November 11, 2021
The Honorable Gavin Newsom Governor, State of California
1303 10th Street, Suite 1173
Sacramento, CA 9581
Re: Directing Caltrans to Add Necessary Wildlife Overpasses to Brightline West High-Speed Rail Project
Governor Newsom:
We write to request that your administration ensures that the proposed Brightline West High-Speed Rail Project (“Project”) includes three wildlife overpasses, which are necessary to avoid the permanent blockage of critical California wildlife corridors resulting from the Project’s concrete barrier walls.
Caltrans holds jurisdiction over the Project right-of-way, and has existing authorities to ensure the Project proponent includes these wildlife overpasses in the Project design, making the Project consistent with your commitment to protect biodiversity including desert bighorn sheep and mountain lions.
Time is of the essence to resolve this matter, as the Project proponent hopes to complete financing on the project within the next six months. We support the findings from your Caltrans and Department of Fish and Wildlife scientists that have identified the three wildlife overpasses as necessary to protect our world-class wildlife in the fragile California desert. 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 overpasses preserve the movement of wildlife and provide for genetic diversity, connecting populations and allowing individual species to move between habitats, which will be increasingly essential in the face of climate change. Desert wildlife such as the bighorn sheep are of tremendous cultural significance to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and many other desert Native peoples.
Brightline, the Miami-based owner of the Project, is proposing the more than $8 billion project, requesting hundreds of millions in tax-exempt bonds from California, expected to have an annual operating profit of nearly $1 billion16/11/2020 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 – as currently designed – will have devastating impacts to California’s wildlife. Therefore, requiring Brightline to construct the wildlife overpasses is not only the right thing to do, but is financially reasonable and feasible.
Through the inclusion of the overpasses into the Project design, California can continue to demonstrate its commitment to protecting its rich biodiversity. We ask for your leadership to secure this outcome.
Sincerely,
Eric Hanson, Co-Chair & Policy Lead, California Chapter
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers
Kevin Emmerich, Co-Founder
Basin and Range Watch
Aimee J. Byard, Associate Director/Biologist
Bighorn Institute
Fred Harpster, President
Black Brant Group
Chriss Bowles, President
California Bowmen Hunters/State Archery Association
Don Martin, President
California Chapter of the Wild Sheep Foundation
Dan Whisenhunt, CEO
California Deer Association
Lori Jacobs, President
California Houndsmen for Conservation
Jocelyn Silverlight, Executive Director
Friends of Big Morongo Canyon Preserve
Wendy Schneider, Executive Director
Friends of the Inyo
Kelly Herbinson, Executive Director
Mojave Desert Land Trust
Chris Clarke, Board President
Mojave National Preserve Conservancy
Steve Bardwell, President
Morongo Basin Conservation Association
Debra Chase, CEO
Mountain Lion Foundation
Neal Desai, Senior Program Director
National Parks Conservation Association
Michael Madrigal, President
Native American Land Conservancy
Fraser Shilling, Director Road Ecology Center
Roy Griffith, Legislative Director
California Rifle & Pistol Association
Mark Hennelly, Vice President of Government Relations
California Waterfowl Association
Linda Castro, Assistant Policy Director
California Wilderness Coalition
Ileene Anderson, Public Lands Deserts Director
Center for Biological Diversity
Sierra Pencille, Tribal Council Chairperson
Chemehuevi Indian Tribe
Philip A. Francis, Jr., Chair
Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks
Pamela Flick, California Director
Defenders of Wildlife
Edward L. LaRue, Jr., M.S., Chairperson Desert Tortoise Council, Ecosystems Advisory Committee
Gary F. Brennan, President
San Diego County Wildlife Federation
Cathie Nelson, President
San Francisco Bay Area Chapter Safari Club International
Kim Floyd, Conservation Chair
San Gorgonio Chapter, Sierra Club
Kenneth R. Ramirez, Chairman
San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
Lisa C. McNamee, Legislative Coordinator
SCI CA Coalition
John D. Wehausen, Ph.D., President
Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Foundation
Frazier Haney, Executive Director
The Wildlands Conservancy
Steve Miller, President
Tulare Basin Wetlands Association
Laura Cunningham, California Director
Western Watersheds Project
Gray N. Thornton, President & CEO
Wild Sheep Foundation
cc:
The Honorable Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator The Honorable Alex Padilla, U.S. Senator Toks Omishakin, Director, Caltrans
Chuck Bonham, Director, California Department of Fish and Wildlife The Honorable Fiona Ma, State of California Treasurer
The Honorable Betty Yee, State of California Controller Mark Tollefson, Deputy Cabinet Secretary, Governor’s Office
Mike Gauthier, Superintendent, Mojave National Preserve, U.S. National Park Service Joe Stout, Associate State Director, U.S. Bureau of Land Management
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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