Candidate Chip Cravaack campaigned on a promise to create jobs and foster economic development in the 8th congressional district. Congressman Cravaack, however, has joined his right-wing extremist cohorts around the country in routinely obstructing such efforts. Following in the steps of Wisconsin's Tea Party Governor Scott Walker, Cravaack is now actively seeking to kill the proposed Northern Lights Express Passenger Rail Project (NLX)that is part of a comprehensive national rail plan to connect northern Minnesota with the Twin Cities.
In an article written for an out-of-district newspaper, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Cravaack offers a rambling and at times barely coherent explanation for his opposition to the project, meandering from the federal budget to the stimulus bill and finally ending in St Cloud.
Cravaack complains that the proponents "want the government to simply make it happen, and the basis of their argument is job creation. But it isn't that straightforward. I disagree with an approach that costs taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to create "a" job."
Apparently Chip missed the Transportation Policy 101 lecture to the Freshman class.
Government is always at the forefront of transportation infrastructure, whether it is roads and bridges, seaways or railways. It isn't just about jobs. Accessibility is what drives economic development for an entire region. The economic rent - increased value caused by accessibility - of passenger rail service extends to increased income and property values as well as to employment. And there is an added benefit to freight railroads through upgrades to existing rail lines. The NLX is expected to directly or indirectly create approximately 14,000 jobs and spur approximately $2 billion in development along the 155 mile corridor. This is significant in a district where unemployment hovers near 14%. In addition, high-speed rail is more environmentally friendly, generating approximately one half to a third of the carbon dioxide emissions of passenger vehicles.
Cravaack goes on to argue the project is 'new', that it is not a priority, that its future is uncertain, that it is not cost-effective , that the money should be used for roads and bridges
Chip's arguments reveal that he is as challenged by the facts as his Tea Party mentor and financier Michele Bachmann.
First, the funding for passenger rail projects is an appropriation, and as such cannot be used for any other purpose. If we decline to accept the money, it will simply go to fund passenger rail service in another district, not to roads and bridges in the 8th congressional district.
Second, the Northern Lights Express is a key component of both Minnesota's Comprehensive Statewide Freight and Passenger Rail Plan and the National Rail Plan. Indeed the Minneapolis-Duluth line was identified as one of the top 8 priority projects by the U.S. Department of Transportation National Rail Passenger Study Group in their 2007 report Vision for the future: U.S. Intercity Passenger Rail Network Through 2050. Convened under President George Bush, this group was tasked with creating a national rail transportation plan to meet our transportation needs into the future. The NLX subsequently received $1.1 million, one-third of the total planning dollars available, from the Federal Rail Administration's Capital Grant Assistance Program to conduct the environmental and feasibility studies and last May was awarded an additional $5 million to proceed with the engineering phase of the project.
Third, the NLX feasibility study was approved by the FRA in August 2011 because the project does in fact meet Federal Rail Administration criteria for capital costs, ridership and revenue:
After the initial ramp up period, the ridership and revenue forecasts suggest that 110-mph passenger rail service will be self-sustaining and that passenger and ancillary revenues will cover direct operating costs
As cited in the NRSG report and the MnDOT plan, the NLX is a priority project, a key component in the comprehensive plan to provide a cost effective and environmentally friendly means to meet our future economic and transportation needs. Ken Buehler, TAC chair for NLX, expressed frustration with Cravaack's persistent attempt to derail the project and issued this statement on Thursday
.
I agree with the Congressman that current infrastructure needs to be secured at all times. However, we had plenty of dirt roads that probably needed attention in the 1860's when we built the Transcontinental Railroad that saved the Union by keeping California a part of the United States. It also led to the settlement of the middle states that connected our great nation and developed the greatest agriculture, lumbering, mining and industrial complex in the history of the world. Talk about employment! I guess that part of history might have been missed on the Congressman.
Cravaack appears to have as little understanding of the funding and need for passenger rail service as he does passenger air service. What he does understand is how to follow orders from his Tea Party handlers. It is no coincidence that Chip also used the budget argument when attempting to kill the Essential Air Services program, a move that will effectively end passenger air service to most of northern Minnesota. Like Sarah Palin, he has mastered the art of pandering to his right wing extremist followers.
The Northern Lights Express Passenger Rail Project is clearly a priority for the US Department of Transportation, the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the cities and counties along the corridor in the 8th congressional district that have invested nearly $2 million in the project. Everyone, it seems, except Chip Cravaack.
There is no doubt the project will be built. The only question remaining is whether our congressman will continue to obstruct the process, placing right wing extremists ahead of his constituents.