McCarthy requests federal high-speed rail audit
BY JOHN COX Californian staff writer jcox@bakersfield.com
Rep. Kevin McCarthy joined 11 other Republican members of the House this week in requesting a federal audit of California's high-speed rail project.
Monday's letter asks the Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative arm, to dig into the $98 billion project's "viability and questionable ridership and costs projections."
McCarthy, the Bakersfield Republican and House whip who has become one of the project's biggest skeptics in Washington, D.C., proposed the same kind of study as part of a bill he introduced Oct. 7 to freeze federal spending on the project, which is supposed to begin construction in the Central Valley late next year.
The chairman of the rail project's governing board welcomed the proposed audit as "more than appropriate."
"As one of the largest projects in the country and as one of the largest job creators in the country, we realize this project deserves careful review," Tom Umberg, chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority board, wrote in an email Tuesday.
"We have no doubt that the newly released business plan along with the support of the governor of California, both senators from California and the president of the United States will demonstrate that this public-private partnership will not only pencil out but it will alleviate massive air and traffic congestion, benefit the environment and create a third alternative for millions of Californians and their travel needs."
Monday's letter proposes a study of not only the project's ridership and cost projections but how much public money might be required to operate the system; alternative investments in air travel, freeways and traditional trains; and any adverse impacts of eminent domain proceedings related to the project. It also requests a comparison of the project to other high-speed rail proposals in the United States.
"The California high-speed rail project of today is vastly different from the one California voters narrowly approved in 2008," the letter states. "Since that vote, the cost of building the system has more than doubled, the timeline has been pushed back over a decade, and no private investment has occurred."
Other members of Congress who signed the letter to Gene Dodaro, comptroller general of the United States, are: John Mica, R-Florida, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee; Darrell Issa, R-Vista, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; Bill Shuster, R-Pennsylvania, chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines & Hazardous Materials; Brian Bilbray, R-San Diego; John Campbell, R-Irvine; Jeff Denham, R-Atwater; Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine; Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks; Devin Nunes, R-Tulare; Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar; and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita.
The bullet train project is proposed to link Anaheim and San Francisco with trains traveling as fast as 220 mph by 2033.
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