Guest Post: Lobbying for High Speed Rail in Ohio

by Emily Gertz

Published March 16, 2009 @ 10:45AM PT

Dawn West was born and raised in Ohio. She is vegetarian, progressive, and a political junkie who has worked with various student organizations, including the Student Global AIDS Campaign. She aspires to complete her BA in English (minor in Environmental Studies) soon.

Dawn recently went to her state's capital as a citizen lobbyist, in support of bringing high-speed rail transportation to Ohio. Here's her story:

On March 3, I volunteered to participate in the Sierra Club Ohio Chapter's Passenger Rail Lobby Day, and it was fabulous.

I received the invitation because I am on Sierra Club Ohio Chapter's e-mail list, which is a great resource for those who aren't directly involved in the non-profit world but wish to remain informed of actions and events nonetheless.

All Aboard Ohio and the Ohio Environmental Council joined the Sierra Club to recruit Ohio citizens to lobby Ohio representatives and senators to support funding for the Ohio Hub, a multi-phase high speed rail network that would help connect Ohio to the rest of the Midwest, as well as the east coast, west coast, and Canada in later phases.

The Ohio Hub is one of several high speed rail networks that are currently in planning or development stages throughout the United States (36 states including Ohio, at this moment), and I couldn't be more pleased. The United States needs high speed rail, and despite expected resistance from the trucking, auto, and oil industries, it seems like we're finally inching towards a 21st century transportation system.

It is clear that we need to completely restructure our transport systems. America's auto-centric system contributes to air pollution, contaminates our oceans and rivers, consumes arable land and wildlife habitat, and gulps up energy at an alarming rate. More than 125 million Americans live in areas with unacceptable levels of air pollution, and lower-income communities are often disproportionately affected. Cars and light trucks emit 20 percent of the nation's CO2 pollution. The U.S. transportation sector as a whole accounts for about 32 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions. In order to act pragmatically about global warming, we must bring our transport systems into the 21st century. The role of the automobile in our system must adapt to the changes in climate and the changes in our economy.

Emily recently posted a link to a great slideshow of artistic subway maps, highlighting the romantic aspects of mass transit. There is something romantic about mass transit, and it's also a smart choice. Now is a crucial time to focus on truly sustainable growth and development, because up until this point, we have not and it's costing us dearly.

The Environmental Law and Policy Center cites that high speed trains in the Midwest would be three times as energy efficient as cars and six times as energy efficient as planes. Rail also requires 10% the amount of land as interstate highways, leaving more land for wildlife and (sustainable) agriculture.

Economically, high speed rail is a no-brainer. Ohio Rail Development Commission, a division of the Ohio Dept. of Transportation, says the Ohio Hub alone would generate an annual fuel savings of 9.4 million gallons, create thousands of permanent jobs, and produce at least $1.80 for every $1 invested.

Reforming and updating our transport systems will cost money (mainly from the federal government, some up-front costs for states themselves), but the environmental and economic revenues are just too great to pass up. President Obama has made a modest step forward in this respect. The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act includes $8 billion to high speed rail development, and according to the Council on Foreign Relations, the allotment for high-speed rail has piqued the interest of transportation experts. Most of the extra funding was inserted at the last moment by the Obama administration, signaling the new president's commitment to a form of transport in which the United States is seen as lagging far behind states like France, Germany, parts of coastal China, and Japan. This is a great advancement, but there is still $29 billion for highway projects, which is more than three times the amount allotted to high speed rail.

I'm so happy organizations like the Sierra Club and online communities like Change.org exist, because we as citizens need to push our elected officials to move beyond their partisan grudges and special interests and act only in the interest of the public. Too many people are being left behind by our transportation system, particularly lower-income citizens who often can't afford two or three cars per family (myself included!). Too much precious land and water is being wasted on our gluttonous methods of getting from one place to another. The United States needs to remain competitive, and we are falling behind in many ways. As of early 2007, there were 3,034 miles of high-speed rail operating in Europe, with a planned additional 1,711 more miles by 2010. Without a national high speed rail network, we will continue to fall.