Issue Position: High Speed Rail

Issue Position

I have fought the High Speed Rail since its inception. The cost figures for this project were absurd from the start -- currently $68 billion (more than $5,000 for every family in California) for a train that goes from Los Angeles to San Francisco in two hours longer than it takes to fly. Energy consumption for the HSR is estimated at 16,000 kilowatts of electricity per trip at a time of sky-rocketing electricity prices and when we can't guarantee enough electricity to keep your refrigerator running this summer.

The sad fact is that we could add about ten times the passenger mile capacity of our transportation system simply by investing the same money into expansion of California's chronically congested highway system. I opposed this project in the legislature and, 17 years later, oppose the squandering of any federal funds on it in Congress.

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