Feds Approve City鈥檚 Rail Study: Now What?
City officials on Monday celebrated the Federal Transit Administration鈥檚 approval of rail planners鈥 environmental study, a move that represents a significant step forward for Honolulu鈥檚 $5.5 billion dollar rail route.
After months of delays 鈥 including for the alteration of a portion of the route that infringed on runway safety zones near the airport 鈥 the FTA鈥檚 approval means the final Federal Environmental Impact Statement is now available to Governor Linda Lingle, members of the public and government agencies for review.
Mayor Mufi Hannemann emphasizes that the future of rail is now in Lingle鈥檚 hands, and mayoral-gubernatorial sparring over rail has heightened in recent months, but rail opponents have been quick to point out that numerous hurdles remain before groundbreaking can begin.
There are dozens of permits that still need to be secured. Most notably, the release of the FEIS kicks off an informal comment period for the public and a 30-day review period for federal agencies including the Federal Aviation Administration.
The required 30-day period for federal agency review begins in conjunction with publication of what鈥檚 called a Notice of Availability. City spokesman Bill Brennan says he expects that to happen on June 25. Brennan also says the FTA has requested the City accept public comments on developments that occurred since closure of commenting following the Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The route change around the airport, for example, would constitute a matter about which new comments would be accepted.
During that time, officials at the State Office of Environmental Quality Control will review the FEIS, determine whether it meets state law, and issue a recommendation to the governor on whether or not to accept it. The governor will then choose how to act on that recommendation, though it is within her power to call for additional public hearings or financial reviews. If she accepts the FEIS, it would again turn over the project to the federal government, which would have to issue a Record of Decision to allow for groundbreaking.
Gov. Lingle is in China until Saturday, and has not yet been available for comment, though in past months she鈥檚 repeatedly expressed concerns over the project鈥檚 financial viability. Hannemann yesterday described the City as financially 鈥済ood to go,鈥 with 鈥99.6 percent鈥 of necessary funding already in place.
City officials note that they鈥檝e already channeled some half-a-billion dollars from taxpayers into a rail fund, and City transit officials say the FTA has agreed to foot $1.6 billion of the project鈥檚 bill. U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, has long voiced his support of the project.
Ultimately, though, rail will need multi-agency and gubernatorial approval. Some of the more serious issues sure to arise involve construction on grounds in which iwi, or Native Hawaiian remains, are buried. Furthermore, Hannemann’s run for governor promises that rail will remain at the forefront of pointed political discourse.
First, and for the immediate future at least, people across Hawaii will be digging into the massive FEIS document, and trying to better understand how the rail plan has changed, and how it proposed to change life on Oahu. We鈥檒l be among them.
