Here’s a $6 billion question: What “California values” does Gov. Gavin Newsom want to protect against The Trump 2.0 Presidency?
The list includes what has shaped up to be the biggest government boondoggle of all time.
It’s the California High Priced Rail project
Politicians who want it at all costs refer to it as the California High Speed Rail project.
There’s panic the $6 billion the Biden administration set aside to keep the rail project afloat won’t be released before noon on Jan. 20, 2025.
It is clear “California values” means keeping a highly questionable public works project going forward even though its effectiveness when it is finally completely finished in the year 2525 is becoming more questionable with each passing day.
Let’s recap the big lie to show what Newsom wants to protect against a Trump executive order.
Voters in 2008 were misled by politicians and career bureaucrats who wanted to launch a half-baked project to battle climate change that they clearly low-balled to gain passage of a $9.8 billion bond.
The promise they made, or more apropos the big lie they told, was the entire 500-mile segment from San Francisco to Los Angeles would cost $33 billion.
It also was supposed to be up and running by 2029.
The $6 billion the Biden administration ponied up will go toward completing the 171-mile starter segment Merced to Bakersfield.
Five years ago, Newsom came up with a plan to focus efforts on the starter segment.
He told Californians in 2019 that the starter segment could be built for $22.8 billion and be up and running by 2030.
A year ago, the cost estimate was revised.
No, it wasn’t downward nor will it be delivered on time.
The cost was upped to $33 billion.
And you may not see it completed until 2033.
Assuming the numbers aren’t readjusted upward again and the fairytale delivery date pushed back again, that means the first segment will be up and running in the same year voters were hoodwinked into believing the entire system would be carrying passengers.
That’s 25 years after the entire boondoggle was supposed to be finished.
Instead, Californians are getting the train to nowhere plus who knows when the high speed connections will be made to San Francisco and Los Angeles.
So any wild guesses on what the latest guess-estimate is for the cost of the entire route to be up and rolling?
It’s $128 billion as of March of last year.
That’s a lot of money for a ridership projection that has been reduced downward to 75 percent of what high speed boosters promised.
But there’s more.
Members of the peer review group for the rail project have some serious reservations about some parts of the project that high speed promoters don’t want to talk about.
Bill Ibbs, a retired UC Berkeley civil engineer, points to 38 miles of problematic tunnels in Southern California.
What could possibly go wrong drilling through land crisscrossed by hundreds of faults?
Of course, that doesn’t touch on the 900-pound gorilla in California, the Pacheco Pass route.
It not only drills through mountains but does so by passing through the San Andreas Fault.
The San Andreas route has been thoroughly panned by engineers that worked on the “Chunnel” under the English Channel connecting England with France.
They believe it has been extremely low-balled cost wise and fails to take into account severe issues of passing across an active earthquake fault.
There were no such issues with the Chunnel and it’s cost overruns were in the stratosphere.
There are the little details.
Newsom’s directive to ban the sales of all new fossil fuel powered vehicles in California starting in 2035.
That’s two years after the 171-mile starter train is now supposed to be up and running.
As such it means by the time 2048 rolls around, the last new fossil fuel powered cars that were sold in California will be nearing the end of their expected life cycle.
With any luck, high speed rail may actually be up and running between Los Angeles and San Francisco by then.
Assuming the final cost holds at $128 billion, it will beg the question — what the hell will California get for what the high speed rail will end up costing?
Not much.
After all, one of the big selling points for high speed rail in the first place was to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles driving between Los Angeles and San Francisco.
But if California by then easily has more than 90 percent of its vehicles on the road either electric or powered by hydrogen, what will spending $128 billion have accomplished?
This begs the question: How is squandering $128 billion a “California value”?
Too bad Newsom isn’t hounded at every turn about high speed rail.
It’s a huge drain on California’s collective pocketbook.
More importantly it comes at what cost?
What opportunities will have been lost to a project that will help improve PG&E’s bottom line on a daily basis?
New hospitals?
Re-enforcement of existing dams?
Upgrading freeways and highways?
Putting in place mass transit where it would actually be effective?
Habitat restoration?
You name it.
Odds are the special session starting Dec. 2 will address the $6 billion question but in a manner that glosses over it.
Trump proofing California isn’t the only concern Californians should have regardless of how they voted on Nov. 5.
It’s time we Sacramento-proofed California.
Newsom may have some righteous points.
But the governor isn’t without sin.
None of us are.
Let’s help for the sake of California’s future that some serious soul searching is done before the empty hat that high speed rail is becomes a mistake that keeps getting its life extended until it bleeds the state dry.
