by mtuandrew
Arlington wrote:One would assume that if no Federal agencies are involved in route acquisition and construction (including a loan by the Federal government or an agency thereof), no Federal EIS will be required. I'll assume that the Florida Department of Environmental Protection has less stringent guidelines. Perhaps the FEC plans to get private and State loans for right-of-way acquisition - perhaps Florida's Turnpike Enterprise or FDOT want to give the FEC a loan? - and reserve Federal loans for equipment and existing right-of-way as Mr. Arlington supposes.electricron wrote: And there's no doubt in my mind that running 40 miles of brand new tracks, in the Beeline Expressway right-of-way or not, through a watershed area (i.e. swamp) is going to need a full FEIS performed if any kind of Federal funds are involved.What if no federal funds are involved?
Maybe the DE *extension* was a bad example. More like Pan Am and the MBTA double-tracking, signal upgrades and laying CWR in Massachusetts, and Perhaps more like CSX's Capital Corridor and NS's Crescent Corridor. A lot of that work seems to have been implemented pretty fast because while it was fed $, it was on the RR's ROW.