We have wondered from time to time why the controversy over construction of a high-speed line in California, planned to run from San Diego to San Francisco, has not included dispatches about bazillions of lawsuits being filed to stop or modify it. We need not have wondered. The problem is not an absence of lawsuits, but rather their abundance. The problem appears to be that this is a subject that has been greatly underreported. Why? Beats us.
It turns out that there are lawsuits aplenty being filed and more of them are being prepared for filing. They cover everything from routing of high-speed rail tracks to the railroad’s impact. Stephanie Rice of the San Francisco Chronicle, tells the story. Click here. And what a story it is. Since our purpose here is to keep our readers informed rather than inundated, we won’t go through them all, but you can get the story at Stephanie Rice, High-Speed Rail: Lawsuits Could Delay, Kill Plans, SF Gate, September 19, 2011.
It looks like this is going to be another “full employment Act” for California lawyers. But then again, when it comes to California land-use, particularly land-use involving major projects, what isn’t? Check out our recent posts about the dawning widespread recognition that California environmental laws are out of control, and by degrees have become a thing unto itself that serves primarily to impair development without much discernible effect on the environment.