Re: Adding Necessary Wildlife Overcrossings to XpressWest High-Speed Rail Project Design
Treasurer Ma, Director Omishakin and Director Bonham:
We write to request that your agencies coordinate to ensure that the proposed XpressWest High-Speed Rail Project (“Project”) includes wildlife overcrossings, which are necessary to avoid the permanent blockage of critical California wildlife corridors resulting from the Project’s concrete barrier walls. The Project requires discretionary approvals from the State, specifically financing (e.g. tax-exempt bonds) and land-use authorizations (e.g. right-of-way).1 State approvals and financial support warrant guarantees that the project respect the state’s interest in affected wildlife. We have presented this request directly to the project sponsors and ask that you make it a requirement.1Bloomberg news reported the $600 million in State bonds issued to XpressWest earlier this year will be returned to the State for reallocation to housing and other projects and that over the next several weeks, the State Treasurer’s Office will be discussing with Brightline the potential for a new request for State bonds. Las Vegas Review Journal reported Brightline will work with California officials to finalize project design.
Your agencies can ensure the Project is appropriately designed to benefit Californians and our world-class wildlife instead of creating a permanently impermeable barrier to wildlife movement. Wildlife species of special status whose movements will be inhibited by this Project include the desert bighorn sheep, desert tortoise, Mojave ground squirrel, mountain lion, desert kit fox and Merriam bobcat, just to name a few. Wildlife overcrossings preserve the movement of wildlife, connecting populations and allowing individual species to move between habitats. This is critical to allow species to access food and other habitat needs, avoid the isolation of populations and provide for genetic diversity. The need for these crossings has already been identified by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Therefore, we request that inclusion of these wildlife overcrossings in the Project design be made conditions for any State of California approvals for the Project.
As you may be aware, overtures have been made directly to Brightline, the Miami-based owner of the Project, requesting the company voluntarily propose these overcrossings as part of project design and demonstrate how to construct such projects the right way to protect California’s wildlife.2See 9/18/2020 letter from National Parks Conservation Association to Brightline
Brightline is proposing a more than $8 billion project, requesting $600 million in tax-exempt bonds from California, expected to have an annual operating profit of nearly $1 billion,3See 6/11/2020 Forbes article on Fortress Investment Group, which owns Brightline: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2020/06/11/inside-a-wall-street-tycoons-plan-to-get-americans-off-the-highway—and-on-his-trains/?sh=182631b87a04 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc6_3uNXcqc and proposing a project that will have devastating impacts to California’s wildlife. Therefore, the addition of wildlife overcrossings is not only the right thing to do, but is financially reasonable and feasible.
Through adding overcrossings, California can continue to demonstrate its commitment to protecting its rich biodiversity. We ask for your leadership to secure this outcome, and request to discuss this matter with you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Gray N. Thornton, President & CEO
Wild Sheep Foundation
Neal Desai, Senior Program Director
National Parks Conservation Association
Pamela Flick, California Program Director
Defenders of Wildlife
Geary Hund, Executive Director
Mojave Desert Land Trust
Ileene Anderson, Public Lands Deserts Director
Center for Biological Diversity
Kim Floyd, Conservation Chair
San Gorgonio Chapter, Sierra Club
Linda Castro, Assistant Policy Director
California Wilderness Coalition
Cathie Nelson, President
San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Safari Club International
Mark Hennelly, Vice President of Government Relations
California Waterfowl Association
Chriss Bowles, President
California Bowmen Hunters/State Archery Association
Edward L. LaRue, Jr., M.S., Chairperson
Ecosystems Advisory Committee, Desert Tortoise Council
Steve Marschke, President
Society for the Conservation of Bighorn Sheep
Loir Jacobs, President
California Houndsmen for Conservation
Lisa C. McNamee, Co-Legislative Coordinator
SCI CA Coalition
Donn Walgamuth, President
California Deer Association
Wendy Schneider, Executive Director
Friends of the Inyo
Chris Clarke, Board President
Mojave National Preserve Conservancy
Don Martin, President
California Chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation
Gary F. Brennan, President
San Diego County Wildlife Federation
Aimee J. Byard, Associate Director/Biologist
Bighorn Institute
Meg Foley, Executive Director
Friends of Big Morongo Canyon Preserve
Michael Madrigal, President
Native American Land Conservancy
Steve Bardwell, President
Morongo Basin Conservation Association
Frazier Haney, Deputy Director
The Wildlands Conservancy
Steve Miller, President
Tulare Basin Wetlands Association
Fred Harpster, President
Black Brant Group
Corey Thompson, President
Cal-Ore Wetland and Waterfowl Council
John D. Wehausen, Ph.D., President
Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation
Rick Travis, Director of Development
California Rifle & Pistol Association
Philip A. Francis, Jr., Chair
Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
Don Giottonini, Co-Legislative Coordinator
SCI CA Coalition
Kate Hoit, California Director
Vet Voice Foundation
Kevin Emmerich, Co-Founder
Basin and Range Watch
cc:
Stafford Lehr, Deputy Director for Wildlife and Fisheries, CDFWChad Dibble, Deputy Director for Ecosystem Conservation, CDFWAndrew Walters, Senior Environmental Planner, CaltransMichael Beauchamp, Deputy District Director of Construction, CaltransMike Gauthier, Superintendent, Mojave National PreserveDebra Hughson, Chief, Science and Resource Stewardship, Mojave National PreserveMembers of California Debt Limit Allocation Committee
1
Bloomberg news reported the $600 million in State bonds issued to XpressWest earlier this year will be returned to the State for reallocation to housing and other projects and that over the next several weeks, the State Treasurer’s Office will be discussing with Brightline the potential for a new request for State bonds. Las Vegas Review Journal reported Brightline will work with California officials to finalize project design.
2
See 9/18/2020 letter from National Parks Conservation Association to Brightline
3
See 6/11/2020 Forbes article on Fortress Investment Group, which owns Brightline: https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2020/06/11/inside-a-wall-street-tycoons-plan-to-get-americans-off-the-highway—and-on-his-trains/?sh=182631b87a04 and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc6_3uNXcqc