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Valley Farmers Hoping Injunction Will Derail Bullet Train

By Justin Willis, KSEE24 News
October 4, 2012 Updated Oct 4, 2012 at 6:25 PM PDT

There are several lawsuits pending against the High Speed Rail Authority.

One seeks to reroute the whole project, another seeks to delay it...

But farmers have become so enraged by the project, that they want it derailed altogether.

Kole Upton: Chowchilla Water District: "The engineers that have done this Merced to Fresno route have treated us like they were a conquering army and we were their subjects."

Kole Upton is a director with the Chowchilla Water District, and he's a farmer.

One of the 500 in Madera county that stands to lose his livelihood if construction begins on High Speed Rail.

He says the project will wipe out one of the main canals that feeds hundreds of acres of farmland.

"The ultimate consequence is some of us are going to go out of business, particularly the dairies because they're taking out so much land and so much of the water systems."

The Madera County Farm Bureau, and the City of Chowchilla are among the multiple agencies seeking an injunction against the High Speed Rail Project.

The motion filed alleges the High Speed Rail Authority failed to properly notify the public when approving the Fresno-to-Merced section.

It also claims the Authority is risking billions in taxpayer dollars, and that the project will bring irreparable harm to the state's Ag economy.

Anja Raudabaugh, Madera Co. Farm Bureau Exec. Dir.: "Farmers are already in the alignment, having trouble getting loans, getting revolving loans for their crops next year because they're placed in the alignment. So the shameless harm that's already coming as a result of a theoretical project is very tragic."

If granted, the injunction would delay work on that first section of the rail line, pending a hearing on whether the authority violated the state's environmental laws.

But farmers say a combination of a looming rail funding deadline, and the possibility of a judge ruling in favor of an injunction, could destroy the project.

The High Speed Rail Authority does not comment on pending litigation, but Fresno County Vice Chair, and High Speed Rail advocate Henry Perea says, these lawsuits were expected, and doesn't believe they will delay construction on the project.

A hearing on the injunction will be held in Sacramento on November 16th.

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