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In It to Win It

(8,107 posts)
Fri Jun 11, 2021, 07:24 AM Jun 2021

Biden restores $929 million for California high-speed rail withheld by Trump

Reuters via Yahoo News

(Reuters) -The Biden administration late on Thursday restored a $929 million grant for California's high-speed rail that former President Donald Trump revoked in 2019.

The parties, which also include the California High-Speed Rail Authority and the U.S. Transportation Department, agreed to restore the grant within three days, according to the settlement agreement: https://hsr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/California-v.-DOT-Settlement-Agreement-Final-May-26.pdf.

Talks began in March, around two months after Biden became president, to settle a suit filed in 2019 after Trump had pulled funding for a high-speed train project in the state hobbled by extensive delays and rising costs. Trump had repeatedly clashed as president with California on a number of fronts.

California's lawsuit claimed the Transportation Department lacked legal authority to withhold the $929 million the administration of former President Barrack Obama allocated a decade ago but had remained untapped.


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Biden restores $929 million for California high-speed rail withheld by Trump (Original Post) In It to Win It Jun 2021 OP
High speed rail in CA is crazy too costly. But cheaper than the only alternative. Cicada Jun 2021 #1
It does make sense. And there will be a commerce component to some rail sites. Tikki Jun 2021 #2
Yep. I am so sick of people bashing the cost of high speed rail. SunSeeker Jun 2021 #3
It simply shouldn't cost that much. We are getting ripped off. cinematicdiversions Jun 2021 #7
Litigation against it and Trump fucking with it drove up costs. It is not a "scam." SunSeeker Jun 2021 #8
It would be cheaper... Xolodno Jun 2021 #4
When Charles Koch finally kicks the bucket NEOBuckeye Jun 2021 #5
This! love_katz Jun 2021 #6

Cicada

(4,533 posts)
1. High speed rail in CA is crazy too costly. But cheaper than the only alternative.
Fri Jun 11, 2021, 08:19 AM
Jun 2021

Business travel between the Bay Area and Los Angeles will keep growing. But the airports are maxed out. It would be cheaper to move to the moon than build another airport in LA or the Bay Area. Business travel from LA to Bay Area generates a zillion dollars in gdp. High speed rail can keep those business types traveling back and forth. At a cost of less than five percent of a new airport, even at crazy stupid high speed rail costs.

It actually makes economic sense.

Tikki

(14,533 posts)
2. It does make sense. And there will be a commerce component to some rail sites.
Fri Jun 11, 2021, 12:20 PM
Jun 2021

I consider it a win.

Tikki

SunSeeker

(51,299 posts)
3. Yep. I am so sick of people bashing the cost of high speed rail.
Sat Jun 12, 2021, 02:35 AM
Jun 2021

High speed rail and EVs are critical to our future and we must invest in that infrastructure.

SunSeeker

(51,299 posts)
8. Litigation against it and Trump fucking with it drove up costs. It is not a "scam."
Mon Jun 14, 2021, 02:18 PM
Jun 2021

Maher is not right about everything.

Xolodno

(6,311 posts)
4. It would be cheaper...
Sat Jun 12, 2021, 04:47 AM
Jun 2021

...if it weren't the non stop lawsuits trying to stop it. And why do they do so?

1. Less people driving on I5 and 99 stopping for gas and food. But lets be honest, who wants to smell cow shit at lunch?

2. It's a Democratic thing.

3. "We could spend that money on water storage!" Uhm...where? It's all been damned up, entire rivers no longer reach the sea, Large lakes a century ago are gone...we should be the study of an ecological disaster in the making. "oh but the Klamath"...yeah, go fuck yourself on the last somewhat wild river in California. If they succeed on that, then its Yosemite and they'll say the views on the lake that flood the valley will make it like flooding the Sistine Chapel so you could see the beauty closer.

4. And lets not forget how your generational farm was told by your father, grandfather, etc. "Never accept less water, always demand more! Because if you do, you will always get less". Nevermind they don't pay anywhere near the market cost for that water. And when you mention water saving techniques, the way they act, you think I just raped their 16 year old daughter. Yes, this has nothing to do about the topic, but it does show the mind set.

Fuck common sense, but give me more water so I can grow more water intense crops.

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