New GOP Governors Promise To Kill High-Speed Rail Projects and Green Jobs

When it comes to our transportation future, there is only one thing I want more than a plug-in hybrid VW camper van (oh, and a bike trailer that my dog doesn't think will kill him). That's high speed rail.

I know, high speed rail exists—and excels—in other parts of the world. But I want it for the U.S. I want beautiful, clean, fast trains that link metropolitan areas together. And I want it to be affordable for everyone.

I'm not alone in that wish. With a global warming crisis breathing hotly down our necks, there has been a bit of a rail renaissance going on in the U.S. The Washington Post reported that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood recently dished out $2.4 billion for high-speed rail in 23 states, in addition to $8 billion in stimulus funds given out already. A cool $3 billion went to my home state of California and I'm hoping it will be put to good use. So far all I've seen of our stimulus money has been road paving, road paving and more road paving. My shock-less car thanks the government, but our environment needs something much better.

The Post reported that, "Rail advocates sketched a vision Monday for a 17,000-mile network linking U.S. cities with electric trains capable of traveling at 220 mph." This is music to my ears. There's just one problem: A few incoming GOPers have to be haters. Those haters include the governor-elect of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, who promised to kill a rail project thank would link midwestern cities including Milwaukee and Madison.

Not only would the project be good for the environment, but it would also be a big job creator for his state. Maybe he has something better up his sleeve. Oh yes, that's right, he'd like to pave more roads. Too bad that's not possible —the money allotted to the state through stimulus dollars ($810 million) can't be used for roads, only rail, so that means that if Walker turns down the funds and quashes the project, his state's workers will lose out. In These Times reported that without the rail project, the state could lose as many as 13,000 jobs.

Walker has some bad company over in Ohio as another incoming GOP governor, John Kasich, apparently feels that Ohio workers and the environment should also lose out and is planning to kill a rail project that would link up Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland. This is a shame on so many levels, especially considering Ohio is ranked 41st in unemployment rates and could gain more than 8,000 jobs from the project.

Thankfully, New York's newly elected (and I might add Democratic) governor is asking for the funds to be redistributed to high speed rail efforts in New York, and according to the New York Times, officials from Illinois would also be happy to pick up Ohio and Wisconsin's rejected loot.

But really this shouldn't be an issue of Republicans versus Democrats. We're talking about drastically improving our transportation infrastructure, creating jobs, and reducing our dependence on foreign oil—all things sensible elected officials should be on board with. Tell Ohio's governor to do what's clearly best for his state and the nation: Sign this petition to tell him to keep his stakes in high-speed rail.

Photo credit: bridgepix

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