at least $68 billion. If the project is made to comply with the federal versions of state regulations California has exempted itself from, the cost of the program will climb higher still.<\/p>\n<p>Further cost overruns and delays could become <a href=\"http:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/index.php\/commentary\/56-health-care\/1816-leading-democrat-labels-obamacare-train-wreck\">California\u2019s version of ObamaCare<\/a> \u2013 an idea with a cost structure too big to work that gives partisans on both sides something to hate.<\/p>\n<p>If conservatives want to make headway in Golden State politics, cheering on the train wreck that is Governor Brown\u2019s high-speed rail boondoggle could be one of the ways to start.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This won\u2019t make California Democratic Governor Jerry Brown happy. On the same day a state court blessed a settlement between Brown\u2019s high-speed rail authority and Central Valley farmers that clears the way to begin construction on a Los Angeles-to-San Francisco bullet train, the federal Surface Transportation Board announced it is claiming jurisdiction over the multi-billion [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4107,299,196,2665,2035,300],"class_list":["post-17751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts","tag-bullet-train","tag-california","tag-environment","tag-high-speed-rail","tag-jerry-brown","tag-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17751"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17753,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17751\/revisions\/17753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cfif.org\/v\/freedom_line_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}