On December 23rd, 2010, the Business Alliance sent a letter to USDOT Secretary Ray LaHood expressing frustration with the stalled Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process on the Northeast Corridor, and requesting leadership and swift action to move it along. The letter commended Secretary LaHood for his leadership on passenger rail issues in 2010, but went on to urge him to commence and advance the EIS process on the corridor in order to address the urgent needs of this vital national artery.
The Northeast Corridor, serving 13 million intercity and 250 million commuter passengers each year, is the primary market for high-speed rail in the United States. There are also major needs for funding simply to address neglected maintenance on the corridor (according to the Northeast Corridor Master Plan, the backlog of State of Good Repair improvements alone totals $8.7 billion). This should make it a prime candidate for a large portion of the federal funds made available by the Obama Administration for high-speed rail projects over the last two years.
However, in 2009, the Federal Railroad Administration deemed projects in the Northeast Corridor ineligible for most of this federal funding for high speed rail due to the lack of a recent Corridor-wide EIS for rail infrastructure improvements. Equally frustrating, the EIS process, led by the FRA, made virtually no progress in 2010.
Specifically, the Business Alliance respectfully requested that Secretary LaHood, 1) identify the point person at the FRA managing the EIS process, so the Alliance can begin working with them to expedite the process, 2) establish a timeline for the EIS process, 3) determine the nature of stakeholder and public involvement, and 4) consult with the Northeast States in order to identify projects that can move ahead independently of the EIS.
@NECHSR
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