STB authorizes California HSR construction
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefThe Surface Transportation Board on Thursday, June 13, issued a decision authorizing the California High Speed Rail Authority to construct a 65-mile high speed passenger rail line between Merced and Fresno, Cal., which will be the first section of the planned statewide California High-Speed Train System. The authorization “is subject to environmental conditions and the condition that CHSRA build the route designated by the Federal Railroad Administration as environmentally preferable,” STB said.
“After independently reviewing the entire environmental record for the Project, including the Final EIR/EIS, the comments on the proposed Final EIR/EIS adoption, FRA’s Record of Decision, and the Environmental Memorandum, we are satisfied that the Final EIR/EIS prepared by the Authority and FRA has taken the requisite ‘hard look’ at the potential environmental impacts associated with the proposed Project as required by NEPA (National Environmental Policy Act, signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1970), the CEQ (the Obama Administration’s Council on Environmental Quality) regulations implementing NEPA, and the Board’s environmental rules,” STB said in its full decision. “The Final EIR/EIS adequately assesses the environmental impacts discovered during the course of the environmental review, considers a reasonable range of alternatives (including a no-action alternative), and includes appropriate mitigation to avoid or minimize potential environmental effects.
“Other than OEA’s (STB’s Office of Environmental Analysis) two recommended conditions, which are set forth below, no mitigation beyond that already imposed by FRA has been shown to be warranted here. We also find FRA’s Preferred Build Alternative to be the alternative that best satisfies the purpose and need for the proposed Project and minimizes impacts to the environment. There were no comments presented in response to OEA’s notice of proposed adoption that would cause us to reach a different conclusion.”
