Briefs filed in HSR Challenge

Briefs filed in HSR Challenge 04/25/11 Filed in: High-Speed Rail Briefing has commenced in the challenge to the EIR for the High-Speed Rail connection between the Bay Area and the Central Valley. Plaintiffs filed their Opening Briefs today. The case has been divided into two parts: Atherton I is a continuation of the challenge to the 2008 EIR by the Town of Atherton, the City of Menlo Park, the Planning and Conservation League, the California Rail Foundation, and the Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund (TRANSDEF). Atherton II is a new lawsuit challenging the legality of the revised EIR by…

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Round 2 in HSR Litigation

Round 2 in HSR Litigation 10/04/10 Filed in: High-Speed Rail A coalition of three cities, three environmental organizations, two citizens’ groups and a taxpayer today filed suit challenging the Environmental Impact Report for the high-speed rail connection between the Central Valley and the Bay Area.  The report was issued by the California High-Speed Rail Authority, which is responsible for planning a  statewide high-speed rail system. Five of the parties had challenged the previous version of the report, resulting in the court throwing it out and ordering it rewritten. The cities of Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Atherton joined the California Rail Foundation, the Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund and the Planning and Conservation…

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Air Resources Board Doesn’t Cave But Doesn’t Lead Either

Air Resources Board Doesn’t Cave But Doesn’t Lead Either 09/23/10 Filed in: Climate Change The Air Resources Board (ARB) adopted today a set of GHG emissions reduction targets for each of California’s regions. The building industry had conducted an intense campaign to get ARB to reduce the proposed targets to less-challenging levels. TRANSDEF’s President, David Schonbrunn, testified about how the proposed targets were inadequate to even keep current levels of GHGs from motor vehicles from growing. Here’s his testimony: I should have marked my speaker card Reluctant Support. TRANSDEF, the Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund, submitted a letter noting…

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Clean Air Plan Adopted

Clean Air Plan Adopted 09/15/10 Filed in: Climate Change | Transportation Planning The Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) adopted its 2010 Clean Air Plan for the Bay Area. The plan is the first in the nation to offer a  comprehensive approach to reducing all significant air pollutants, instead of treating them separately, as has been standard practice. TRANSDEF applauds the District for its excellent and innovative work. Upon noticing that the Clean Air Plan would result in excessive particulate matter in the air, TRANSDEF’s President David Schonbrunn spoke to the Board of Directors and suggested that a mitigation be adopted to reduce the source of growing particulate pollution: motor vehicles. The Board unanimously…

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MTC Shows its True Colors-OAC

MTC Shows its True Colors-OAC 09/08/10 Filed in: MTC | Transportation Planning MTC’s Programming and Allocations Committee met to once again take the heat in deciding whether to provide additional funding for the BART Oakland Airport Connector (OAC), a truly execrable project. This project, which had died after the Federal Transit Administration pulled the plug on $70 million in stimulus funding, showed itself to have many lives, and many functionaries willing to bend institutional rules to raise it from the dead. MTC violated its own rules in bypassing a required vote by its Commissioners, and was caught at it. Large…

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Save Muni.com Getting Great Press

Save Muni.com Getting Great Press 07/04/10 Filed in: Transportation Planning Here are a series of articles instigated by the great work of Save Muni.com. They are campaigning to inform the public about the folly of Muni’s Central Subway. Amazingly, this $1.5 billion boondoggle will lead to reduced bus service and even longer travel times. Check out these articles: San Francisco Tomorrow Article Serve the people Feds Imperil Central Subway Funding $147 Million Deal Could Derail Central Subway Project Three letters to the SF Examiner, “Subway project ruinous” “Central Subway a budget draining mistake” and “Subway travel times disputed” are no longer online, and have been lost to time. Tags: Press, Central…

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Lots of activity on High-Speed Rail

Lots of activity on High-Speed Rail 05/09/10 Filed in: High-Speed Rail A tremendous amount is going on at the California High-Speed Rail Authority. With the ascension of Curt Pringle to the Chair,Quentin Kopp and Rod Diridon have been marginalized (finally!). The Authority hired its new CEO, the first person with actual competence in High-Speed Rail in the agency. The comment period closed April 26 on the Revised Draft EIR intended to replace the EIR thrown out by the Court as the result of our litigation. We filed extensive comments in conjunction with our allies the Planning and Conservation League and the California Rail…

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RTP Guidelines Revisions Adopted

RTP Guidelines Revisions Adopted 04/29/10 Filed in: Climate Change | Transportation Planning The California Transportation Commission adopted revisions to the statewide Regional  Transportation Plan Guidelines in response to all the changes resulting from SB 375. That law requires RTPs to contain a sustainable communities strategy, which attempts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to meet a target set by the State Air Resources Board. TRANSDEF participated actively in the revision process and is very pleased with the results.

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Oakland Airport Connector–Government at its Worst

Oakland Airport Connector–Government at its Worst 12/12/09 Filed in: MTC | Transportation Planning Guy Span wrote a powerful post on the decision of the BART Board to put itself into serious debt, in the midst of cutting service and not having the funds to replace its cars. Here’s the comment we posted: The BART Board’s decision to proceed is a textbook case of everything that is wrong with transportation decisionmaking in the Bay Area. Because the benefits of this extremely expensive project are so obviously minimal, BART Directors and MTC Commissioners have made their priorities very public. They clearly couldn’t…

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Air District Revising CEQA Guidelines

Air District Revising CEQA Guidelines 12/08/09 Filed in: Climate Change The Bay Area Air Quality Management District will consider the adoption of new CEQA Thresholds of Significance at a hearing on January 6, 2010 at 9:45 AM. The documents to be considered for approval can be found on their website. These revisions will result in environmental impact reports that evaluate greenhouse gas emissions. They will also result in obstacles to projects that would add pollution to over-burdened environmental justice communities. TRANSDEF is generally supportive of the leadership the District is offering in this area. Tags: BAAQMD

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