(This is my first blog…it’s rough…but I will improve)

LAND!

That’s the one word that I think is the largest issue with California’s ambitious High Speed Rail project.  It’s seen as a problem of clearing out large swaths of land from private and public entities (the “4 letter” word of eminent domain hard at work).  It will clear out some businesses up and down the Golden State, with its loudest opponents being in the Peninsula of the Bay area not wanting 4 tracks of train (they already have 2 tracks that have been there for generations thanks to CalTrain). 

But I argue that LAND, can also be an opportunity.  There are many opportunities that can be had when the California High Speed Rail Authority takes over land, and those opportunities are best in the middle part of the state where the train will get its likely start.  What we do with this land in addition to the train tracks can help create more jobs by adding more capacity to our green/renewable energy grid, advertising with space ripe for use, and developing previously unconnected parts of this vast state.

As a novas environmentalist, I’m mainly going to discuss the renewable energy capacity that can be built up on HSR’s right of way.  On every mile of track that this state will lay down, Environmental Impact Reports (EIR’s) will have to be conducted when “there is substantial evidence that the project may have a significant effect on the environment”. No one on either side is going to try to claim that there isn’t an “effect” on the environment, so EIR’s will be conducted, challenged, and ruled on for the tracks.

Another industry that is knee deep in EIR’s is the renewable energy industry.  Solar (in its many forms), wind, and geothermal energy producers-to-be are buying up large parcels of land, getting loans and investors, seeking permits, and conducting very contentious EIR’s.   The LA Times recently had an article about the impact of foxes and other animals being displaced by large solar array projects.  We call that impact. 

Similar impact stories will be written when CAHSRA starts building, so as a great believer in trying not to kill as many birds with one stone, why not use the same land for the tracks for solar and wind energy.  This is not a new idea.  As we look to build a high speed rail system here in the US, we of course have been looking at both Europe and Asia for examples on how to do this.  As we look at Europe, let’s look at the Belgium where a solar tunnel was built around train tracks for 3.5M/w hours a year with 16,000 panels.  This tunnel only used 2 miles!  That’s a fraction of the hundreds of miles of sun rich span of earth that can be utilized to produced energy that not only feeds into these super fast trains, but also feeds into communities and the state as a whole.

So who’s the first taker?  Southern California Edison, PG&E, or a major solar power player?  Or will foreign powers like China invest in our transportation and renewable energy projects for potential big payouts?  There are many options for funding renewable energy projects here in California, which has the toughest targets for said energy in the country by reaching one-third as a goal by 2020.  With all these goals, including job creation, it’s hard not to want to find some projects that can do everything at once, and HSR is the best project that California or any other state has that can.  And let’s use California’s immense amount of land to solve a lot of problems.