Ryan Ray
A representative of Citizens Against Rail Expansion in Florida, or CARE FL, denounced a new federal report on the likely environmental impact of proposed construction to implement All Aboard Florida, a private passenger transit system that aims to connect Orlando and Miami via train.
CARE FL Treasurer Brent Hanlon said Wednesday a recent report by the Federal Railway Administration – which by and large gives the rail project the A-OK – “isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.”
“It never straightforwardly addresses the real concerns voiced by citizens from the impacted communities: concerns over the chosen route, public safety, the ability to use the navigable waterways, unimpeded access to health care facilities, and the overall negative impact of the project on our quality of life,” Hanlon said in a news release.
Hanlon went so far as to say backers of the project improperly leaned on regulators who analyzed the project.
The report, Hanlon said, “ignored many of the concerns we expressed in our December 2014 comments on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The correspondence between the FRA and AAF shown in CARE’s comments demonstrates that AAF aggressively intervened with the regulatory agency in an overbearing way.”
The group marshaled the support of retired Coast Guard Capt. Dana Goward, who concurred with CARE in saying issues such as incomplete maritime data and unwarranted assumptions based on limited data signifies the report “consistently failed to seek or use accurate data, and failed to make good faith estimates of the negative impacts of the AAF proposal on navigation and navigation-related economies and communities.”
CARE FL says that while the report does not give the project the green light to begin breaking ground, it is another perilous step forward for a project it calls “poorly conceived” and says “threatens unacceptable adverse impacts to the safety and welfare of Florida’s citizens.”
The group said in no uncertain terms that the All Aboard Florida and perhaps the state and/or federal government – which supplies some financial support to the project – may soon face adverse legal action.
“We understand that the FEIS is not truly final until a Record of Decision, or ROD, is issued. If the ROD does not adequately address our concerns, CARE will need to consider litigation in order to protect the rights of Treasure Coast citizens,” Hanlon said.
