Oversight on High Speed Rail

In the history of man and woman-kind, building things here on Earth (and the last couple of decades above Earth as well), nothing gets built exactly to plan.  Every plan is more of a wish, a hope of what the final product will look like.  The Great Wall of China can be seen from space, but it’s doubtful every brick and stone was laid according to plan.  The interstate highway system and the transcontinental railroad are systems we’ve relied on for generations, yet were filled with graf and over run costs.  Let’s be honest, the only way to do it on the cheap and quickly is do employ the Chinese model of cutting corners, paying labor nothing, and having the State run EVERYTHING (no takers?).

When you’re looking at a plan to build something as big as the California High Speed Rail system, you have to weigh the benefits of the system against any flaws in the plan.  The old adage of “you have to break some eggs to make an omelet” is appropriate to building/making just about anything.  I’m sure there was someone out there who complained about the International Space Station blocking their view of space, so it’s a no-brainer that building HSR here will cause some lawsuits.  Almost every immanent domain case involves legal action.  There are lawyers out there who specialize in this field on both sides.  So this will all be pro-forma. 

The benefits of building HSR are clear, but maybe not exact.  To build the darn thing we are going to have to put people to work, pay them, given them benefits, allow them to spend that money here in California, and pay taxes here in California.  These kind of jobs will be involved in laying the tracks, building the electric infrastructure, creating new train stations, etc…and this is not including the jobs created by improvements to Caltrain in the Bay Area and Metrorail in Los Angeles (more jobs). For every dollar spent on infrastructure, $1.59 is added to the American GDP (compared to Bush tax cuts at $0.29 to GDP).   

Perhaps the exact number of jobs created that both labor and Democratic leaders claim isn’t as high as the real number ultimately.  However, that’s like saying instead of getting 10 gold bricks, you’re only getting 8.  The jobs going to the central valley will breathe new life into an economic black hole.  It’s time we got over those extra 2 gold bricks.   

So let’s just look past it and focus on the task at hand, building it and building it right (or as close to right as possible).  The LA Times article that was critical of turning down the French and their experience on building HSR was fair in part, but California simply made another choice.  Should California still seek experience from abroad on the engineering and development?  Absolutely.  Without a doubt, the CAHSRA will hire foreign experts, as will Parson (contractor hired to help build the train).  In addition, our government officials need to bring in some of the strongest fiscal hawks out there to negotiate and execute each and every contract. 

CAHSR needs to find an anti-Rail public servant, perhaps a certain retiring Peninsula state senator, and put them in charge of oversight.  That public servant must have the authority not only to audit work and contracts, but to advise and assist in negotiations along the way.  If there is a book out there on what went wrong in the building of the new span of the Bay Bridge, he or she needs to make that the bible of oversight for HSR.

A famous line from one of my favorite movies is “First rule of government spending: Why build one, when you can build 2 and twice the price” (see Contact).  Let’s not reward overspending, but do the opposite, and reward contractors when things come in under budget and/or ahead of schedule.  Over schedule/budget?  Penalties can be written into contracts too to deter such things.  EVERY CONTRACT SHOULD BE LIKE THIS. 

Building a revolutionarily new and fast mode of transport for America’s most populated state is nothing short of Herculean.  Just because it’s difficult, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.  The benefits of having clean powered trains eliminating polluting cars and planes from California roads is far too important to not make this happen.  So let’s get past our disagreements on it being done, and let’s unify on getting it done right!

(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.