California Bullet Train to be audited by US DOT

[ansible]

This is going to turn into a massive corruption case. Jesus Christ, what a huge waste of money with nothing to show.

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/04/13/us/ap-ca-california-high-speed-rail.html

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's high-speed rail project is facing an audit from the U.S. Department of Transportation's as costs continue to climb. The inspector general's audit, announced Thursday, will examine the Federal Railroad Administration's oversight of nearly $3.5 billion in federal grant money awarded to the project.

It comes as the plan to bring travelers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in less than three hours faces growing scrutiny. A business plan released in March shows the state does not have the roughly $30 billion needed to complete the first phase of the project between the Central Valley and San Francisco. The entire project, meanwhile, is expected to cost $77 billion. State auditors are also conducting a review.

The authority's new chief executive has pledged more transparency about the project's troubles.

"We will cooperate fully in this and any other audit of our funding or program," Brian Kelly said in a statement. "We look forward to working closely with our federal partners to deliver the nation's first truly high-speed system."

[HeartachesNhangovers]

1. What bothered me most about this project is that

the state attempted to exempt itself from its own environmental review law: CEQA (CA Environmental Quality Act) which is intended to identify and require mitigation of significant environmental impacts for projects. CEQA can add years of delays and a significant cost to any project, but the state decided to just exempt itself and ignore environmental impacts. Fortunately, the courts ruled last year that the state has to abide by its own requirements. This will add at least a few years to the schedule for preparation of impact reports for the entire route, consideration of public comment and resolution of the inevitable lawsuits. CEQA may force route changes to mitigate environmental impacts impacts, or kill the project outright if it becomes clear that the state can't mitigate the environmental impact.

[http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-high-speed-rail-court-20170728-story.html|

[Matthew28]

2. This country

can hardly do anything anymore.

It is really sad.