Stick a fork in high-speed rail
Debbie L. Sklar of MyNewsLA reported recently that the latest auction in the California cap-and-trade market “fell sharply below expectations.” She writes, “State officials and outside experts pointed to several possible causes including less need for the credits, pending litigation that could overturn the entire system, and volatility spawned by speculators in a secondary trading market.”
The quarterly auction May 18 had been expected to raise $150 million dollars for Gov. Brown’s high-speed rail system. When the auction closed, it had generated $2.5 million dollars for the project!
For those not closely following HSR financing, cap-and-trade auctions have been earmarked as a primary funding source for the bullet-train debacle.
My question is, when will the mad-as-hell populace of California pull their heads out of the sand and send a demanding message to Gov. Brown that we are not going to continue to pay for his legacy-building boondoggle?
Accept reality, governor. HSR is financial disaster and is antiquated technology, as archaic as the horse and buggy.
Stick a fork in it! It’s done.
Carl Pederson, Fresno
This story was originally published June 10, 2016 at 2:47 PM with the headline "Stick a fork in high-speed rail."