In Conflict

In highlighting events that took place at the rail meeting in the Bay Area last week, the Examiner featured an article in its May 27, 2012 edition.  It states: "There are no agreements with Union Pacific (UP) or Burlington Northern, Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF) to operate in close proximity. These agreements have to be in place before any construction can begin. This is a federal statutory requirement. Senator DeSaulnier said he wanted to know if the Authority would have these agreements finalized before the legislature had to vote on the funding. Authority Chairman Richard said it was a goal but he couldn’t be sure."

The vote by the legislature is due July 1 regarding its allocation of the $3billion start-up money.

The railroad operators are exempt from being mandated allocating their property eminent domain rights-of-ways access to any government entity.