Tag Archives: California Air Resources Board

California High-Speed Rail Authority Hasn’t Planted Any Trees (December 16, 2015)

Citizens for California High Speed Rail Accountability (CCHSRA) co-chairman Frank Oliveira was interviewed for an investigative news story about another failure of the California High-Speed Rail Authority to fulfill its commitments. KCRA Channel 3 in Sacramento broadcast the story on December 8, 2015.

In June 2013, the California High-Speed Rail Authority produced a report for the state legislature as required by Senate Bill 1029, which was signed into law by Governor Brown in 2012. Entitled Contribution of the High-Speed Rail Program to Reducing California’s Greenhouse Gas Emission Levels, this report was supposed to analyze the net impact of the high speed rail system on the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

It promised “zero net emissions” during construction by offsetting equipment and material production emissions with programs such as irrigation pump replacement, new tractors for farmers, new buses for school districts, and a tree-planting program. According to the report introduction by chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, “The analysis of GHG emission reductions in the Authority’s report clearly demonstrates that the high-speed rail project will be an important part of meeting California’s overall climate goals.”

This report also helped to justify the decision of Governor Brown and the California legislature to keep the project alive through annual budget appropriations derived from Cap-and-Trade auction revenue. Construction of the high-speed rail system was not supposed to contribute to climate change. All pollution would be offset by other activities.

Almost a year after the ceremonial groundbreaking in Fresno, KCRA reporter David Bienick looked into the tree planting program. In response to a question asked with a camera running, California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Jeff Morales admitted that not one tree had been planted. Morales had claimed in 2014 testimony to legislative committees and in other presentations that 5,000 trees would be planted to achieve the “zero net emissions.”

This KCRA story turned to CCHSRA leadership for commentary:

Frank Oliviera on California High-Speed Rail Tree Planting

Frank Oliviera speaks about the absurdity of the California High-Speed Rail tree-planting program.

Frank Oliveira of the group Citizens for California High-Speed Rail Accountability said some studies have shown the state will need to plant 5 million trees.

“Where are they going to put 5 million trees and keep them alive? Who’s going to take care of those trees? How much is that going to cost to take care of those trees?” Oliveira said.

Read the article and see the video here: High-Speed Rail’s Tree-Planting Plan Slow to Start: Nearly a Year After Groundbreaking, Not a Single Tree Planted.

Also, see the CCHSRA letter to the California Air Resources Board about the appropriateness of using Cap-and-Trade auction proceeds to fund California High-Speed Rail construction: Questioning the Outlandish Idea That California High-Speed Rail Deserves Cap-and-Trade Funds.

An April 2014 article published by the California Policy Center suggested that the tree-planting plan and other “schemes” to achieve zero net emissions were “farcical.” See California High Speed Rail’s Dubious Claims of Environmental Benefits.

Questioning the Outlandish Idea That California High-Speed Rail Deserves Cap-and-Trade Funds

The California High-Speed Rail Authority is desperate for funds to perpetuate its vision of a $68 billion high-speed passenger train between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The United States Congress and private investors don’t want to give it any money. The San Diego Union-Tribune published an editoral on August 30 (High-Speed Rail Project: Dead Train Walking?) optimistic that the courts will soon bring the boondoggle to an end.

Only the most committed supporters of this project (such as Governor Jerry Brown) choose to ignore the Authority’s failure to comply with the requirements of Proposition 1A, the November 2008 ballot measure that authorized $9.95 billion in borrowing to advance design and construction of the high-speed rail system. But those committed supporters have political power.

The ongoing convenient solution to the funding shortage is the California legislature’s budget directive to send a few hundred million dollars each year from the proceeds of “Cap-and-Trade” auction revenue (referred to by some as “taxes”) to the High-Speed Rail Authority. That money allows Construction Package No. 1 (civil engineering work between Madera and Fresno) to sputter onward with dreams of a big cash infusion someday.

In the summer of 2015, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) held workshops and requested written public comments about the development of guidelines for the distribution of Cap-and-Trade funds. Citizens for California High-Speed Rail Accountability (CCHSRA) sent a letter telling CARB that it isn’t appropriate for the state to spend Cap-and-Trade funds on California High-Speed Rail:

ARB is faced with the challenge of making decisions on the expenditure of Cap-and-Trade revenues based on predictions of the future. Unless it establishes a procedure for a recipient of the funds to pay back the money if GHG emission reductions are not achieved, ARB has to ensure a reasonable degree of certainty that a recipient of funds will actually spend it on a project or program that mitigates global climate change. An example of a program or project with significant uncertainty about reducing net GHG emissions would be the California High-Speed Rail project…

See the CCHSRA letter at Public Comments from Citizens for California High-Speed Rail Accountability: Funding Guidelines for Agencies that Administer California Climate Investments.

A few other parties have urged CARB to stop the charade. For example, Fresno environmental activist Cherylyn Smith wrote two letters to CARB explaining an obvious reason why the California High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) is not qualified to receive Cap-and-Trade (C&T) funds:

No state agency that attempts to escape CEQA [California Environmental Quality Act] regulations should ever benefit from Cap and Trade revenues. If HSRA continues down that path, logically the following exigency must be enforced: C&T, a state environmental program, would necessarily have to rescind all funding to the HSR project. Several attempts to soften CEQA regulations or to exempt the HSR project from CEQA have occurred since 2012. At this time, the ARB needs to hold back funding to a project of this magnitude, in favor of remaining in alignment with CEQA regulations, rather than being complicit with HSRA’s efforts to avoid them.

See the Cherylyn Smith letter at Public Comments #1 from Cherylyn Smith: Funding Guidelines for Agencies that Administer California Climate Investments and Public Comments #2 from Cherylyn Smith: Funding Guidelines for Agencies that Administer California Climate Investments.

See all of the public comments to the California Air Resources Board about Cap-and-Trade Guidelines at these websites:

Comment Log for Auction Proceeds Funding Guidelines (ggrf-guidelines-ws)

Comment Log for Auction Proceeds Investment Plan Public Process (investplan2015-ws)

Air Resources Board Needs to Make California High-Speed Rail Authority Publicly Accountable for Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Claims

Citizens for California High-Speed Rail Accountability (CCHSRA) is urging the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to develop funding guidelines for Cap-and-Trade auction proceeds that force the California High-Speed Rail Authority to explain its plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. ARB is in a public comment period in the development of final guidelines for this massive spending program.

“The High-Speed Rail Authority has made many unsubstantiated claims about reducing greenhouse gas emissions so it could get $650 million or more in Cap-and-Trade funds,” said Aaron Fukuda, chairman of Citizens for California High-Speed Rail Accountability (CCHSRA). “Based on what we’ve seen from the Authority, we don’t believe them.”

CCHSRA has now submitted eleven recommendations to the Air Resources Board for guidelines that will allow the public to get specifics about how the bullet train will reduce emissions that cause global climate change.

Fukuda believes the High-Speed Rail Authority is making up promises about greenhouse gas reductions to get desperately needed money. “The Cap-and-Trade program is a convenient source of money for a project that has strayed badly from what was presented to voters as Proposition 1A in 2008,” he says.

“If the project stops after the completion of the last planned construction contract, leaving a rail line without electrification between Madera and Shafter, would $650 million spent from Cap-and-Trade money be justified?” Fukuda asks. “Of course not.”

Here is a link to the letter submitted by Citizens for California High-Speed Rail Accountability (CCHSRA) to the California Air Resources Board:

July 7, 2015 Citizens for California High-Speed Rail Accountability (CCHSRA) Comment Letter to Air Resources Board on Cap-and-Trade