We urge all South Valley governmental agencies to take note of the actions of the Morgan Hill City Council: It has formally - and unanimously - opposed any bullet train route through Henry W. Coe state Park.
Bullet train advocates are trying to convince Californians that a 700-mile train traveling at speeds up to 220 mph, linking San Diego, Los Angeles, the Central Valley, the Bay Area and Sacramento is worth the multi-billion dollar investment and heavy taxpayer subsidy it will require.
That's a debate that remains to be settled.
But there's no wiggle room on this question: No bullet trains should travel through Coe Park, or through any other protected lands.
Unfortunately, two of the proposed bullet train routes would violate Coe Park's boundaries, subjecting the pristine wilderness to construction, trains and maintenance work.
Coe Park's 87,000 acres east of Morgan Hill are supposed to be protected land, and if those words are to have any real meaning, it's patently obvious that digging tunnels, laying tracks and erecting fences to accommodate bullet trains, that scarring the pristine Orestimba Wilderness with bulldozers, diesel exhaust and construction workers simply cannot be allowed.
Every legislative body in South Valley ought to line up solidly behind the Morgan Hill City Council and send this message to bullet train planners in Sacramento and politicians and advocates across the state: No bullet trains in Coe.
We urge South Valley residents to send that message as well. If we speak quickly, loudly and in a united voice, our words will have more weight as a community than they would carry alone.
To learn more about Coe Park and the very real threat presented by bullet trains, visit www.coeadvocates.org
To comment on the draft environmental impact report being circulated for the project, visit www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov and click the Draft EIR/EIS link on the left side of the Web page. Today is the deadline. Tell planners that there is no way that a bullet train should be allowed to travel through Coe Park.
But we don't have to stop voicing concern about proposed Coe Park routes when the comment period on the draft EIR ends. The California High-Speed Rail Authority, members of the State Assembly and Senate and the governor should hear from us all, and often, on the importance of protecting Coe Park from the destruction of a bullet train.
To respond to this editorial or comment on this issue, please send or bring letters to the Editor, The Morgan Hill Times, 30 E. Third St., Morgan Hill, CA 95037, fax to 779-3886 or email to editormh@morganhilltimes.com
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