California Bullet train battle: Is main funding source a 'fantasy'?

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

A day after Silicon Valley leaders praised the state's new plan to lay the first stretch of bullet train track between San Jose and the Central Valley by 2025, critics of the project smelled blood in the water.

They said the California High-Speed Rail Authority's new construction scheme left them with new questions and even more doubts about the state's chances of ever completing the $64 billion project.

The revised plan is already upsetting some South Bay and Peninsula residents and threatening to undermine the train's political support among Southern California politicians who expected construction to begin in their region. In addition, the authority concedes that several lawsuits seeking to kill the project are unresolved and that a myriad of environmental clearances are needed before construction is ramped up.


Most worrisome for bullet train boosters are claims by opponents who insist that the rail authority's main projected source of income -- California's cap-and-trade fees on big polluters -- is set to expire in four years.

"There's a greater chance of golden eagles dropping billions of dollars out of the sky than there is of this project getting cap-and-trade money after 2020 without action by the Legislature," said Oakland attorney Stuart Flashman, who represents several groups suing the authority in an attempt to halt the project. "They can fantasize all they want, but we'll see them in court."

An article well worth your time. After all, moving people around by trains hasn't been profitable since... well over 100 years ago.