Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Federal transportation department to maglev backers: Your application is denied!

That's what a letter released today from the federal department to the superspeed train commission says -- that the state's application was ineligible. The transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, repeated the assertion today to help defend the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid,against charges he is ineffective on high-speed rail money.

The letter is at right.

UPDATE: The maglev backers and their PR firm have responded to the denial, asserting there was an application by the bi-state train commission. This, however, misses the point that California does not recognize the panel. And I obtained this from a senior official of the federal transportation department:

"The bottom line is the project wasn't eligible.

"The Nevada-California Commission was authorized by Nevada, but it wasn't authorized by California because the authorization had lapsed in California. If that were the only issue, we might have been able to work with them.

"But they hadn't met the prerequisite - they hadn't done an environmental impact statement for the corridor or equivalent or NEPA which is required by federal law for any federal action. (Desert Express is going through its Environmental Impact Statement right now...) It's not an eligible expense for a new corridor service."

I have also posted now the maglev responses at right.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy