They also say road closures would force farmers whose property is divided by the tracks to drive tractors, trucks and other equipment miles out of their way daily to get from one side of their farms to the other.

Frank Oliveira said the east-Hanford bypass would run through five different farms run by his family in the Hanford area, while none of his property would be touched by the western bypass.

Still, he said, neither route is good for Kings County's agriculture because each slices across farmland in curving arcs or diagonals, splitting parcels and creating irregularly shaped fields.

Consultants for the authority estimate the tracks and related structures such as electrical stations and road overpasses would take 2,500 to 3,100 acres of farmland out of production in Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern counties. That amounts to about 0.05% of the productive farmland in those counties.

The report acknowledges the potential effects of the train system on agriculture's economic contribution to the Valley. But, it says, those effects are small compared to the total agricultural value of the region.

The report pegs the estimated reduction in agriculture production at about $27.5 million a year in the four-county region. But, it adds, that figure represents less than two-tenths of a percent of the area's $16 billion annual farm production.

Despite all that, Oliveira and Fukuda both said the rail authority has not been dealing fairly with Kings County. The county's Board of Supervisors is a co-plaintiff in Fukuda's lawsuit against the agency.

In several meetings with county leaders this year, authority board chairman Dan Richard said he hoped the agency and Kings County could work through their differences before the revised EIR was published. The county had presented a list of 60 questions it wanted answered by the authority, and the two sides were continuing to work through the list.

"Dan Richard, the chairman, made commitments to the county supervisors and the public that certain things would be achieved before they re-released the EIR," Oliveira said Monday. "Today we're dumbfounded that this report is out because the authority is still not working in good faith."

Morales, however, said the EIR is part of "an open and transparent process."

"The revised environmental document ... responds to many of the public's concerns and feedback which were drawn from communities throughout the Central Valley."

For more info

Hearings

Public hearings to receive testimony about the high-speed rail environmental impact report will be:

• Aug. 27: 3 to 8 p.m., Beale Memorial Library, 701 Truxtun Ave., Bakersfield.
• Aug. 18: 3 to 8 p.m., Hanford Fraternal Hall, 1015 N. 10th Ave., Hanford.
• Aug. 29: 3 to 8 p.m. at the Fresno Convention Center Exhibit Hall, 848 M St., Fresno.

Workshops

Informational workshops on the Fresno-Bakersfield draft EIR will be:

• Aug. 13, 4 to 7 p.m., Rosedale Middle School Multipurpose Room, 12463 Rosedale Highway, Bakersfield.
• Aug. 14, 4 to 7 p.m., Elks Lodge, 16694 Wasco Ave., Wasco.
• August 15, 4 to 7 p.m., Veterans Memorial Hall, 1000 Van Dorsten Ave., Corcoran.
• Aug. 16, 4 to 7 p.m., The Grand 1401 Ballroom, 1401 Fulton St., Fresno.

Hard copies

Printed or electronic copies of the report are available for viewing at the following locations:

Fresno County

• Fresno County Public Library, Central Branch, 2420 Mariposa Street, Fresno.
• Fresno County Public Library, Cedar-Clinton Branch, 4150 E. Clinton Street, Fresno.