Derailing Feds Ruling On Bullet Train
San Francisco, CA – U.S. environmental law trumps the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) according to a ruling from the federal Surface Transportation Board.
The transportation board took oversight of the project at the request of opponents to the $68-billion bullet train. However, opponents were derailed when in December the board ruled that federal law supersedes CEQA.
On Monday, Attorneys for Kings and Kern counties, along with other opponent in the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento areas, filed a petition in the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal in San Francisco asking for the board’s ruling to be overturned.
The transportation board ruling has left opponents with one less tool to fight the project, as it has barred state judges from issuing injunctions against high-speed rail construction.
