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Opinion Mar 03, 2021
Richard Shotwell/AFP/Getty Images In 2008, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic lawmakers persuaded a narrow majority of state voters to provide $9.95 billion in bond seed money for what was initially promised to be a $33 billion high-speed rail network linking Northern and Southern California, with operations beginning in 2020.
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By CHRIS REED
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden blocked construction of the Keystone XL pipeline linking Canadian crude oil fields with distribution centers and refineries in the United States. It was an enormous victory for American environmentalists who want to leave fossil fuels on the ash heap of history. But it also triggered a huge political scandal in Canada, with Alberta Premier Jason Kenney being roasted for spending $1.5 billion in public funds on a now-doomed project.
“Kenney’s crazy bet has to be near the top of the most irresponsible things ever done in Alberta’s history,” concluded one news analysis under the headline, “What’s that Flushing Sound? Just Albertans’ Keystone XL Investment Going Down the Drain.” “There is no sugar-coating just how devastating this is for Mr. Kenney, his government and the province,” opined another.
Yet here in California, there is nothing close to a comparable uproar over a public works fiasco that is 15 times as costly. The state’s bullet-train debacle is impossible to exaggerate.
