Governor Scott's High Speed "Derail" Ignites Vicious Battle

BRADENTON – While on the campaign trail, Florida Governor Rick Scott promised that expensive projects like SunRail and the Tampa-Orlando Bullet train would be targets if he were elected. Once he was voted into office, his supporters also made it clear that they aimed to hold him to it, though few insiders gave the governor any real chance of scrapping the long-awaited Tampa to Orlando "bullet" train that was expected to bring billions of federal and private dollars as well as thousands of much-needed construction jobs into the state's beleaguered economy.

Governor Scott has apparently done just that, or at least fired the first shot in the battle over high speed rail in the Sunshine State. Having already put the breaks on the SunRail project, Scott cited possible costs that he felt Florida could potentially incur (though sound arguments and documentation of justification for fearing such costs were not presented) Governor Scott announced he was sending the money back to the beltway, where other states were lined up to take Florida's refused funding.

New York Senator Charles Schumer immediately launched a plea to reallocate the funds to his home state for an "Empire Corridor"  HRR line that would more readily connect the rural areas of western New York to the metropolitan business centers in the eastern portion of the state. New York received over $150 million last year as part of the original HSR portion of the stimulus package. President Obama's administration recently announced expanding their commitment of federal funds dedicated to building a national HSR system by $53 billion.  

Florida Senator Bill Nelson met with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood yesterday to discuss possible ways that the project may be done at a sub-state level, indicating that local governments, such as a regional MPO or rail authority that might perhaps take on the oversight of the project. Senator Nelson, a Democrat, faces what is expected to face a a very strong and well-funded opposition when he comes up for re-election next fall. As the last remaining Democrat in statewide office, Republicans have targeted his race and are expected to get strong financial support form the national party. A coup that restores the publicly popular rail project could potentially boost Nelson's popularity considerably going into that race.